Civil War

White Sox fans really do hate Cubs’ fans; whether or not those folks return the favor is immaterial.  I wonder if it was ever this way in New York or Philadelphia.  Clare is going to the Sox-Cubs’ game tomorrow, and I’m crossing my fingers she won’t pick a fight with some loudmouthed Cubs’ fan.

The two teams have found ways to play one another since forever, probably starting with the 1906 World Series, won by the good guys four games to two.  I have in front of me a scorecard courtesy of the old Chicago Herald-American of a Sox-Cubs’ exhibition game, played sometime between the late 1930s and ’40s; again, the good guys won by a score of 4-1 with Ted Lyons pitching.  And today’s Sun-Times noted the exhibition game of August 18, 1969, won, unfortunately, by the bad guys, 2-0.  But the Cubs went in the tank soon after, so there’s that.

I remember the game because we were coming home from our family vacation in Colorado.  My father drove the Dodge to the top of Pike’s Peak, and we lived to tell the tale.  It was after dinner somewhere when we heard the news that Sox rookie Carlos May lost the top half of his right thumb in a training accident with the Marines, something about a mortar mishap.  I was days away from starting senior year of high school.  St. Laurence was a world away from the Rocky Mountains, just as I am today from 1969.

Giolito against Lester.  Go Sox!