cross-town classic

this weekend chicago is gearing up for the cross-town classic, battle of the #1's, the redline rivalry.... the cubs vs. the white sox

to set up this great series and rivarly, here's a little history of the 2 great major league baseball teams of chicago.

the chicago cubs: in 1876, the chicago white stockings (as they were originally known) became one of the 8 charter members of the national league. they win the inaugural national league championship with a 52-14 record. after that, they kind of sucked until 1880 when they won the NL championship again (and they do for 3 straight years). those pesky boston red stockings took away the potential 4th straight championship. they have up and down years, trying to change things up a bit by changing their name to the colts in 1894. the sole highlight of a disappointing 1897 season was a game against louisville where the colts put up 36 runs! in 1902, the chicago daily news referred to the team as the "cubs" because of all young players on the team. the young team improves and goes all the way to the world series in 1906. who do they play? their now rivel, the white sox (see below); the event seemingly put the whole city on hold for a week. the white sox take the series though. the cubs get their revenge as they take the 1907 world series, holding their opponents the detroit tigers to 3 runs combined. 1908 is the same world series show down: the cubs vs. the detroit tigers. the cubs win indeed, and become the first team to win back-to-back world series. but as we all now know (or you do as of reading this post), that was the last world series the cubs have won. legend has it, there is a curse on the cubs, placed on the team by billy sianis who was kicked out of the world series game in 1945 because of his pet goat. despite the cubs' drastically different seasons, their fans are full of optimism and wrigley field is packed each baseball season. the talk on the town is 2008 (the 100 year anniversary of the last world series win) is the year for the cubs. we shall see!


the white sox: in 1900, charles comiskey moved the st. paul saints minor league to chicago. the cubs owner, wanting to preserve the fan base of his already established team, filed suit against comiskey. after a battle, it was decide that comiskey could move his team to chicago on 2 conditions: 1) he could not use 'chicago' in the team name and 2) the team had to play south of 35th street. so the team became the white stockings (the original name of the cubs from 1876-1889) and set up camp on the south side, thus pitting northside cubs and southside sox fans against each other for the past 100+ years. during their first few years, the white sox had some hitting problems and were dubbed "the hitless wonders". but as mentioned above, the white sox did take the 1906 world series. in 1915, the white sox purchased the contract of shoeless joe jackson and along with him a few record hitting seasons. then a dark cloud settled over the sox in the 1919 season. 8 players lead by ex-underworld street brawler chick gandil and including shoeless joe attempted to throw the world series. the plot became obvious and a criminal investigation ended with the 8 players (later known as the black sox) on trial. in a bizarre turn, all confessions disappeared and the players were acquitted. however, the newly appointed baseball commissioner forever banished the 8 from the game of baseball. after some disappointing seasons, the sox renewed their enthusiasm in 1959 and earned the name "go-go" sox. the 1960s saw an intense rivalry with the new york yankees and the sox were almost sold to milwaukee. in 1984, the sox win the longest game in history: 2 days, 25 innings. in 1988, the sox were threatened to move down to florida, but the fans of chicago held "save our sox" rallies in front of the state capital. it came down to the deadline, but the funds were raised and the sox were destined to stay in chicago. in the late 90s through mid-2000s, the sox would finish 2nd or 3rd in the AL. then in 2005, the season started our normally, but the sox go all the way to the world series against the boston red sox and end up taking the series in a 3 game sweep. this was the team's first series since 1917.



between 1903 and 1997, the cubs and white sox occasionally met in a 'city series' or single charity games called the 'crosstown classic' or the 'red line series'. because these games did not count toward any team ranking in their respective leagues, they only served to provide bragging rights.

then interleague play began in 1997, and the cubs and white sox have routinuely played each other 6 times a year (1 3-game series at each ball park). in the 10 years, 60 games have been played. 30 won by the cubs, 30 won by the white sox. naturally, the heightened excitement and rivalry has led to some, shall we say, disagreement among fans and players.


this 2008 meeting will be even more intense. the cubs are #1 in the NL, the white sox are #1 in the AL.

as an impartial outsider (a southerner), i have the option of cheering for both teams. they're both talented, both full of history, both have die-hard fans, great parks (though to me, the white sox park is more like turner field in atlanta, while wrigley has the feel of an old classic stadium).

i have been to 3 white sox games, and 2 cubs games. i live on the north side. i work in the south loop. i live off the red line. if you made me choose, it would be tough, but i guess i'll have to route, route, route for the cubbies!


go cubs go!