WHY THE WHITE SOX ARE THE DIRTIEST TEAM IN BASEBALL

Okay, so the headline is a bit blunt and perhaps a little over the top.  But, I have to share with you the reason behind the headline and how this even matters in 2016.  Almost 100 years ago, the Chicago White Sox headlined the most disgraceful event in baseball.  According to baseball records, "The 1919 World Series resulted in the most famous scandal in baseball history. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox (later nicknamed the Black Sox) were accused of throwing the series against the Cincinnati Reds." Known as "the eight men out", these individuals shamed the game, casting a dark cloud on baseball, which provided more entertainment across the generations than ever before.

Okay, so there's your history lesson, now what's the point?  Well, once again, I am educated by today's youth, who frankly hold in their hands, our legacy and perhaps baseball's promise into the future. My 18-year-old son and I watched yet another game together on Tuesday night.  And out of no where, he just says straight out, "The White Sox are the dirtiest team in baseball.  I don't know how they are even still a team today."  He went on further, without interruption from me.  "You have to be at your lowest to be traded to the White Sox who are sell-outs even today.  I feel bad for David Robertson and Todd Frazier. "  Wow!  I really was so impressed yet shocked with his commentary.

I mean, I agree that the White Sox really defamed the game almost 100 years ago.  I also agree that those players were crooks and selfish and perhaps the White Sox organization drove them to this crime.  But for my son, who is a diehard baseball fan, above all other sports and of course a Yankee fan, to say with such conviction how he feels about the White Sox who ironically wear black and white uniforms in 2016 and sit in the shadows of the beloved National League team on the other side of town, this was more than extraordinary.

Whether or not the Cubs are the best team in baseball is not the factor of the shunned White Sox team, who will never have the grace and prestige of the Wrigley Field dwellers.  Perhaps their curse is worse than the Cubs who have not won a series in 107 years.  I suppose that this irony could be compared to that of Jarrett J. Krosoczka: How a boy became an artist TED Talk.  Per the speech's transcript, Krosoczka provides insight into curses like no other.

"When I was in the third grade, I wrote a book for the first time, "The Owl Who Thought He Was The Best Flyer." (Laughter) We had to write our own Greek myth, our own creation story, so I wrote a story about an owl who challenged Hermes to a flying race, and the owl cheated, and Hermes, being a Greek god, grew angry and bitter, and turned the owl into a moon, so the owl had to live the rest of his life as a moon while he watched his family and friends play at night. Yeah. (Laughter)." 

The White Sox have to live the rest of their life as a team who sold out and answer questions and defend themselves to diehard baseball fans like my son, who see them as the dirtiest team in baseball, even today, just under 100 years later.  

Sure, we may have fallen on hard luck this year and even over the last few years, but we will never be the White Sox or carry a legacy of cheating.

We are the Yankees and we will always be America's team.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof