History awaits
Sensing history, White Sox fans from Chicago and across the country skipped work, pulled the kids out of classes and converged on Houston on Wednesday, gobbling up tickets from disheartened Astros fans who couldn’t bare the thought of a Sox sweep.
Craig Hasse and his friends watched Tuesday night’s game at T.C. Pub in Oak Lawn, and decided when the Sox won–about 1:20 a.m. Wednesday–that they had to be in Houston.
Hasse, 25, of south suburban Hometown, said they booked last-minute tickets and paid a broker $250 apiece for standing-room-only seats. Though still weary from the party in Oak Lawn, “I wouldn’t miss this,” he said.
Neither would Daniel Simmons, a transplanted Texan who grew up in Wheaton. Simmons, 43, drove in from Dallas on Wednesday morning, determined to find a ticket. “It’s a pilgrimage as far as I’m concerned,” Simmons said.
Bob Gamber, 38, of Union, Ky., woke up at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday and decided to cash in frequent-flier miles. A native of Glenview, he hastily booked a flight from Cincinnati to arrive in Houston ticketless and with no place to stay. No matter. “I realized that we are in the midst of history,” he said.
Astros fans, meanwhile, tried to remain upbeat, though several confided they had little hope for the remainder of the Series.
Robert Skelton, 27, a Houston native, said flatly, “They’re going to do it.” But his words seemed to defy his heart, and they certainly defied his sign. Skelton walked around the park toting a piece of poster board that said, “No matter what, I’m proud of you Astros!”
Houston ticket broker Alan Mondshine of AA Tickets said prices for seats were plummeting Wednesday. By midafternoon, they were down at least $100 each from their previous highs, he said.
Signs point the way for White Sox
Bitten by Sox fever, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority has been using its traffic message signs to blink “Go Sox!” since the American League Championship Series.
With the World Series, it began a countdown, boasting “2 down, 2 to go!” on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it crowed, “3 down, 1 to go!”
“We are prepared to run `Chicago White Sox, 2005 World Series Champions,'” tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said.
The key to a Series
Great pitching is the key to clinching a World Series, says the son of the Butcher Boy of the White Sox.
The Butcher Boy, better known as White Sox pitcher Joseph Benz, took his place in the baseball history books by throwing a no-hitter in 1914 against the Cleveland Indians. The Sox scored six runs in that game, while the Indians put one on the board.
“I think that always bothered him a little,” his son, Joe Benz, said of that wayward run.
The younger Benz, now 87, lives in the Mother Theresa Home at the Franciscan Village in Lemont, where he’s become a minor celebrity to many of his 118 fellow residents.
Few knew of his connection to local baseball lore until two weeks ago, when his nurse, Nedra O’Neill, started pulling the pitcher’s photos and factoids from the Internet. She made a scrapbook, which Benz proudly displays to anyone who asks.
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“I was born a month after the World Series,” Benz said of 1917, the last time the Sox claimed the title.He’s been watching the Series games with about 20 residents, and Benz said he’s surprised he’s lived long enough to see the team at the doorstep of greatness.
“They’ve been so long in coming,” he said. “It’s been great.”
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