I’ve spent a lot of time on sitting on planes with nothing but my computer to occupy retirement, and they continue to be constructive hours towards getting some words on a page.  I’ll continue in a baseball-mode from yesterday’s “Old Sport Shorts” post about the “Damn Yankees.”  Well, they did it again, easily whipping my White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. The beating was apparent in the Yankees first at bats, taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.  I hadn’t even had a hot dog yet, but was already beginning to lose my appetite.

I had a couple of martinis at “Harry Caray’s” restaurant before we hopped-on the Red Line for the ballpark.  Rain showers looked like they were going to delay the start of the game, and there was no batting practice since the tarp covered the infield as we arrived.  Good memories of being there for the 2005 World Series dominated my thoughts as we searched for our box seats.  I did not have a seat for the World Series back in 2005, but a “Press Pass” badge dangled from the lanyard around my neck.  The crew from my television station that I rode with to Chicago had just done a live shot for our Early News just outside the stadium.  There was a strong sense of optimism for a Sox victory that I sensed in the early-arriving crowd that overfilled the stands.  The ballpark was then called U.S. Cellular Field or “The Cell.”  It was originally called Comiskey Park, but major sponsorship has apparently lowered it’s status to just a field.  It’s difficult to adopt the new “Guaranteed Rate” name after knowing it so many years as simply Comiskey.  “The Cell” was kind of a nice compromise between a last name and a corporate identity.  Last night, there were a noticeable number of empty seats, characteristic of a team with the worst record in the American League.  It appeared as if there were more Yankee fans in the crowd, but I certainly expected higher attendance to see the best team in the American League and their rookie slugger, Aaron Judge.  As they used to say on the comedy TV show, Laugh-In, “Here Come de Judge!”

The White Sox did rally in the 5th inning to make it 3-2, so I ordered a hot dog to celebrate.  However, by the time I got to my second hot dog, and was in the process of loading it with mustard, I nearly missed “De Judge” hit a line-drive rocket into the left field stands, his MLB-leading 27th home run of the season. It left the field of play so fast that it was hard to spot, and I had to wait until this morning to see the replay.  The home team wisely does not like to flaunt the success of the opposition on the big screen!  The second hot dog was not as tasty as the first, during this evil Yankee surge to take an 8-2 lead.

My wife played games on her I-pad during most of the action, but did grow fond of the name, Melky Caberra, but left to use the facilities during the five-run Yankee outburst.  She heard the roar of the crowd, and knew she missed something when she finally returned to our seats.  I patiently explained that Aaron Judge just might be the next Babe Ruth, and she seemed impressed.  I had spent the day before, admiring a friend’s massive sports memorabilia collection in Indianapolis.  It’s truly much more impressive than the Smithsonian!  He has an autographed Babe Ruth bat and ball in one of the many trophy cases.  My wife has admired it on several occasions while we lived in Indy.  Albert Pujols had just recently been to visit it, and my friend let him take a swing, so he wanted his autographed ball placed in the same case, as close to the bat as possible.  My collector-friend has found a special item for my wife to give me for my birthday, and she was hoping that it was the Babe’s Bat.  If he would even sell it, it would not be in Trump’s gift budget, and besides she would have had to buy it from Albert Pujols!

I was hoping to see some White Sox “fireworks” last night, and witness the scoreboard explosion, but that was yet to happen with the score escalating to 10-2.  The Yankees had several homers, reminiscent of the game 57 years ago that my dad took me to see.  The newly installed “Monster” in 1960 was equally quiet that night, but Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris easily found the bleacher seats, while Manager Casey Stengel greeted them at the dugout steps with sparklers that he had brought to mock the flashy scoreboard.  The White Sox did homer in the bottom of the 9th last night to narrow the rout to 12-3, but we had left long before that brief moment of Sox success.   I suspect that only Yankee fans were left to see the consolation prize.

My wife got her Dippin’ Dots, a treat we had ordered at our first Yankees game together in NYC back in 1999.  We also stood on top of the Observation Deck of the World Trade Center that morning, something we will never get the chance to duplicate after the 911 attack the following year.  She was happy to exit the stadium early last night, with the game threatened by thundershowers and more Yankee home runs!  On the way out of Guaranteed Rate, after loss was surely guaranteed, I bought a “surprise” baseball for my modest sports collection of memorabilia.  There was definitely no guarantee of who’s signature would be on the ball I purchased, but it was for Sox charity.  After witnessing defeat-in-the-making and watching the giddy Yankee fans, I figured that the autograph would probably turn out be equally as worthless as the game itself.  In fact, when I opened the Chinese take-out box that concealed the surprise ball, I was not even familiar with the name!

The signature on the ball belonged to Yoan Moncada, a top prospect from Cuba that the White Sox acquired through the Red Sox as part of the Chris Sale trade.  Yoan is a minor league offensive sensation with exceptional speed that could be a future star when he’s brought up from Charlotte.  He’s apparently not much on defense, but wears the #10 White Sox jersey of arguably the best defensive catcher the game has ever seen.  (See Post #5:  Who Was That Masked Man?)  The surprise was then worth every penny of my donation, and gives me something to look forward to in August when they finally add him to the roster help “pick up the pieces” from a seemingly dismal White Sox season.

One additional magical moment happened at the ballpark last night.  I posted a picture of the famous “Monster” scoreboard on Facebook, and at the same time noticed that a long-lost business-friend had posted a similar photo at about the same time.  She was in the stands, and responded to my comments on being in the same place at the same time.  Shortly after, she graciously came down to our seats for a short reunion, having just spent some time with White Sox Hall-of-Famer, Frank Thomas.  It had been over a decade since my wife and I had worked with her on several syndication projects.  She had once given me an autographed copy of “M is for Murder,” from my author-heroine, Sue Grafton.  It had been personally signed, “M is for Mike.”  (See post #128)  Her visit, and sparkling personality, made my wife’s night at the ballpark special above and beyond the Dippin’ Dots, and allowed us to get her current contact information.  That’s the second re-connection I’ve made this year through Facebook. (See Post #15).

After a night of coincidences, for a brief moment I imagined that my surprise baseball could be signed by Frank Thomas.  I do have his autographed Hoosier brand bat in my collection at home.  Yoan Moncada will do nicely, though, especially because of the #10 that I wore in my mediocre days on the diamond, because of former White Sox, Sherm Lollar.  Ron Santo also wore #10 for the White Sox after coming over from the Cubs, so he bridges my connection with the two Chicago teams.  I admit being fickle, favoring the winner!  I also like the fact that the Chicago Cubs were once the Chicago White Stockings, so I can justify them in my mind as the same team.  Baseball history is important to me, as well, so the evolution of jersey #10 from past to future players is cool.  However, #10 should have been retired, and Sherm Lollar should be in the National Hall of Fame, not just in the White Sox Hall of Fame. (See Post #5).

The Yankees continued to score runs, long after we left the ballpark, had taken the Red Line back to our parked rental car, and then returned it to Hertz at O’Hare.   The “Damn Yankees” ultimately amassed 13 runs – only unlucky for the home team!  We finally arrived at the Airport Renaissance hotel, where during our last visit the Cubs won the World Series on November 2nd, as we watched from the bar with a group of strangers, all on the edge of our seats.

As part of that Chicago visit, we had gone to games 4 and 5 at Wrigley, watched game 6 with my wife’s mother back in Indiana, and thanks to the cancelled flight were able to watch the finale from Cleveland at the Airport Renaissance.  If it weren’t for the cancellation, I would have been stuck on the low-budget airline without Wi-Fi and would have missed the whole celebration.  It was result of a plan I put together just after home field for the World Series was determined by the All-Star Game.  I bought some cheap airline tickets from Portland to Chicago, but miscalculated the date of the return flight.  I chuckled to myself as I booked the trip in, knowing it would take a grandiose-kind-of-miracle for the Cubs to finally ever host World Series games.  My fear of also jinxing the possibility of this miracle, was then rationalized by purchasing tickets for the Bears game against the Vikings on Halloween, just in case.  My foolish notion was additionally fueled with the potential difficulty of securing tickets should everything somehow fall into place.

As it turned out, the Cubs won game 5 and the hapless Bears somehow beat the Vikings, so I got the best of both worlds.  I also went to Harry Caray’s, just as we did yesterday, but added the Billy Goat Tavern last year just to help break the curse. We were lucky on the return flight, just as we were lucky to run into our friend last night at the game.  Plus, all those memories of Cubs glory came flooding back, as I stood in the bar at the Renaissance this morning.  I then did the same victory run that I completed back in November, sadly acknowledging that the Cubs were in danger of losing the series to the Nats, but also sent both Montero and Schwarber down to the minors, and have lost Zobrist and now Bryant to injuries.  Plus, the White Sox were drubbed by the Yankees again last night, who may very well be the team to replace the Cubs as World Series Champions.  This morning’s run was indeed troublesome, but that’s the way the ball bounces!