Step on a Crack

Call me superstitious, whatever. But I didn’t like the comment by new White Sox closer Liam Hendriks, as reported in today’s Sun-Times. Hendriks admitted on a podcast last week, “I’m an egotistical narcissist [if one, then the other, no?] on the mound who just believes I am better than everybody.” Fans and teammates should be OK with this because “I want to win a ring. Everything else comes second.” Hendriks also wants to do so well that his stats “make sure that [his] deal looks like a bargain.” Yes, I know this is what most players say with their inside voice, but, whether or not he knows it, Hendriks is tempting fate in ways that only Sox fans can appreciate. Allow me three examples. Be warned, for some of you this may be a stroll down memory lane for masochists only. In 1967, the Sox finished a mere three games out of first place, and it wasn’t because of the pitching; the team’s 2.45 ERA led all of baseball. However, the team’s .225 BA ranked tied for second worst in all of baseball. So GM Ed Short went out and got Luis Aparicio and Russ Snyder from the O’s along with Tommie Davis from the Mets. The South Siders proceeded to lose their first ten games of the ’68 season on their way to recording twenty-two fewer wins than the year before. In 1983, the Sox won the AL West only to fall to Baltimore in the Championship Series. GM Roland Hemond [in many ways the best GM in team history] pulled off what looked to be a master stroke in the offseason by plucking Tom Seaver off the Mets. Nope, no repeat of a division title. That would have to wait another ten years to happen. Lastly, we have 2005, the year of the Championship. GM Kenny Williams borrowed a page from the Bill Veeck playbook by refusing to stand pat in the wake of a World Series appearance. Too bad Williams repeated Veeck’s mistake of trading away young talent in the process. Oh, Jim Thome hit majestic homeruns, but at the cost of Aaron Rowand and Gio Gonzalez. Javier Vavquez was OK as a starter, but not in exchange for Chris Young and his 191career homers. Now, with Hendriks popping off, it feels like déjà vu all over again. Of course, I’m just a guy typing away in the January cold of his bungalow basement. I could be entirely wrong. I hope.