On the heels of a big announcement about numbers, I have one of my own.
Ladies and Gentlemen, White Sox Outsider 2010 will be about five pages longer than its predecessor!
It's checking in at 226 pages, not counting the extraneous pages before (title, contents, etc.) and after (index). Rough math suggests that the new book will be 2-3 percent better.
Later tonight, I'll be taking it to Kinko's and printing it out, putting it a binder and reading the entire thing, making sure the pages flip right and nothing ends abruptly.
In the meantime, Carl Skanberg has posted one of the section fronts at Smells Like Mascot.
FURTHER BULLETINS AS EVENTS WARRANT!
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Omar Vizquel didn't want to risk letting No. 17 injure him, so instead he called a Hall of Fame shortstop for a favor. The result?
The White Sox announced Monday that Aparicio has given his consent for Omar Vizquel to wear No. 11 in his first year with the White Sox, as the number will be un-retired by the organization for Vizquel to wear in tribute. Vizquel termed such largesse coming from his countryman as a "tremendous honor."
I wasn't thrilled by this development initially, being a noted White Sox historian (*COUGHWHEEZESPUTTER*) and all. Then I read the story, and stopped caring for two reasons.
No. 1: It's a Venezuelan thing. Ozzie Guillen wears No. 13 in tribute of Dave Concepcion. That's the same number Vizquel wore before joining the Sox. Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland's Venezuelan shortstop, also wears No. 13, and for the same reason.
If Vizquel isn't able to honor any of the most recent Venezuelan shortstops, I don't see the problem in letting him ask the most legendary living fellow countryman. It's one tradition butting heads with another, and Aparicio is probably a better arbiter than Guy Whitey Corngood over here.
No. 2: White Sox numbers ain't sacred. Some franchises treat retiring numbers more seriously than the Vatican considers canonization. Jerry Reinsdorf, on the other hand, panicked on one July 1989 day and retired Harold Baines' number as something to remember him by. That's a precedent preventing me from being aghast right there. The Sox have played fast and loose with the unwritten rules before, and that they are possibly bastardizing an institution they previously cheapened doesn't strike me as being worthy of horror.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*At South Side Sox, Rob stepped in and drew some offseason connections to 2005.
*Andrew provides a public service and lets you know how the public transit cuts affect getting to the Cell.
*Mark Zuckerman, a Washington Nationals journalist-turned-blogger, is asking readers to raise $5,000 to go to spring training -- and he's more than halfway there. Remember this when a certain book goes on sale soon.
