Following up: Jerry Reinsdorf speaks; Lucas Giolito says more
While Jerry Reinsdorf hasn’t been particularly willing to speak on anything White Sox related that isn’t celebratory, the strength of an alumni connection was enough to get him to reveal anything about the present situation.
Reinsdorf, who earned his bachelor’s degree from George Washington University, participated in the business school’s “How COVID-19 Shook the Cactus League” project.
The interview focuses on spring training coming to a halt, and not any of the subsequent stilted negotiations between Major League Baseball and the players’ association. That said, he does go into some detail about what the stoppage looked like from his side, and offers perspective that isn’t entirely boilerplate.
This pandemic is certainly unlike anything I can remember in all my time in Major League Baseball. The only thing that would be reasonably close would be the baseball strikes in ‘81 and ‘94. They’re only similar in that we stopped playing. We always knew that sooner or later they’d be settled, and we’d come back and play. This is totally different because we don’t know how this whole pandemic thing is going to end. We don’t know if or when there’s going to be a vaccine or a cure,[ or ]when it’ll be safe to resume baseball. In my lifetime I can’t think of anything that hit suddenly like this or is as uncertain as this.
In terms of White Sox-specific anecdotes, there’s this:
We’re definitely talking to season ticket holders and trying to do everything we can for them. Every season ticket holder has an account executive. We’re constantly communicating with them, telling them what we know — which is not much. We’re sort of focusing on unwinding a business rather than running a business.
Scintillating stuff? Not really. But they’re answers to questions regarding active baseball concerns, and that qualifies as a development worth noting. As baseball unravels with the rest of the country, it might be hard for him to stay out of it.
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Lucas Giolito could have stayed out of a different “it,” which would be the police brutality protests and riots currently enveloping numerous big cities around the United States. List all the traits that apply to Giolito both nature and nurture, and you get a guy who is among the least likely to run afoul of law enforcement.
That said, he isn’t a stranger to voicing concern and empathy for a people he isn’t. Last June, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Steve Greenberg talked to Giolito about his worldview, and his increasing willingness to put himself out there. The subject at the time was Giolito’s defense of immigrants, but he intended on building credibility to bolster his voice further.
“I’d like to build some credentials first by continuing on this path of success,” said the author of a breakout first half that’s all but certain to land him on the American League roster in Cleveland. “But I want to get there — because I really don’t like it when people make judgments without having anything to back it with, without having any of their own personal life experience or talking with someone who had that life experience.” […]
“Oh, my God, it’s unbelievable when someone doesn’t want to know about another person’s experiences,” he said. “I think it’s an amazing thing.
“Look at all our Latin players, too. I see all that and say, ‘Man, why would I not want to learn and try to see how all these people got to where we are today?’ ’’
So it wasn’t surprising to see Giolito contribute a personal statement about the protests to Twitter amid reports, photos and videos of clashes around the country:
It’s important for people like him to speak, because it makes more people engage with the topic, even if it isn’t the typical source that addresses it. I mean, look at this post.
At any rate, between the pandemic response and now this, a growing part of me wonders whether the country deserves baseball, or any live sport, to come back well before localities can accommodate fans in normal-ish numbers. Sure, baseball registers as a distraction whether or not people can watch in person, but at least the setting of a ballpark or stadium provides benefits of community and shared purpose.
When it’s just on TV, it’s mainly just something else to watch. Maybe nobody should get the chance to look away. There are so many reasons why it’s so ugly, and voting only scratches the surface of addressing them.
(Portrait of Lucas Giolito by Carl Skanberg)
It’s good to see Giolito speak his mind and make a thoughtful statement
I am grateful that Lucas Giolito and Tim Anderson are on this team. That said,
Here in New York, the largest protests this week have gathered not in Central Park, Prospect Park, City Hall, or the State Courthouse, but at Barclays Center. While Gov. Cuomo said the people need sports to come back, bringing back circuses without the bread does not strike me as the top priority for this country.
Idle hands are the devil’s playground. I think we are seeing some of that right now. People need ways to occupy themselves, even if it is just sitting in front of the tube watching a game
Mine reached out to me. I told him to let the org know they should pay their staff and minor leaguers through the end of the year, honor the prorated agreement, and pay their minor leaguers a living wage.
Regretting not saying that I’d rather the stadium parking lot not be a staging ground for militarized counter-protesters, too.
I was thinking the other day about my 4 favorite Sox players: Eloy for the exuberance and joy he brings to playing the game; Moncada for the confident professionalism with which he plays; Timmy for both his passion and his social conscience; and Giolito for his thoughtful introspection and social conscience. And of course, they’re all great building blocks for a team just coming into its own. I am so glad all four are on the White Sox.
They’re kinda like the A-Team, except none of them need to be knocked unconscious to fly to the next city.
None that we know of
This is why I’m not a huge fan of athletes talking about politics. He’s currently siding with rioters burning down swathes of entire cities. At some point there has to be a bad reaction to what’s happening. Looting and murdering people is not an appropriate response.
Also supporting movements based off of false accusations is not a smart move.
I’d consider making a distinction between the protests and rioting and looting, because they don’t all share the same engine (the guy arrested for setting the Nashville courthouse on fire doesn’t fit the description of a Black Lives Matter activist). Lumping them all together really only serves the purpose of discarding the grievances entirely, which is a really effective strategy if you want nothing to change.
He doesn’t actually offer any answers other than white people are racist which just isn’t true overall.
BLM most likely is involved given they’ve murdered cops before.
I am tempted to tell you where to go really harshly, but, instead, I would ask you to please try and wrap your head around the idea of systemic racism.
It isn’t as much of a thing in Britain, where I grew up, so it took me a while to understand it here, but it’s undeniable once you get past being worried about being called racist yourself.
Most white people aren’t actively racist, but we benefit from a society that is.
hi craig. hope you’re well. you might not agree with me but i think trying to reason with someone who has expressed the above opinion is quite pointless.
Can you explain the laws that are?
It’s the laws that are ignored that are the problem.
I only say this because I assume you are going to point to a law that disproportionately affects black people when I could also point to one that affects white people. In a truly diverse society there will always be differing outcomes. Not to mention they enjoy a higher quality of of life here than Africa. Given the fact that they dominate sports and music you can’t possibly maintain that America hates black people.
Thoughts like this create an environment where riots happen and black people are usually the ones who suffer most from this.
Good Lord. I tried to give you some benefit of the doubt, but bringing up Africa shatters it. African-Americans are Americans. They’ve been Americans longer than most of us Americans have been Americans. You’re not telling Giolito to go back to Italy, or me to consider living in Poland. Any other country or continent is wholly irrelevant. We’re all Americans, whether you like it or not.
Hope you don’t mind people thinking less of you now, because I certainly do.
(voice of Darrin Jackson)
Oh My!
I thought it was the Jews that dominated music. Or is it just the media and the banks? I get so confused sometimes.
It’s puzzling to me why folks get upset when athletes (or sportswriters, for that matter) talk politics. They are just people with opinions, like everyone else we know. Some opinions are more informed than others, like everyone else we know. But ultimately, this is not just “politics.” It’s a hugely important cultural event.
This isn’t even on the list of the Top 100 most important things about these protests, but this post’s mashup of pandemic games and protest response got me thinking: could these protests be influential in determining when (or if) fans will be allowed in sporting events this season?
From what I can tell, protestors across the country have been very COVID-conscious (as much as one could hope to be in the circumstances) by generally wearing masks and social distancing, but these are still enormous gatherings of people—of the kind, I seem to recall, experts think especially ripe for spreading this virus. I saw some cities are attempting contract tracing with protestors.
In other words, these protests are going to be a kind of test for how well very large groups can gather if people are generally mindful, mostly wearing masks, etc.
That means worst case scenario 31 people were racist definitely not worth protesting over and burning down entire cities, but if you believe everything the media says that’s most likely how you end up coming to your conclusions.
*I guess 235 in 2019 but my point stands