Sox and the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz [Paperback]

Richard Roeper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2007

Over the last 40 years, Richard Roeper has attended White Sox games, watching as his team established a losing streak that was almost unparalleled in Major League Baseball history. In this account of what it was like to grow up a White Sox fan in a Cubs nation, Roeper covers the recent history of the organization, from the heartbreak of 1967 and the South-Side Hit Men to the disco demolition and the magical 2005 season when they became world champions. Encapsulating what it means to be a baseball fan, root for the same sorry team no matter what, and find vindication, this history of the White Sox is flavored with trivia; anecdotes about players, owners, and broadcasters; plus Roeper’s own humorous and personal reminiscences.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Roeper's mother was nine months pregnant with him when the Chicago White Sox made their losing stand at the 1959 World Series, beginning a post-season drought that wouldn't end until their championship 2005 season. Roeper, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and co-host of Ebert & Roeper, grew up an impenetrable and sometimes irritable Sox fan. Here, he examines the history and culture of Chicago's second baseball team, and his personal history as a fan, with the kind of devotion usually reserved for family memoirs. He claims to have attended a thousand Sox games, and he adamantly argues why the South Side team will always be superior to the North Side Cubs. Naturally, Roeper (Schlock Value) peppers his narrative with movie references, as well as fun sidebars and details about long-forgotten games and players. His irreverent style-alternately witty and abrasive-recalls Chuck Klosterman's essays on pop culture and music, and his take on such subjects as the old Comiskey Park and the joys of owning season tickets for a losing team are detailed, funny and quick. Sox fans will love this one, Cubs fans will mock it and the unaffiliated will better understand what it means to be a true baseball fan.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Just as the World Champion Boston Red Sox of 2004 had their Curse of the Bambino to overcome, the White Sox had not been able to win a Series since six or seven players of their 1919 team accepted payments to lose in favor of the Cincinnati Reds. The Black Sox scandal was as much of a stain on baseball as the steroids controversy of today. Roeper recounts the 2005 season like the recap of a single great game: he starts the story near the end of the season and then bounces back and forth from the beginning to the end again when the White Sox seem about to lose everything in historic fashion. He interweaves this with his personal history as a lifelong fan. White Sox fans may not be as legion as those of the Yankees or Red Sox, but Roeper gives a compelling account of their team's first World Series Championship in almost 90 years that can prove enjoyable to anyone who loves a good story.–Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; Updated edition (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556526792
• ISBN-13: 978-1556526794
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sox and the city, November 3, 2006

By 

Margaret L. Kraus "sox peggy" (Morris Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sox and the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz (Hardcover)

This is the ultimate read for any loyal White Sox fan. Winning the world series was a dream come true for me, and no one shares the magic of that wonderful season like Richard Roeper in this great book. Brought back many special memories of growing up a true sox fan in a cubs town, with the ultimate finale, a world series winner for our beloved white sox.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sox & the City, August 17, 2006

By 

Richard E. Guise - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sox and the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz (Hardcover)

timely & funny, as a long time Sox fan I could relate to many of the descriptions in Roeper's book. The book gives a different perspective from a so called non sportswriter or jock. I would highly recommend it for hard core Sox fans.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great look at White Sox baseball, January 6, 2007

By 

K.A.Goldberg (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sox and the City: A Fan's Love Affair with the White Sox from the Heartbreak of '67 to the Wizards of Oz (Hardcover)

Give movie critic Richard Roeper "Two Thumbs Up" for this upbeat look at rooting for the White Sox in a city where the more-popular Cubs have the advantage. Roeper describes his lifelong attachment to the Sox, recalling past baseball games, seasons, players, etc. He shows that the underdog White Sox typically draw smaller crowds and less media to their plainer arena on the city's non-glamorous South Side - add losing seasons to that mix and you can see why the Sox nearly moved to Milwaukee (1968), Seattle (1975), Denver (1980) and Florida (1988). Ironically, these hardships and the fortitude of Sox fans to endure them are rarely mentioned by a national media that fixates on the big-money Cubs and other glamour teams. Roeper concludes by describing part of the magical 2005 season, when the White Sox finally broke through and won the World Series - their first title in 88 years! That triumph cheered Chicago's long-suffering fans and attracted much-desired national attention.

This lively and often humorous narrative could have been longer than 197 fast-reading pages. I felt the author underestimated how many people in Chicago root hard for both teams, but this is still an entertaining read for baseball fans here and across the nation.