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Thanks a lot, Mississippi State…

Since this game was played in Las Vegas, the game didn’t end until midnight!

It’s hard to imagine, especially as I write this post with cracked, dry knuckles, that preseason baseball is really here. The White Sox, along with 13 other teams, play exhibition games in the Arizona heat, rounding out what is known as the Cactus League. And while exhibition games are notorious for being snore fests, they do signal us that warmer days are ahead, particularly for those like us in Chicago who are still having to deal with the occasional single digit morning temps. Today, the Sox take on the Los Angeles Angels, a game that will be broadcast on Sox radio 670 The Score.

Interesting tidbit about the Angels, did you know that the Angels played their first season as a baseball team in Wrigley Field? No, not the Friendly Confines stadium, but the original Wrigley Field, in Los Angeles! Yes, you read that correctly. The original Wrigley Field was built in 1925 for the Los Angeles Angels when they were a mere minor league baseball team. OK, so Wrigley Field in Chicago was built before the one in L.A. You got me there. However, the park in Chicago was at that time called Cubs Park while the one in L.A. opened up with the name Wrigley Field. So, technically, the park out in L.A. is the first park with the Wrigley Field moniker. Since the park was so close to Hollywood, the park was used a lot for television and the movies. Take a look at this great ad:

My favorite use for the park was for the Home Run Derby program. Check out this episode of Hank Aaron vs. Duke Snider! Host Mark Scott even asks Snider what he feels about the Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to Los Angles. Does he really want to know the answer to that question? Speaking of home run derby, this is also pretty awesome.

Back to the White Sox. The South Siders have moved their spring training from Tucson to Glendale, Arizona. The new stadium, Camelback Ranch, is the largest in the league with a 13,000 seating capacity. Along with the Sox, the L.A. Dodgers will also be called Camelback home until the first of April. I have to say, it sure looks nice:

Okay, one last word about baseball. Not only am I planning on watching baseball this season, but I’m also challenging myself to reading one baseball book for each month of the duration of the season, including two months for the preseason and one for postseason. Interestingly, my first book starts off with the White Sox in spring training during the 60’s. Total, there are nine (get it) books I plan to have read by October. Here is my planned reading schedule:

Inning 1: The Summer Game by Roger Angell
Inning 2: The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
Inning 3:Ball Four by Jim Bouton
Inning 4: Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
Inning 5: City Baseball Magic by Phillip Bess
Inning 6: Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck
Inning 7: The Natural by Bernard Malamud
Inning 8: Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof
Inning 9: Autumn Glory by Louis P. Masur

Since I haven’t been reading regularly this might prove to be quite the on taking. Play ball!

Did you know that before the Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Arizona in `88 that the team called Chicago home for the first 60+ years of their existence? It’s true! The Cardinals started in Chicago as The Morgan Athletic Club in 1898. The team soon changed their name to the Racine (after a street name in Chicago) Cardinals, even borrowing used uniforms from the Univeristy of Chicago. In 1920, the team payed their $100 due to become a charter member of the National Football League. Around this time, the team changed its name once again to the Chicago Cardinals and started playing their home games at the White Sox stadium, Comiskey park. In 1947, twenty years before the creation of the Super Bowl, the Cardinals won the NFL Championship against Philadelphia 28-21. The next year, the Cardinals had an even better season than the year before, but lost a rematch with Philadelphia in the championship game under blizzard weather conditions 7 – 0. However, today the team is probably most known for losing 29 straight games, finally breaking the streak with a win over the Chicago Bears. In 1960, the team left Chicago for the Gateway City, St. Louis. Check out more Chicago Cardinals history here.

Below, the 1947 NFL Champs:

Now, I’m not 100% sure but it seems I promised that I wouldn’t post anything more about baseball until the new season. However, that was before I discovered the Korean comics of Choi Hoon. From what little I can gather, Mr. Hoon has been creating baseball comics that satirizes the teams and players of the MLB since 2004. And since they’re all in Korean, I think I can safely assume they weren’t attended for an American audience. Even so, there must have been a big enough buzz about the strip to warrant a translation of several of the strips in the The New York Times in 2005.

I’ve discussed baseball comics on the blog before. My favorite, the White Sox cartoon An Illustrated History of the Sagacious, chronicled (quite wittingly, I might add) the entire 2008 season. Stylistic, Sagacious is black and white with illustrations that resemble political cartoons. Hoon’s strip is in vibrant color and feels like it belongs on the Sunday funnies. Still, since the entire strip is in Korean, it leaves a lot to the imagination. However, I find them a treat to the eye.

Through the past years, Hoon has taken on the White Sox on more than on occasion. Here is one from 2005 that seems to depict Ozzie Guillen going through the bullpen (check out #45 Big Bobby Jenks) to strike out a batter. The last frame shows the rest of the Sox pitchers frustrated and quarreling. Of course, 2005 was the year the Sox won the World Series, and the start of the silly phrase “Grinder Ball” (For official Grinder Ball rules, click here). So, instead of fighting, I suppose they could just be grinding it out. Either way, enjoy:

BTW, the title of this post references the term Hot Stove League, which itself refers to the baseball off-season.

Last night, Apryl and I made our way over to the United Center to catch the Chicago Bulls take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. We were joined by others taking part in the Memphis Tigers Chicago Club (if you follow the link, you’ll see me in two of the photos). Typically, we get together to watch major games throughout the season at Junior’s Sports Lounge, so last night felt more like a field trip. Unfortunately, we were in the midst of folks that already seemed to know one another, so we felt a bit left out.

Oh well, it was still fun to watch fellow Tigers Derrick Rose (22 pts) and Rodney Carney (6 pts) playing against one another on a professional level. It was also nice to see past Grizzlies Mike Miller and Brian Cardinal out on the court playing for the Timberwolves. Check out this great, diplomatic (albeit oversized) shirt that Apryl made for the game:

In front of a crowd of 20,000+, the Bulls lost 102-92 to one of the worst teams in the NBA. Still, you have to admire such a turn out:

Towards the end of the game, the crowd dwindled and started to look more like a Grizzlies crowd:

Of course, any trip to the United Center requires one to pay their respects to the Legend:

About as dramatic as turning a corn field into a baseball field, the folks at the NHL have converted the baseball field at the Friendly Confines into an ice rink for this year’s edition of the Winter Classic with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. Check out this time lapse video of just what it took to make this amazing transformation. Game starts today at noon!

So, last night I braved the cold weather and shivered on over to the Map Room where I catch the Tigers take on UMass on ESPN “Up All Night”. Really, what was up with that tip off time? 11:00pm?!? I guess they were hoping to grab some of the Monday Night Football viewership, but I could have easily done with a earlier time on ESPN 2. Of course, few bars in my neighborhood would have shown anything other than the football game, so I suppose I should be thankful I got to catch my Tigers at all.

So, what do I think of the post Dream Team team? Well, I have to say we sure look sloppy. To be fair, even the Dream Team looked sloppy at times but still… Last night, there were way too many turnovers, failed layups, and poor three point shooting. I know, it’s early. But if it hadn’t been for those 24 turnovers allowed by UMass we might have been unnecessarily biting our nails. OK, so what about the positives?

We look good as a team (though I have a feeling we’re really going to miss having big man Dorsey dominating the inside). We play well together. No selfish play here. It sure was nice seeing Dozier and Anderson back on the court as well as seeing more playing time from Kemp and Taggart. And, my goodness, Henderson-Niles is a tank! I looked it up, he’s 310 pounds! Of course, the asset most worthy of praise is #12. Evans will be a joy to watch this season! Sure, he might not be Derrick Rose, but who is? As good as Evans is, I’m hoping he’s more CDR good, meaning he’ll stay longer than a season.

And, let’s not forget the most meaningful thing about last night’s win. At 221 wins, Coach Cal is now the all-time leader of victories in Tigers’ history, surpassing the legendary Larry Finch! Congratulations Coach!

Should be another fun season!

P.S. Anyone else see this great photo?