The White Sox have a new outfielder, at least in spirit.
Before Game 1 of the World Series, Harry Meyer, 49, scoped out a piece of green on U.S. Cellular Field for his brother-in-law, Tom Bond.
As the Houston Astros popped batting practice balls into the stands, Meyer opened a film canister just over left-center field, scattering ashes onto the grass below.
“It wasn’t a whole lot of Tom, but it was enough,” Meyer said. “I went to a lot of baseball games with him over the years.”
Bond, 61, died in 2000. For 35 years, the Chicago high school teacher celebrated the Sox opener by taking the day off from classes. He’d gather two dozen friends and relatives for the game, then host a party at his Southwest Side home. That tradition continues, with the party adding a toast to Bond.
Though the Sox now have chalked up two out-of-this-world wins, Meyer said he’s not one to attribute that to Bond’s ashes.
“I’ll bet there’s a lot of little things people did,” he said. “It added up to a lot of karma that has the Sox on a roll.”
A spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health said people frequently scatter ashes in public areas such as parks and it poses no hazard.
Bond likely wouldn’t care for publicity about taking a place on the Sox field, said his wife, Linda. But the World Series is another matter.
“He’d be in heaven with the whole thing,” she said.
Mayoral roller coaster
Mayor Richard Daley said he rode an emotional roller coaster at Sunday’s game.
“If you are at the game, you had your high,” he said. “Then you had your lows and, all of a sudden, you have a high. It’s amazing. That’s what sports is all about.”
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Daley said he is not hoping the Sox lose in Houston so they can win the series in Chicago.
“I just want them to win,” he said. “If they win four [straight], let’s win four. … You don’t want to say, `Come back to Chicago.’ No way.”
Asked about Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s one-time pledge not to wear a White Sox cap because he is a Cubs fan, Daley said, “Well, I wore a Cubs hat when they played Atlanta” in the National League playoffs two years ago. “Remember, these are [only] baseball games.”
Daley, who is heading to Washington for meetings with federal officials Tuesday, said he planned to watch the game on television. He said he will travel to Houston to attend Game 4.
Sox-ing it to him
In offices around Chicagoland, some Sox fans who are on top of the world are not acting like they’ve been there before because, well, they haven’t. And when they are feeling particularly boastful their prey, of course, are Cubs fans.
White socks, possibly clean, are left on desks. Tinley Park Village Manager Scott Niehaus, a lifelong Cubs fan in an office brimming with South Side pride, has felt it as much as anyone. Village employees were allowed to adorn their best Sox regalia, and to Niehaus’ chagrin they all made sure he saw it.
“I had no less than 17 people poke their head in my office” to show off their finest blacks and whites, Niehaus said. “I have been taking it pretty hard.”
Niehaus has suffered being a Cubs fan in Soxland, he said. In addition to his Wrigley Field pictures and Cubs’ bobbleheads, he has reminders–a chunk of fallen concrete symbolizing Wrigley Field, a slice of cork memorializing Sammy Sosa–of how his colleagues goad him about his lovable losers’ lack of postseason success.
Niehaus takes the pokes in stride, saying it’s “all been in good taste.”
Cougar makes good
As proud and excited as the Kane County Cougars are this year over seeing “local” boy Scott Podsednik make good with the White Sox, the organization has been fortunate to have a vested interest in several recent World Series, said general manager Jeff Sedivy.
Podsednik, whose walk-off home run Sunday gave the Sox a 2-0 edge over Houston, played for the Geneva-based Cougars in 1997.
“I don’t know if words can describe it, but it’s just a pretty tremendous feeling any time you see one of the kids who played here just get into the big leagues,” Sedivy said. “Just watching [Podsednik] hit that home run was cool.”
While less than 10 percent of Class A minor leaguers make it to the major leagues, more than 30 percent of the Cougars’ alumni have made it, Sedivy said.
The ascent of Podsednik is especially gratifying, he said, because of his personality. He “is just really a great person and a kid who worked hard. He doesn’t take anything for granted,” said Sedivy.
The Cougars will host an invitation-only World Series party Wednesday in Geneva for more than 200 season-ticket holders, advertisers and sponsors. Among them are Max and Jane Akerman of Wheaton, who maintained a relationship with Podsednik following his playing days in Kane County. As participants in the “Adopt-a-Cougar” program, the Akermans opened their home to Podsednik.
Puppy love
Peter Huynh’s mixed pitbull Precious gave birth to 11 puppies over the weekend in Bridgeport. Ten survived, and Huynh said he would name them after the White Sox starting lineup. The 10th puppy was to be named after manager Ozzie Guillen.
Huynh, a construction worker, barely slept after Precious had her litter Friday night. The father is a Springer Spaniel named Sparky.
“I was dreaming about it,” Huynh said. “We just love the White Sox. And I’m an animal lover. We named the puppies after the players, maybe it will be lucky for the White Sox.”
The pups range from a black dog to a white dog and browns and other shades in between, said Bob Greco, a friend and business partner with Huynh.
“The dogs are so diverse because of their colors. It’s like the diversity of the Sox,” Greco said.