By Roger Wallenstein

According to Baseball Reference, there have been 698 major league managers, beginning (alphabetically) with Manny Acta and ending with Don Zimmer.
Of course, some only managed a game or two, such as White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who went 1-1 after Ozzie Guillen was fired with a couple of games remaining in 2011.
The dean was Connie Mack, who skippered the Philadelphia A’s for 53 seasons and never got fired, which was understandable because he owned the ballclub.
Some men toil for years in the minor leagues awaiting a chance to lead a big-league team, while others, such as Guillen and the recently departed Robin Ventura, were knighted with one of the now-30 such jobs available without ever having managed previously.

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Posted on March 19, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

I love greasy, juicy hamburgers along with an abundant mound of generously salted french fries. I’d eat them a couple of times a week except for the fact that I’m not interested in gaining 40 or 50 pounds while diminishing my life expectancy. I lost a full head of hair years ago, and I wouldn’t mind getting it back, but not at the risk of popping pills that have multitudes of side effects that those TV ads warn us about.
No, I can’t have it both ways, but apparently major league baseball thinks it can.
Three years ago in a move that slows down ballgames MLB introduced replay review – an innovation requiring an average of about a 2 1/2 minutes per review – in order to ensure that plays on the field would be accurately called. Last season fans waited through approximately 1,500 reviews, or about five every eight games.
So last week it was time to speed up things. In a laughable countermove, the four-pitch intentional walk, which occurred in about one-third of games last season, took its place in baseball history.
So which is it, fellas? Slower or faster? You can’t have it both ways.

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Posted on March 6, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Standing at the fence on the berm above the White Sox bullpen in right field last Saturday in Arizona, my eight-year-old granddaughter Ava got a nice surprise. Blake Smith, a non-roster invitee who made four less-than-stellar appearances in relief for the White Sox last September, had been warming up as the game ended with the Sox on the short end of a 5-3 score against the Dodgers.
Smith looked up, singled out Ava, and instead of returning the ball to the bag resting beside him, tossed it up to the kid. She fumbled it. Might have been her genes. Smith flipped it up to her again. Same thing. Not to be deterred, Smith gave her a third chance, and my outstanding young grandkid snagged it. From my point of view, Smith will never make a better pitch, which was just one of many warm, friendly gestures that one finds on a typical spring training day.
During a time of executive orders, confrontation, hate, anger, and aggression all communicated by confounding, breaking, fake, and real news, the pace and mood of baseball’s annual six-week spring training ritual is a welcome antidote. Things tend to operate in slow motion as the ballclubs take their time getting prepared for the long season ahead.

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Posted on February 28, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

His face said it all. The beaming smile was one of a man who looked as though his first child had just been born. Or maybe he had just closed a deal for his dream home.
Chris Sale was free at last. His image on social media Tuesday with five buddies, including his college baseball coach, appeared to be one of relief, of a young guy full of future aspirations and more than ready to leave throwback uniforms and children in the clubhouse in arrears.

Chris Sale’s college coach just sent me this. Says he’s so excited to join @RedSox pic.twitter.com/l3mThCWn1t

— Chelsa Messinger (@ChelsaMessinger) December 6, 2016

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Posted on December 7, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

The curtain is drawn,
Goodbye, adios and sayonara.
The White Sox have left town –
There’s no game tomorra.
But there is a press conference,
As Hahn seeks a panacea.
Ventura is finished –
Is it time to welcome Renteria?

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Posted on October 2, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

In all of his 67 seasons of describing Dodger baseball, not once did Vin Scully, who was honored all weekend in Los Angeles, harken back to his big league playing days. That’s obviously because he didn’t have any.
Vin did play the outfield at Fordham University in the 1940s before turning his full attention to broadcasting. However, being the humble sort, it’s doubtful that Scully would have relived his diamond exploits on the air even if he had played major league baseball. Unfortunately that is not always the case with many former players who have remained in the game as broadcasters.

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Posted on September 26, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

I’m hearing increasing calls for a Sox rebuild this offseason. “Blow it up” seems to be the consensus of opinion as the South Side contingent heads into the last two weeks of the season with faint hopes of finishing .500.
But I’m not so sure for a few reasons.

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Posted on September 19, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

As a fan who’s been following the White Sox for more than six decades, I’m a guy who was raised on Friendly Bob Adams and General Finance, the Hamm’s Bear from the Land of Sky Blue Waters, and White Owl Cigars, as in “That’s a White Owl wallop!”
So you can imagine my surprise at what I found when I visited the men’s room on the first-base side of the lower level along about the fourth inning of the Labor Day match-up between Chris Sale and the Tigers’ Justin Verlander.

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Posted on September 12, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

He sits apart in the far corner of the dugout, cap pulled low over his eyes, alone in his thoughts.
This image of a formerly elite pitcher who has lost the ability to retire big league hitters in many ways represents the futility of this White Sox season. Once again, James Shields on Saturday appeared to be an aimless novice rather than Big Game James, winner of 127 major league games coming into the 2016 season. He lasted only until one out in the third inning at Minnesota as the Sox bowed 11-3.
While wondering just how much more embarrassment Shields will be exposed to by getting the starting nod every five days from manager Robin Ventura, you had a feel the pain of the former ace, who now owns a 5-17 record with an ERA of 6.07 in 28 starts between San Diego and the Sox this season.

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Posted on September 5, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

Let’s skip ahead for a moment to the 2017 baseball season.
With two box seat tickets in his pocket, the Old Man tells his wife, “We’re going to the G-spot tonight.”
“Aw, Honey,” she responds, “I’m too tired, and I have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Not that G-spot,” he says. “I mean the ballgame. Sox Park. Quintana’s pitching and it’s Luke Appling Bobblehead Night.”

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Posted on August 29, 2016