Criminal and Clueless

Jerry Reinsdorf lives, if only to further irritate his critics while demonstrating a jaw-dropping cluelessness. Yesterday, the Sun-Times quoted from a letter Reinsdorf wrote to federal authorities regarding Mike Madigan, former speaker of the Illinois General Assembly convicted of ten corruption counts and awaiting sentencing. Reinsdorf spoke of Madigan’s “character and his lifetime commitment to improving the lives of all Illinoisans.” Never one to abandon a friend, especially one who engineered a publicly-funded stadium back in 1988, Reinsdorf wrote that, “Saving the White Sox resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefit to Illinois, not to mention making possible the first World Series championship in 88 years.” That’s one way of looking at it. So far, though, no word from Reinsdorf on the pitiful play of the White Sox, who lost to the Tigers at home last night by a score of 13-1. Just as I predicted, Detroit starter Jack Flaherty lowered his ERA from 3.94 to 3.72. At the same time, Luis Robert Jr. lowered his batting average to .177 after an 0-for-3 night batting seventh. But only one strikeout. Jerry Reinsdorf, friend of felons, enemy of good baseball.