Three Chicago White Sox documentaries we’d want from ESPN
If ESPN made a couple of Chicago White Sox documentaries, we’d want them to be on three specific topics from their team’s history.
The Chicago White Sox barely gets any love from the national media. They are always in the shadow of the Chicago Cubs for whatever reason and the city of Chicago is always shadowed by the east coast in a lot of national media. Well, with the light of the White Sox becoming a good team, it is good to know that this team is going to start getting a little bit more recognition.
It all started when they announced that they were going to host a game at the Field of Dreams in Iowa but now we don’t know if it is going to happen because of the coronavirus. Well, if it doesn’t it is fair to assume that they are going to play that game at some point anyway. They are going to battle the New York Yankees on the national stage which is great to think about as fans.
It just recently came out that ESPN’s “30 for 30” is doing a documentary on the home run chase that took place between Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs and Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals. We know that they were both on steroids which makes the chase less appealing to a lot of us 22 years later but it still is a big piece of baseball history. We all know that Frank Thomas was a better baseball player than both but that is not here nor there.
If ESPN were to do a documentary on the White Sox, there are plenty of options for them in terms of storylines. The White Sox have a long storied history, some good and some bad, that can make for some very interesting television. These are the three documentaries that would be cool to be made by ESPN:
The Rebuild
If this was ever made into a documentary, it would probably be many years down the line after the White Sox proved that their rebuild worked. It all started on December 6th, 2016 when they traded Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, and two others. That is sort of the beginning of it all once they decided that they were going to in fact rebuild.
They performed another trade very shortly after when they sent Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals for Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and two other prospects. It really set their rebuild off and showed that they were going to be real and commit to it. They made their farm system go from very underwhelming to very strong in a span of 48 hours.
A few months into the next season, they traded Jose Quintana to the Chicago Cubs for Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease amongst some other prospects. This is all that has made the rebuild so successful over the past few years which would make a very interesting series, especially if they won. It can go over the start of it, the fact that they fleeced the cross-town rivals, and then the results of it all.
Shoeless Joe Jackson
You’ve seen the movies. “Field of Dreams” and “Eight Men Out” both deliver the story of the 1919 Black Sox scandal in different ways. “Field of Dreams” uses magic and a fictional story to tell it while “Eight Men Out,” tells the real story a lot more realistically. The former is headlined by Shoeless Joe Jackson‘s return to life to play baseball again but the entire focus of the movie isn’t his career.
His career led to him being suspended for life from baseball for his involvement in the scandal. A lot of people disagree with his banishment because of the fact that it is very hard to prove that he was purposely trying to lose. He hit the only home run of the series, had zero errors in the field, and had exceptional statistics at the plate.
A documentary going over his career, the scandal, and the aftermath would be extremely entertaining for sports fans. People deserve to know the truth about what really happened that year and how it affected one of the best players to ever suit up for the Chicago White Sox. It might not paint a pretty picture of the organization at all, especially it’s former owner, but it would paint light on a player that is still remembered to this day.
2005
Any fan of any team would adore a documentary on the best year in its team’s history. The Chicago White Sox were elite in 2005 which led to them winning the World Series. The players on that team are remembered fondly in this city to this day and it will never change. It is hard to see a White Sox team ever put together a run as memorable as this group.
The reason it would be an interesting ESPN documentary is the fact that they were somewhat underrated going into the season. Later, they fell off in terms of their division lead but manager Ozzie Guillen did what he needed to do get them over the hump. The Ozzie factor alone would make for great television.
Hot. Torii Hunter is an all-time White Sox nemesis. light
They then put together the most dominant postseason run in the history of baseball. Their 11-1 run to the World Series title would be so amazing for fans who might not know about it to watch. There are things like A.J. Pierzynski‘s drop third strike, the complete games made by pitchers, Geoff Blum‘s 14th inning homer, and a guy like Scott Podsednik hitting a walk-off home run. If this was all ever put into a documentary, it would be super exciting for all baseball fans.