New Eras for Cubs, Sox; Tribute to Dick Allen

June 26, 2012 @ admin → No Comments

Random thoughts while wondering whether the Chicago Cubs eventually will place a flag on one of the fouls poles for Anthony Rizzo. OK, not really wondering whether they will do so; merely wondering which foul pole it will be:

It has been far too long since we last ran a photo of Jaime Edmondson.

* The advent of the aforementioned first baseman — long a prized project of Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein — signals a new era for the franchise. Unless he struggles as he did last season when he came up from the minor leagues and batted .141 (18-for-128) with one homer and nine RBI in 49 games with the San Diego Padres; in which case it will be a new error for the franchise. Wel, presumably even that would be better than an old error, no?

* The aforementioned Epstein has said he does not believe in AAAA players (meaning they are better than Class AAA but not up to big-league levels of success). As a reference point, here are Rizzo’s numbers with Class AAA Iowa: .342 batting average, Pacific Coast-leading 23 home runs and 62 RBI (third in the league). So even if he does half as well with the big-league team, he should hit .171? Well, that would be an improvement of his Padres performance.

* So will baseball historians count the Cubs’ 6-1 victory Monday June 25) against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field as the first of Rizzo’s reign, or does he actually have to be playing for the contest to count and/or on the roster?

Liz has pro hockey aspirations. See video below.

* Speaking of new eras, the Chicago White Sox began the Kevin Youkilis era with a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins. OK, it’s not exactly the Youkilis era as much as it is the rest of the season. With the thought being there will be a postseason to go with that.

* White Sox ~~slugger~~ whiffer Adam Dunn is far from done in his pursuit (unintentional, presumably) of the big-league record for strikeouts in a season. Arizona’s Mark Reynolds set the mark with 223 in 2009. At his current rate of striking out 47 percent of the time (119 in 255 at-bats), Dunn would break the record in 222 more at-bats. The anticipation builds.

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This was going to be a photo of former White Sox slugger Dick Allen, but these two lovely ladies got in the way. A likely story.

Hats off — all right, actually more like baseball caps off — to the Chicago Baseball Museum for its tribute to Dick Allen and the 1972 White Sox. The event was Monday at the Stadium Club at U.S. Cellular Field. Richard Roeper and Mark Liptak served as co-emcees for the tribute ceremony.

Longtime Sox organist Nancy Faust, who retired after the 2010 season, provided the music that included a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” during the tribute portion of the program and ’70s tunes before dinner that had patrons wondering where the floor for disco dancing was.

Dr. David Fletcher, president and founder of the Chicago Baseball Museum, presented a plaque to Roland Hemond, the former Sox executive who helped build the ’72 Sox.

Speaking as a teammate of Allen, Hall of Fame pitcher Rich “Goose” Gossage entertained the audience with a speech that lasted longer than some of his efforts as a closer. Among their Sox teammates attending were Tom Bradley, Carlos May and Ed Spezio. Also at the event was former Sox pitcher Billy Pierce.

Allen expressed his gratitude to the Sox, his teammates and the fans of Chicago: