Word: veeck
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ringmaster rose early, put on a yellow turtleneck shirt and made his one-legged way to Comiskey Park, which weathers gracefully on the South Side of Chicago, like the ringmaster himself. It was clear and warm and sunlit, a morning for the gods, but Bill Veeck's team, the White Sox, had not descended from Olympus. From Alan Bannister at shortstop to Richie Zisk in right field, the 1977 Sox are human, at best...
Attendance remains uncertain. Seventeen seasons without a pennant have eroded the old South Side enthusiasm. Compared to what baseball men hold in Los Angeles and New York, Veeck's bank accounts are light. Destructive-possibly planted-rumors are abroad that he may not have the cash to finish this season. Bill Veeck, who is 63, tugged at an ear, limped in behind his desk and, smiling a civil defiance, went to work...
...thing is sure, the "Billy market" is out there. Says Oakland Athletics Boss Charlie Finley: "I see where Bill Veeck [Chicago White Sox owner] is trying to get President Carter to throw out the first ball on opening day. Well, I'm trying to get Billy Carter. He's my kind of guy." Bantam Books rushed into print a collection of Billy's tell-it-like-it-is shots from the hip. An embarrassingly thin volume, Redneck Power: The Wit and Wisdom of Billy Carter sells for $1.50, yet went through its first printing...
Finley said he had been forced to sell because of "astronomical and unjustified" player salary demands. Angry fellow owners called it "a terrible thing," "a dark day." White Sox Owner Bill Veeck's telling summary: "It destroys the illusion ... that this is a game for the fans." The fans knew it, too, even in Boston and New York. Of the first 20 calls to a Boston sports talk show, not one defended the Sox deal. New York Times Columnist Dave Anderson wrote: "A sense of embarrassment dominates what the Yankees...
...Veeck is the ultimate innovator, yet no one is more of a traditionalist. The son of a sportswriter who later ran the Chicago Cubs, he has spent most of his life around ballparks. "Baseball is a game with a long tradition," he says. "A father takes his son or daughter and they in turn take a son or daughter. It is important that tradition not be lost." But long before other owners realized it-and some still do not-Veeck saw that baseball's tradition was meaningless if its fans did not enjoy themselves. The last time Veeck came...