Is the 1919 World Series Ball the Black Sox Scandal Key to a Dismal 2024 White Sox Season?

Grab some peanuts and crackerjacks!

Let’s take a break from worrying about the destructive hurricanes that we hope are behind us and a presidential election that still awaits us. And we’d better hurry up sooner Elon Musk appears at our door with donald trump buttons

So how about a little baseball banter in the wake of the White Sox’s disastrous run last season, a record 121-game losing streak in a season?

And who better to bring a sense of suspense than the mega baseball sports memorabilia collector/showman Grant DePorter, the guy who detonated the Chicago Cubs’ famous “Bartman Ball” in 2004 to end an ancient “Curse of the Cachots.”

DePorter, an advertising pooh-bah who is CEO of Harry Caray’s restaurants and founder of the Chicago Sports Museum at Water Tower Place, which displays the detonated casing of the legendary “Bartman Ball,” heads back to the mound. This time he’s unveiling a plan to end the White Sox’s “miserable” 2023-24 slump, which had fans reeling and the stands showered with bananas.

File Al Podgorski/Chicago Sun-Times

Only this time DePorter has found a new game ball to aim for, and a less destructive fate.

Now in his sights is the ball used in Game 5 of the 1919 World Series, which saw six White Sox batters walk in a row. This unfortunate streak has gone down in history as the “Black Sox Scandal” because of allegations that eight White Sox players were bribed to throw the streak.

Say it ain’t so

Long forgotten, the waxy, rotting, chewing tobacco-stained “glow/spit” World Series baseball was found in 2022, hidden in an ancient copper time capsule during the conversion of the ‘former Tribune tower in luxury apartments.

developer Lee Golub asked sports memorabilia buff DePorter to verify his story. DePorter later placed the “bad luck ball” near the battered remains of the blown-up “Bartman Ball” at his Michigan Avenue sports museum.

Natch.

DePorter claims he has the numbers to show the White Sox’s decline began shortly after the Black Sox ball was moved to the museum in 2022.

AP Photo/Chicago History Museum

“After the ball was pulled from its hiding place in 2022, the White Sox team’s hitting percentage dropped to .321,” he said. “They lost 101 games in 2023 and 2024, and the Sox set the all-time MLB hitting record with 121 losses.

“It’s an unlucky ball,” DePorter said. “Eight Sox players banned from baseball forever, incl “Shoeless Joe” Jackson.

Flew instead of flying?

DePorter’s plan to lift the White Sox curse? And hopefully keep fans from cursing?

Put the 1919 World Series ball back in its time capsule where it was found at 435 N. Michigan Avenue.

Here’s the ball: DePorter now tells Sneed he’s found the perfect spot for the “Cursed Black Sox” ball removal ceremony before returning it to the Tribune Tower.

“The ceremony will be held on March 18 as part of the 27th World Toast a Harry Caray at Navy Pier,” DePorter tweeted.

Well Foxy Moxy you.

“The original copper time capsule will be on stage. White Sox legend Ron Kittle they will attend The ceremony will take place on Major League Baseball’s opening day, and fans around the world will toast Harry Caray’s days as the White Sox announcer (1971-1981),” said DePorter.

Later that evening, the time capsule will be returned to a safe location in the Tribune building.

Ah, a showman in a baseball-enchanted town!

Turn it off!

Watching CNN Anderson Cooper getting slapped, hosed, and hosed by 16 inches of rain from Hurricane Milton for hours Wednesday night as it moved through the Tampa area in Florida was painful, heroic, and comical to watch all at once . And the same for CNN Randy Kay, barely able to withstand the force of Milton’s wind. Argh! What was that all about?

Sneedlings…

Don’t be surprised if Hillary Clinton ends up reuniting with his old friends from Park Ridge when he comes to town Sunday to launch his new nonfiction book, Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Freedom.. .The “Kid’s” Korner! Doris Kearns Goodwin will launch his first book for young people: “The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President” on Oct. 22 at an event presented by Winnetka’s venerable “The Book Stall” at the Skokie School Auditorium in Winnetka.

Saturday birthdays: CNN Chris Wallace77; actor Hugh Jackman, 56; jazz musician Chris Botti, 62… Birthday Sunday, Paul Simon, 83; country singer Lacy J. Dalton, 78; singing Marie Osmond, 65; actor Sacha Baron Cohen 53; singing ashanti, 44.