Reinsdorf show – A longtime columnist’s open letter urges White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to show up—on TV, radio, and even in the stands—while the resurgent team draws attention with young players, a new general manager, and a youthful manager.
Dear Jerry Reinsdorf,
Forgive the informality, but after a couple of brief conversations on postgame elevators at the Rate this spring, can we proceed on a first-name basis?
You’re long past the age where you need to take advice from anybody, let alone from a Sun-Times scribbler you probably couldn’t pick out of a police lineup. But it’s precisely because you’re 90, have your health, and can still go to the ballpark that the writer says the moment is ripe.
It’s “a pretty good time” to be Jerry Reinsdorf, the letter argues, pointing to a young and exciting ballclub and a season that, it says, has become one of the best stories in baseball.
The letter credits the hiring of Chris Getz as general manager. calling his work “amazing” for bringing the team back from the dead. It lists a collection of players—Colson Montgomery and Braden Montgomery. Chase Meidroth and Sam Antonacci. Kyle Teel and Miguel Vargas. Sean Burke and Grant Taylor—describing them as fearless and saying the South Side hasn’t seen a team play with this kind of fire “in too long.”.
The tone then shifts to what the letter treats as a key ingredient: a youthful manager, Will Venable, described as someone who “seems to know how to bring out the best” in the team each night. It says the players like each other and that the result is an easy team to like.
The letter also points to a cultural comparison: it says the scrappy, hungry energy recalls Brooklyn Dodger “Boys of Summer” teams the writer watched as a kid.
Still, the writer doesn’t frame the season as flawless. The letter points to Wednesday night as an example of how even after a loss. the team sends people home “buzzing.” It also highlights the way the Sox are playing now. saying the team has PCA—while asserting the Cubs have it. and then contrasting that with a Sox roster “cut out of the same cloth as ‘Hamilton’”: young. scrappy. and hungry.
From the writer’s seat, though, one thing is missing: Reinsdorf himself.
The appeal is direct. The letter says Reinsdorf doesn’t need the writer’s approval, but calls it a request for the owner to come out of the shadows—“Not for us. For you.”
It argues that Reinsdorf has already won. saying he has outlived many of his loudest critics and that. at 90. he doesn’t have to spend much attention on the noise. The letter dismisses “Sell the Team” chants as something he can see past. describing that from his position he can see “the finish line. ” while saying others—named in the letter as Ishbia—should worry about the next generation.
The writer acknowledges the history of criticism, saying Reinsdorf has taken “a pretty good beating” over the years and that, in their view, critics had material to work with. The letter cites “Three consecutive 100-loss seasons” as evidence.
Yet it returns to Getz and the way he was characterized. The letter says few can question Reinsdorf’s love for the game, and claims critics have been wrong a few times, “most recently” when characterizing Getz as “same old, same old.”
Even so, the core pitch remains the same: why not let people see Reinsdorf showing enthusiasm the way the team does?
The letter offers specific ideas. It notes that Reinsdorf has one of the best postgame TV shows in sports and asks why he doesn’t go on some night with Chuck and Ozzie and “crack wise with them.”
It suggests inviting Brooke Fletcher to his box for one of her in-game interviews. It proposes that he go on with Len and Darrin on the radio for an inning or two. And it presses for something more old-school: venturing down to the stands once in a while and sitting among the fans. saying many would come with valentines and thank yous.
Then the letter lands on a deadline and a measure of distance.
On Friday. the writer says it will be 1. 031 days since Reinsdorf last sat down with the writers tasked with covering your team. The letter calls that last meeting a dark week back in July 2023. saying Reinsdorf had just fired Ken Williams. “who was like a son. ” and Rick Hahn. and that there was a shooting at the ballpark. The writer adds that Reinsdorf hasn’t done another interview since.
The letter closes with a sense of timing. The weekend will place the Sox at the halfway point of the season, the writer notes, and it says no one knows how long the good times last—only that the “Dark Ages” are history.
It ends with a request for audience and honesty from the owner himself: tell what it feels like to be 90-year-old Jerry Reinsdorf, the oldest owner in the game, still swinging for the fences.
Respectfully,
The Scribbler
Jerry Reinsdorf Chicago White Sox Chris Getz Will Venable PCA Ken Williams Rick Hahn sports ownership Sox resurgence MLB