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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 5168846, member: 289"] [URL]https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5773947/2024/09/19/white-sox-failure-worst-season-history/?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=11062710&userId=5973799[/URL] "A team doesn’t lose 117 games and counting because of just one thing. In the case of the 2024 Chicago White Sox a meddling owner, dubious leadership, injuries and an inability to properly value and integrate analytics only begin to tell the story." Is Jerry Reinsdorf a modern Charles Comiskey? [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Comiskey#As_an_owner[/URL] "He lost popularity with his players, who eventually came to despise him. The players' animosity toward Comiskey was seen as a factor in the Black Sox scandal, when eight players on the AL champions conspired to "throw" the 1919 World Series to the NL champion Cincinnati Reds.[3] Comiskey was notoriously stingy (his defenders called him "frugal"), even forcing his players to pay to launder their own uniforms. Traci Peterson notes that, in an era when professional athletes lacked free agency, the White Sox's formidable players had little choice but to accept Comiskey's substandard wages. She writes: "Swede Risberg and Lefty Williams made less than $3,000 a year ($52,722 today). Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver made only $6,000 a year ($105,443 today). Eddie Cicotte had been promised a $10,000 ($175,739 today) bonus if he could win 30 games in a season. When Cicotte closed in on the 30-game goal, Comiskey had him benched to keep him from reaching the mark." Comiskey's stated reason for having manager Kid Gleason bench Cicotte was that with the Sox headed for the World Series he had to protect his star pitcher's arm (Cicotte ended up with a 29-7 record for the 1919 season). In one incident, he promised his players a bonus for winning the 1919 pennant — the "bonus" turned out to be a case of flat champagne." [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?