Veeck as in Wreck

I could talk about how average Dylan Cease looked last night in a 5-2 loss to the Padres or how Elvis Andrus shouldn’t have been allowed back on the field after getting picked off of second base in the eighth inning, or how Jake Diekman gave up another run in relief, but why bother? It’s all been said before. Better to note the passing of Maryfrances Veeck last month at the age of 102. She was the wife of White Sox owner Bill Veeck and someone who was kind enough to do a blurb for the book I wrote on Comiskey Park. We stayed in touch for a while; Maryfrances liked smart people. Let’s just say she made me feel and act smart. Like her husband, Maryfrances never hid from people. After his death in 1986, she volunteered her time to several activities, often through her parish in Hyde Park. If you were on Maryfrances’s side, you knew you were on the right side. That knowledge kept me going to fight for the preservation of Comiskey Park. Maryfrances Veeck was right, the team her husband once owned so very wrong. I hope to live long enough to see that change someday. If only it happens by the time I reach 102.