The regular Major League Baseball season came to an end this evening on TBS. Superb work by Ron Darling, Dick Stockton, Harold Reynolds and Mark Fein. One big complaint: Dick Stockton said these teams met once before in 1906 and Harold Reynolds didn't know this. Huh? To add insult to injury, Stockton went on to say that the Cubs won that World Series. Huh? I'm letting this major huh pass since the announcing was otherwise outstanding. The Minnesota Twins came to Chicago to break the American League's Central Division tie, but they were blacked out by the Chicago White Sox. TBS will take the first swipe at post-season play as the National League struts their stuff tomorrow with the Chicago Cubs playing the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field.
In addition to the wonderful coverage by TBS the other national television broadcasts this year on both Fox and ESPN have been fabulous exercises in a love for the game. The various announcers and on the field reporters gave the 2008 season tender loving care for a great sport. I want to throw in big hugs to the great Hall of Famer Joe Morgan over at ESPN. He is the most "I love this game" guy out there and I appreciate his every vocalized moment in every game he witnesses.
Baseball is poetic. Most sports aren't poetic. Thoroughbred horse racing is poetic in theory. After all Thoroughbreds are born to run, but with humans willing to make a buck at any cost the notion of sending out horses to run is no longer poetic. Having said that, I am looking forward to watching Kentucky Derby champion Big Brown (big disappointment in so many ways) and the 2007 Preakness winner Curlin go nostril to nostril in the upcoming Breeders Cup. Thoroughbred horses are poetic just standing in place. Maybe one day the rules and regs will make this sport pretty again. Baseball, in and of its own strategic tactics and plays are as lovely as Dickinson, Tennyson or Wordsworth.
Tonight, the Chicago White Sox sealed the deal by winning their division (they won it ugly this year, unlike the 2005 "once in a lifetime" team). The White Sox
will play Tampa Bay on Thursday. Whether or not the Sox win any more games is irrelevant. They won their division and I'm thrilled. Now I have peace of mind (about baseball) for six more months until the start of the 2009 season. If for some odd reason both the Sox and Cubs win their respective leagues (American and National) they would head to the first Crosstown Classic since 1906. On the one hand I hate the idea and on the other hand I love the idea! I will not explain this. It is a non-starting thought for any Chicago baseball fan.The big dream (or nightmare depending on your perspective) for Chicagoans would be to see the first Crosstown Classic since 1906! 102 years in the making. I suspect it won't happen, but I am putting in for early dreams. For those of us in the city of big shoulders this would be great television. This would be on a scale that would surpass all television dramas. It would be scaldingly memorable and historically momentous - well only if your team wins! Before I dream too much I wanted to look back on the original Crosstown Classic that of course never aired on television. Tis a pity!
The great series from 1906 began in dramatic and classic Chicago political style (things haven't changed in some ways). The 1906 Crosstown Classic started with a City Council vote. The city's rulers decided to close City Hall and give city workers the day off on October 9, 1906. This was the opening day of the first, and to this date, the only Crosstown Chicago World Series. These guys were smart. Give the people the day off. Give them their freedom. Play ball! They gone!
"Sure," as Alderman John J. "Bathhouse John" Coughlin put it to his colleagues, "give the boys a chance to go to the ballgame." That infamous day became historic. It was only 35 years after the great Chicago fire roared through the city. Mrs. O'Leary's cow (not that it was really the cow's fault, but stories live long) was long gone, but Bathhouse John was going to kick a different fire off - Sox vs. Cubs - day one!
A Chicago reporter posted a story that began with "today a fire is raging through the city that has been smouldering for weeks and will burst into full fury at 2:30 this afternoon when Chicago's two teams of champions face each other on the green battlefield." I wish I had been there.
It was not a "subway series," since the first Chicago subway wouldn't appear for another 37 years. Instead, Sox and Cubs fans rode streetcars and "Ls" as the series alternated games between the Sox's home park at 39th Street and Wentworth Avenue and the Cubs' North Side grounds at Polk Street and Wolcott Avenue (at the time it was called Lincoln street).
It was an amazingly spectacular series! One of a kind! Historic beyond all comprehension! Lots of wacky occurrences took place during the series, including the Sox's Eddie Hahn breaking his nose in game three just after a hen escaped from a nearby pen. The
hen was chased out of the outfield. The hen had nothing to do with his broken nose, but that would have been great TV! Too cool! A jinx in the making. Is there no curse attached to this hen? Bring out the hens! To make things even more Chicago style that same hen showed up in game four dressed in white stockings for luck. This time the chick, if you will, was left in the outfield to peck at her new socks. That chick from the Southside had great fashion sensibilities! Clearly, PETA wasn't around to protect this wild example of early 20th century lunacy. I'm not making this stuff up. Also, two somewhat reluctant bear cubs were led around the bases. Where was the ASPCA? Needless to say, none of this stuff would happen today. Tis a pity!The 1906 Series was mostly about pitching, but aren't they all?! In the first two games the Sox amazed, fascinated and bemused their fans by hitting (the 1906 ChiSox team was not a big hitting team) and thus overcame the Cubs who had entered the Series as 3-1 favorites.
The North and South Side ballparks they played in no longer exist.
The sense of innocence that surrounded that red and gold fall season no longer exists either. The day before the opening of the Series Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was trying to sell postcards of himself and his royal family to raise cash. Eight years later, his assassination plunged the world into war. The Cubs and Sox fans are still at war 102 years later. The hatred we all have for each other whether it's about opposing baseball teams, faith or politics is horrific. What happened to respect for other's passions and opinions?Getting back to the series... On that first day fans bundled themselves in fur coats and blankets since it was a cold day in the windy city. The temps went below 30 degrees and we had some early season snow during the first game at the Cubs home park.
Game 1 - The Sox won 2-1. Winning pitcher Nick Altrock and his Cubs' counterpart Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown both hurled four-hitters.
The next day, the Cubs came back with a 7-1 victory on White Sox home turf. The Cubs utilized a combination of bunts, singles, steals and a squeeze play. The famed combination of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and player-manager Frank Chance together stole a total of five bases.
In Game 3, the Sox took the lead with a 3-3 victory in a pitching duel between Ed Walsh and the Cubs' Jack Pfiester in which this classic play occurred in the sixth inning: Eddie Hahn stepped up to the plate to sacrifice. Instead of bunting the ball with his bat Hahn sacrificed his nose to the great cause. Failing to gauge a swift pitch correctly Eddie was hit squarely on the side of his nose. He broke the bone and a woeful Eddie was taken to the hospital, but the all engaged crowd barely noticed. Bill O'Neill was running for him at first base and the bases were loaded. George Rohe, a last minute substitute who turned out to be the Series' hitting star promptly hit a triple, driving in three Sox runs.
In Game 4, Brown pitched a two hitter for a Cubs victory in the first warm weather game. Hahn, a small red rubber hose attached to his left nostril for breathing purposes returned to make the Sox's first hit off of Brown in the sixth inning. In the seventh, the sun blinded Hahn and he missed a fly ball hit by Chance. Two sacrifice bunts later, Chance scored on a single by Evers for the only run.
The next day, back on the Cubs' turf, where the Cubs had yet to win a game, Chance desperately tried to fend off defeat by ordering his players to wear their traveling uniforms. I love that. Superb management. We need that now! It did not work. The Sox and Cubs traded their respective reputations. The South Siders had 12 hits to the Cubs' 6 for an 8-6 victory.
The White Sox easily took the final game 8-3 setting off celebrations on the South Side. The people went nuts. The neighborhoods gathered on the streets screaming with joy. Evers didn't understand the Cubs' demise. No one ever understands their demise.
This isn't just about baseball. It's about a season, a time, a mindset. It's literally poetry in motion. Television captures every moment. Every pitch, single, double, triple, error, slide, steal, home run and grand slam. They do it well from a visual perspective. Watching Ken Griffey catch and throw tonight was brilliant baseball purity. Watching Brian Anderson slide and catch the ball in centerfield to win tonight's game was enough to make a fan cry. It did make a fan cry!
Outside of personal life issues the single most exciting moment of my life came in October 2005 when the Chicago White Sox won the World Series. It took them 88 years to recapture their 1917 World Series win glory. The second greatest moment of my life came while sitting under a raining top shelf Cellular Field hood with my 80 plus year old mother for game two in that World Series. We watched the Sox win that second game in a driving rain. They eventually went on to beat the Houston Astros in four games! Moments never to be forgotten.
My father and older brother loved the White Sox. Both of them had passed onto glory by that date in October '05, so they never had the opportunity to witness that '05 joy of victory. Unfortunately, they always managed to get a series of agonizing defeats. In spite of all of that they loved their ChiSox with every bone in their bodies. They did witness a pennant win in 1959, but the Sox went on to lose the World Series. My brother Chris was the biggest fan of all. Near the final months of his life my brother was too ill at the end to talk about the Sox, but in his heart and soul I know my brother died with a few things still in front of his
eyes - God, family, country, baseball. My two surviving siblings were closer to my brother than I was, but he and I shared our own deeply rooted bonds. Notably, God, family, country and baseball. Having lived 1745 miles away from one another as the crow flies we spoke every two weeks pretty much no matter what and the conversation always gravitated toward God, family, country and baseball. Occasionally I'd ask him financial questions and maybe I'd throw in some guy dilemma or we'd talk about some great old movie (Errol Flynn, Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone) or even a discussion on music (Bobby Darin's genius came up often), but it always went back to the core basics of life! My brother and father are now praising and resting in peace! I highly doubt they are looking down on the city right now, 
but if they are they are hoping for a victory over Tampa Bay. In some wild visual image I see them both with their White Sox caps on. They are draped in their black-out t-shirts and they are swaying as they wave a pair of white sox in the air.I do hope we get another Crosstown Series. Chicago is one of the great cities in the World and baseball rules! Catch the Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, Rays, Red Sox, Phillies, Angels and Brewers on a television set near you. It all starts in less than 24 hours!
What does Q.E.D. stand for? While doing my research on this show I searched Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia it is: , "…an abbreviation of the Latin phrase 'quod erat demonstrandum' (literally, "that which was to be demonstrated"). Unfortunately, this has NOTHING to do with this forgotten gem of a TV show. My next stop for mining information was IMDB. According to the IMDB ratings system, Q.E.D. scored an impressive 8.1 in viewer self-ratings. It seems there is more to Q.E.D. than the lack of letters in its title.
people's lives. He left Harvard University and moved to London, where he meets his arch-nemesis Dr. Stefan Kilkiss. Who, like most arch-nemeses, wants to take over the world. Sam Waterston has been in many television roles since QED, the role he is most recognized with is Law & Order.
Julian Glover. He played Dr. Stefan Kilkis, the arch-villain. Kilkis wanted to rule with world by various nefarious means. And each time, he was thwarted by Professor Deveril. Julian Glover has been in many movies and TV shows since Q.E.D. However, he is probably most recognized for his role in Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). After the fourth episode, Julian Glover's name was no longer appearing in the opening credits. The reason for this is unknown. Speculation is the show was going in a more "mystery of the week" direction. Besides, how many different ways can someone try to take over the world in 1912?
