White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf upsets fan base with recent comments

The calls for Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the team might get a little louder.

Reinsdorf spoke during the Milken Institute’s “Game Changers: The New Business of Sports” panel and his comments were not well received by the Southside faithful–especially when his team is 8-21.

Also, he should choose his words carefully after his Chicago Bulls had a mediocre season. First, they were also full of contradictions.

Second, it reinforced the idea that Jerry is only interested in having relevant teams, not championship teams.

Reinsdorf showed he is okay with failure on the field (or on the court) so long as the balance sheet looks good.

He was speaking to a business audience. So, he was attempting to communicate how the economics of a sports business is different from a traditional business.

He should understand any comments he makes will lose the benefit of the doubt with how he has hijacked the Sox during their contention window. Plus, he rarely speaks publicly so when he talks, people will listen more intently.

This isn’t the first time Jerry Reinsdorf upset White Sox fans with his comments.

He infamously ordered the “White Flag” trade in 1997. The White Sox were three-and-half games back of Cleveland in the division, but Reinsdorf felt anyone who thought the team could catch Cleveland “was crazy.”

What it really came down to was Jerry did not want to pay pitchers Wilson Alvarez and Roberto Hernandez in free agency, so he wanted to get something in return before they left.

Prior to that, he torpedoed the Chicago White Sox’s best chance to win a World Series with his role in the 1994 baseball strike.

He threatened to move the team to St. Petersburg back in the late 1980s and leveraged that into a sweetheart deal from the state of Illinois to build new Comiskey Park, now Guaranteed Rate Field.

Let’s not forget that he sided with Jerry Krause over Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson which led to the dismantling of the Bulls dynasty in the 1990s.

Winning the 2005 World Series toned down the anger toward Reinsdorf. Snapping an 88-year curse and winning a title before the Chicago Cubs allowed Sox fans to walk around with their chests puffed out.

Then nothing but mediocre baseball was played on the Southside. The Cubs won the World Series in 2016. Finally, it was decided the Chicago White Sox needed to do a full rebuild.

Reinsdorf repaid Sox nation’s patience by hiring Tony La Russa to be the manager during a contention window. It made no sense except that Jerry wanted to make up for a regret he had when he fired La Russa back in the mid-1980s.

Making it worse was Jerry knew that Tony picked up his second DUI prior to his hiring being announced and told no one.

The game had clearly passed the legendary manager by and because of how much power the manager had, it looks like the contention window has closed.

Reinsdorf put self-imposed spending restrictions that did not allow for a lot of roster upgrades to keep the title hopes window open.

That is why the fanbase has grown tired of Jerry owning the team. Outside of 2005, it has been nothing but disappointment and being insulted by an owner. It hurts even more that all the owner cares about is getting your money and giving you little in entertainment value in return.

Okay, it is fair to want the team you love to be competitive. You also want your team to win championships, otherwise, you might as well become an all-out music fan.

He thinks his audience just wants to see competition when it demands championships. That is what Jerry Reinsdorf has never understood. That is why he needs to sell the team.