There were plenty of highlights for the Chicago White Sox this season as the team won 93 games on their way to a division title.
Glencoe residents Rick Hahn and Len Kasper enjoyed a unique perspective from their respective seats this season and are hoping there is still plenty more baseball to enjoy this fall.
On Thursday, the Sox will start their American League Division Series in Houston taking on the Astros, following the team’s Central Division championship, their first since 2008.
It’s the first time in franchise history the team will go to the playoffs in consecutive seasons.
“There was this confidence going back to spring training this team could get itself in (the) position that it is in today,” said Hahn, the team’s general manager, during a news conference Monday.
The success came after White Sox management, including Hahn, decided to rebuild the roster after the 2016 season. It was a move made even more difficult for some supporters as their crosstown rival had experienced a strong run from 2015-2018, including the 2016 World Series title.
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The White Sox turned the corner last year, reaching the playoffs in a pandemic-shortened season and Hahn sees the team as being in a good position for the future.
“Where I live, when the Cubs won in 2016 there was a whole generation of young Cubs fans created,” Hahn said Monday. “As my kids get older and I see their friends migrating in certain directions in baseball, you feel a little pressure to put on a similar product to win the fans back and help create the next generation of Sox fans.”
As Hahn watches his team take on the Astros, Kasper will be broadcasting the action on the radio.
When Kasper announced that he was leaving the Cubs to join the Sox, one of the reasons he cited was to have the chance to call postseason games, which is only possible for local radio announcers as local TV broadcasts are prohibited due to national contracts.
“I’m really excited about it,” Kasper said in an interview. “The local radio gets to be there until the season ends and there is something very attractive about that for someone who really likes working every day. There is no question that was a reason I wanted to do this job.”
Looking back on the 2021 regular season, Kasper acknowledged the adjustment from the Cubs to the Sox was hard at first, compounded by the fact that he and broadcast partner, Darrin Jackson, were not allowed to travel to road games at the beginning of the season due to COVID-19 safety mitigations.
However, once he and Jackson were able to join the team he quickly got acclimated to his new organization.
“You just get better information when you are on the plane, in the hotel, on the team bus,” Kasper said. “They know you are part of the group, it builds trust and you can talk baseball when they are in their civilian clothes.”
It was not an exclusive radio run for Kasper this season. He called about two dozen games on TV when announcer Jason Benetti was absent.
“It’s nice to be able to do some TV games because I have done it for so long, but every time I did TV I always looked back to going back to radio. It wasn’t that I didn’t like doing TV, but I like my day job,” Kasper said. “That was very telling for me that I did the right thing.”
Kasper cited Aug. 12 as his favorite moment of the season. The White Sox defeated the New York Yankees 9-8 in the “Field of Dreams” game played in Dyersville, Iowa, when shortstop Tim Anderson hit a game winning home run.
“A ballpark built in the middle of a cornfield,” Kasper said of what he called an “iconic game.”
“We had a great view of the movie set off in the distance and it was literally in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “There was something magical about it.”
Kasper said he has been very impressed with White Sox manager Tony La Russa. When the White Sox take on Houston, La Russa will go up against Astros manager Dusty Baker in the latest chapter in a relationship that has been strained at times.
Baker was the Cubs manager in 2005 and 2006, which were Kasper’s first two years with the team.
“That battle of wits will be a ton of fun as it was when Dusty was with the Cubs and Tony was the Cardinals manager,” Kasper said.
He said two of the keys for the Sox in their series against Houston is to play better defense and sharper base running.
“Those things can take on bigger life and meaning when you are in a postseason setting because every out is precious,” he said.
As for how long the Sox can go in this postseason, Kasper said the door is wide-open.
“I feel like if you can get past Houston in the first round, you can get past anybody,” he said. “I don’t think the White Sox are intimidated by anybody. It’s a difficult matchup, but it is certainly winnable.”
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Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter.