Winter Caravan

Once upon a time, the White Sox conducted a winter caravan through hill and vale, doing meet-and-greets with fans in the boondocks. I have a vague memory of pictures in the sports’ section showing players as they filed out of a bus in someplace like Peoria or East Moline. The Sox don’t do that anymore. In fact, they don’t do anything anymore, except hire people away from the Royals. Just for fun, I Googled “winter caravan” and found that the Twins still do one. It’ll take place over the course of several days starting next week, through eleven communities in Minnesota; Iowa; and North and South Dakota. Different groups of players; former players; coaches and broadcasters will be assigned to each of three legs (rotating personnel to avoid frostbite, no doubt). Wait, there’s more. The team will also be taking part in a number of fundraisers. This one’s my favorite, the Justin Morneau “Ice Fishing Classic” in Isle, Minnesota, with money going to help military families. And to think for years I hated Morneau and his 109 career RBIs against the Sox. I was wrong, and, anyway, he had one more RBI against the Indians-not-yet-Guardians.