Hello from Beth: After yesterday’s late-night Chicago White Sox season-saving 12 to 6 playoff victory over the Houston Astros, Mike is away on Cloud Nine. For today’s Mondays with Mike feature, we’re reblogging a post he wrote July 20, 2020. Things sure were a lot different then!
15 months ago there were More people in the outfield than in the bleachers.
by Mike Knezovich
Originally published on July 20, 2020
There were no drunken brawls between the contentious fan bases in the stands, because there were no fans. Foul balls that reached the seats just bounced around.
The game was played at Wrigley Field, but the announcers we chose to watch sat in a booth at White Sox park and called the game from screens. Crowd noise was piped in through the PA system at Wrigley so the players and the viewers could hear it. Many players sat in stadium seats just behind the dugout to avoid crowding to keep them all spaced at safe distance. The organ played, but I don’t know if it was live or pre-recorded bursts.
On the one hand it was completely, utterly, weird. On the other hand, a great pitch looked like it always has, and so did a home run.
Though I still have mixed feelings about the endeavor—trying this hard for normalcy in abnormal times makes me dizzy—I’ll confess, I found it glorious.
Without most all the trappings associated with a typical MLB game and broadcast, I was delighted that the game remains the game. Jason Benetti and Steve Stone, the White Sox announcers, were so ecstatic about being back in the game that the weirdness took a back seat. (Benetti is practiced in remote baseball broadcasting—he’s been calling Korean games from home in the wee hours of the morning for a couple months now for ESPN.)
I don’t know how long it’ll last. They haven’t played a single real game yet. There has been no travel. The whole thing is fraught. And I hope no one suffers for the effort. I wouldn’t wish covid on my worst enemy (OK, there is one exception).
But for one night, baseball.
I almost forgot about last year’s truncated season. Thank you for the reminder. Last night’s game was thrilling and to see the stands jammed with Sox fans was thrilling too.
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