CHICAGO — Former Chicago Cubs owner Phillip K. Wrigley once said baseball “is too much of a sport to be a business and too much of a business to be a sport.”
That’s the conundrum every team owner faces: trying to win championships and make money at the same time.
Whether they’re prioritizing one over the other is something fans can — and will — argue about incessantly, and perhaps no one has been part of those types of debates more than Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox and Bulls.
Reinsdorf, who turns 87 on Saturday, has plenty of reasons to celebrate.
He’s in good health. He has a loving family, many good friends and loyal employees — and the final say on two professional teams with passionate fans in a sports-crazed city. His son, Michael, has taken over the day-to-day operation of the Bulls as team president, leaving Jerry to focus on his beloved Sox. With seven rings to his credit — six from the Bulls and one from the White Sox — he will go down as one of the most successful owner in Chicago history.
Reinsdorf has homes here and in the Phoenix area, so he can watch the Bulls play on TV and the Sox in their Cactus League games from his box at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz.
But things haven’t gone swimmingly for either team of late, and that has led to grumbling about Reinsdorf’s stewardship from fans of both teams. “Sell the team” was a frequent request from angry Sox fans last summer, some making it into a banner and unveiling it during a game at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Reinsdorf’s decision to bring close friend Tony La Russa back to manage the team in 2021 backfired in ‘22. And the disastrous season alienated some of the most loyal fans. The cancellation of SoxFest over the winter was another black mark for the team, and the lack of offseason movement only cemented the belief that Reinsdorf was not willing to spend whatever it took to get the Sox back to the World Series.
Spring training was supposed to be an opportunity for the Sox to erase the negativity of last season. But the news last month that free-agent signee Mike Clevinger was under investigation by MLB for domestic violence against the mother of his daughter created more backlash.
The decision to allow Clevinger to participate in spring training while the investigation continued only exacerbated the controversy, and Clevinger’s ill-advised remarks to the Chicago Sun-Times threatening to sue WSCR-AM 670 for allowing the victim to expound on her allegations added another layer. Now the Sox and the Score are reportedly estranged, leaving the team with just their flagship station, WMVP-AM 1000, to promote its players and new manager Pedro Grifol.
The Clevinger story is not going away any time soon, though MLB Network provided some cover Friday with a graphic on four “notable offseason transactions” by the Sox. The list didn’t include Clevinger, the team’s second biggest offseason contract after outfielder Andrew Benintendi. When the network interviewed shortstop Tim Anderson about new players, Clevinger’s name was not even brought up.
Maybe MLB Network knows something we don’t?
Anderson created news at camp last week by asking for more positivity from fans and NBC Sports Chicago studio host Chuck Garfien, a dyed-in-the-wool Sox fan. Anderson said on Garfien’s SoxTalk podcast that he wanted to see “pulling from the same string with everybody, including you.”
Garfien was taken aback and asked Anderson what he was trying to say. Anderson compared it to patting your wife on the back when she’s struggling, as if they were both part of the same family. The notion that a reporter needs to pat the players on the back instead of pointing out their shortcomings when necessary shows how clueless some are about the media.
Maybe Anderson thought that because both he and Garfien work for businesses in which Reinsdorf has the final say, a TV studio host should say only nice things about the team. Or maybe he watches a lot of Marquee Sports Network?
NBCSCH analyst Ozzie Guillén, Garfien’s co-host and a vocal critic of last year’s mess, called Anderson’s comments “sad” in an interview with @SportsTalkChi.
“When you listen to what is supposed to be the leader of the club worrying about what people say about the club, what people say about him, I think I feel embarrassed for him,” Guillén said. “I don’t think it was right to (say), especially with it being Chuck. If this kid said this about me, I’d take it.”
Meanwhile, Reinsdorf’s Bulls are threatening to spoil all the goodwill they created from last year’s return to the postseason. The Bulls made only minor additions to the bench in the offseason, have struggled to get to .500 and then stood pat at the trade deadline before losing their final six games before the All-Star break.
They added veteran guard Patrick Beverley after his contract was bought out, but whether they that will be enough to get back into a play-in tournament spot remains to be seen.
The Bulls have 22 games remaining after Friday’s 131-87 win over the Brooklyn Nets at the United Center. Even if they somehow earn a play-in spot and advance, they likely would face the Boston Celtics or Milwaukee Bucks in an opening-round playoff matchup. On the bright side, at least no one is asking Bulls fans or NBCSCH studio analyst Will Perdue to be more positive.
Hopefully Reinsdorf can enjoy his birthday celebration without the dueling distractions created by his two teams.
Cake tastes good on any occasion, and as former Tribune baseball writer Jerome Holtzman always told me about getting older, “Your health is everything.”
