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“With no lockdown or mask mandate, Florida has roughly same hospitalization level as 2018 flu season”on January 5, 2021 at 8:42 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

“With no lockdown or mask mandate, Florida has roughly same hospitalization level as 2018 flu season”

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“With no lockdown or mask mandate, Florida has roughly same hospitalization level as 2018 flu season”on January 5, 2021 at 8:42 pm Read More »

Woman, pets die in Albany Park fireon January 5, 2021 at 7:40 pm

A 44-year-old woman and her two pets died in a fire Tuesday morning in an Albany Park apartment building on the Northwest Side.

The fire broke out in her bedroom about 9:35 a.m. in her third-floor apartment at 4443 N. Lawndale Ave., according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Someone outside the building saw smoke coming from her bedroom window and called 911, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.

Crews put out the fire and found the woman unresponsive in her bed, Chicago police and fire officials said said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her cat and dog were found dead under her bed, Langford said.

Police said the fire was contained to her apartment.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t released details on the fatality.

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Woman, pets die in Albany Park fireon January 5, 2021 at 7:40 pm Read More »

How a Chicago Data Geek Helped the MLB Sleuth Negro League Statson January 5, 2021 at 4:11 pm

I first met baseball researcher Scott Simkus a decade ago, after he had compiled the statistics for Strat-O-Matic Baseball’s 103-card Negro League legends set. I was a Strat-O-Matic fanatic in my youth, so I drove out to Simkus’s house in Carol Stream, where we played a game between the 1927 Yankees and the 1927 Dodgers, with Negro Leaguers Martin Dihigo, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, and Satchel Paige added to the all-white teams’ rosters. (The Yankees won, 6-5, when Babe Ruth singled off Dihigo in the bottom of the ninth.)

Now, Simkus’s contribution to baseball history has gone beyond a tabletop game: he’s part of the Seamheads Negro League Database Team, which convinced Major League Baseball that the Negro Leagues belong in the same category as the American League and the National League, and should be included in baseball’s official statistical record. Last month, MLB mentioned Simkus by name in a press release announcing that it is “correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history by officially elevating the Negro Leagues to ‘Major League’ status.”

scott simkus
Simkus Photo: Getty

Simkus, 50, has been researching Negro League history for two decades. His passion for Strat-O-Matic led him to the baseball shelves of the public library, where he discovered Only the Ball Was White, the pioneering history of Negro League baseball. Also, his grandfather, a sandlot player from the West Side, once played an exhibition game against the Cuban Stars, an all-Cuban team that competed in the Negro National League. Fascinated, Simkus began reading old copies of the Chicago Defender, where he found box scores for the Chicago American Giants, the city’s Negro League franchise.

“Being in Chicago, the easy team to find would be the Chicago American Giants, so it started as a Chicago-centric project,” Simkus said.

Simkus’s research became a national project once he connected online with the other Negro League investigators at Seamheads. The Negro Leagues never had an Elias Sports Bureau, so the “nerds at Seamheads” had to search newspapers for box scores, often in small towns where teams scheduled games to reach rural fans. Unlike the white leagues, whose games were confined to 16 stadiums, the Negro Leagues competed in 71 different cities. The American Giants played in Comiskey Park when the White Sox were out of town, but then they would decamp to Danville or Michigan City.

“To make a living, you had to take it on the road,” Simkus said.

Six years ago, Simkus was invited to speak about the early days of Black baseball at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. There, he met John Thorn, MLB’s official historian. When Simkus asked whether the Negro Leagues qualified for major league status, Thorn said no. It wasn’t a question of talent — there are 32 Negro League players in the Hall of Fame — but of organization and record keeping.

The Seamheads took that as a challenge. They continued “chipping away at the database,” Simkus said. This year, they finally posted statistics from the 1946 and 1947 seasons, which meant “we finally had a complete record of all 3,400-plus Negro League players.”

2020 also marked the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. And it was a year of demonstrations demanding racial justice. That “convergence” of factors inspired MLB to finally recognize the Negro Leagues, Simkus believes.

Because of the difficulty of locating box scores, the Negro League Database will never be 100 percent complete. But soon, Negro League players will be given entries on baseball-reference.com, the online Baseball Almanac. They’re not going to rewrite the record books, though. Negro League seasons were only half as long as major league seasons, so the players couldn’t pile up statistics to match their white counterparts. Josh Gibson’s Hall of Fame plaque claims he hit “almost 800 home runs in league and independent play.” The Seamheads found only 238 in Negro League play. However, Gibson is expected to be awarded the record for highest single-season batting average — .441 in 1943. His lifetime average of .361 is second only to Ty Cobb’s.

One question statisticians can never fully answer is why Black athletes were excluded from Major League Baseball before World War II, especially since they starred in boxing (Joe Louis), track and field (Jesse Owens), and pro football (Fritz Pollard). Black players competed in the National League and the American Association in the 19th Century, but were banned from the majors after protests from white opponents — a ban Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis did nothing to overturn. 

Statisticians can, however, do the grunt work of uncovering hidden documents that correct historical wrongs. Martin Dihigo couldn’t play against Babe Ruth in Yankee Stadium, but thanks to Simkus and the other Seamheads, the two will now coexist in baseball’s record book.

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How a Chicago Data Geek Helped the MLB Sleuth Negro League Statson January 5, 2021 at 4:11 pm Read More »

When Democrats successfully overturned an electionon January 5, 2021 at 7:13 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

When Democrats successfully overturned an election

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When Democrats successfully overturned an electionon January 5, 2021 at 7:13 pm Read More »

Racism wrapped in specious, disingenuous arguments is still racismon January 5, 2021 at 7:29 pm

The Chicago Board of Tirade

Racism wrapped in specious, disingenuous arguments is still racism

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Racism wrapped in specious, disingenuous arguments is still racismon January 5, 2021 at 7:29 pm Read More »

Woman, pets die in Albany Park fireon January 5, 2021 at 6:29 pm

A 44-year-old woman and her two pets were found dead in a fire Tuesday morning in Albany Park on the Northwest Side.

Firefighters were called to a blaze about 9:35 a.m. on the third floor of an apartment building at 4443 N. Lawndale Ave., according to Chicago fire spokesman Larry Merritt.

Crews put out the fire and found the woman unresponsive in her bed, Chicago police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her cat and dog also died in the fire, according to Merritt, who said there were working smoke detectors in the hallway..

Police said the fire was contained to one unit.

The fire was called in by someone who saw smoke coming from building, police said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t released details on the fatality.

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Woman, pets die in Albany Park fireon January 5, 2021 at 6:29 pm Read More »

The winningest high school basketball programs of the decade: No. 29 Mariston January 5, 2021 at 5:31 pm

When high school basketball fans think back to the 1980s, programs like Quincy, Providence St. Mel, East St. Louis Lincoln and the arrival of city powers King and Simeon are easy to think back on.

The 1990s brought us memorable basketball giants in Peoria Manual and Thornton, a few steamrolling Proviso East teams and the continued dominance of King.

The first 10 years of the 2000s included Glenbrook North, Peoria High and the beginning of a Simeon juggernaut.

Now, with the calendar inching closer to wrapping up an unforgettable 2020, the end of this month closes out another decade. And it’s another high school basketball time period to look back on.

Earlier this year we broke down the decade’s best teams and best players. Now, with every season of the past decade complete, it’s time to look at the Chicago area programs who won the most.

This list is comprised of the 50 winningest programs over the past 10 years, starting with the 2010-11 season and concluding with the 2019-20 season. Every team in every class throughout the Chicago area will be broken down in a variety of ways. But total wins, with winning percentage used as tie-breaker, determined the rankings.

We present No. 29 New Trier today and will add one program a day going forward.

29. MARIST: 206-95

Decade’s biggest storyline: How about the eight-day period in March of 2012?

Marist, the seventh seed in the sectional, beat bitter rival Brother Rice in the regional semifinals and then knocked off the No. 2 and No. 3 sectional seeds — Curie at the buzzer to win the regional title and then Bogan in overtime to win a sectional semifinal game.

Simeon ended Marist’s season in the sectional championship game.

The overlooked part of that 2012 run was how the Redhawks won in dramatic fashion.

Marist trailed Curie by five points with 50 seconds remaining in the regional final. But Lexus Williams’ three-pointer with two seconds to play stunned Curie in a 63-62 thriller.

In the sectional semifinal, Marist trailed Bogan by 10 points with just a minute to play. The Redhawks stormed back and won 67-63 in overtime.

Underrated highlight: In back-to-back seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18 the Redhawks won a school record 27 games and regional championships each season. Marist lost to Simeon in the sectional semifinals in 2017 and then fell to Simeon again in 2018 in the sectional title game.

Player of the Decade: LJ McIntosh (2013)

All-Decade Team: LJ McIntosh (2013), Lexus Williams (2013), Nic Weishar (2014), Justin Brown (2017) and Morgan Taylor (2018)

Other decade highlights:

-The program’s all-time winningest coach, Gene Nolan, left Marist in 2018 to take over at Naperville North. The Marist grad won 303 games over 16 seasons.

-Tim Trendel, who spent the previous eight years at Providence, took over the program in 2018.

-LJ McIntosh wrapped up his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,727 career points.

-Marist won the East Suburban Catholic Conference title in 2016-17.

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Woman, pets die in Albany Park fireon January 5, 2021 at 5:42 pm

A woman in her 40s and her two pets were found dead in a fire Tuesday morning in Albany Park on the Northwest Side.

Firefighters were called to a blaze about 9:35 a.m. on the third floor of an apartment building at 4443 N. Lawndale Ave., according to Chicago fire spokesman Larry Merritt.

Crews put out the flames and found the victim inside, Merritt said. Her cat and dog also died in the fire.

Merritt couldn’t say the extent of the damage, but said there were no other known displacements.

He said working smoke detectors were found in the hallway.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t released details on the fatality.

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Woman, pets die in Albany Park fireon January 5, 2021 at 5:42 pm Read More »

Chicago 2021: State of the Real Estate Marketon January 5, 2021 at 5:42 pm

Building Chicago

Chicago 2021: State of the Real Estate Market

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Chicago 2021: State of the Real Estate Marketon January 5, 2021 at 5:42 pm Read More »

Chicago Bears may let their next GM walk right out of Halas Hallon January 5, 2021 at 4:00 pm

Chicago Bears (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears may let their next general manager get out of their building.

The Chicago Bears are in a bizarre predicament. They are getting ready for an opening-round playoff game against the New Orleans Saints, while simultaneously, fans and media alike are having discussions about whether their head coach and general manager will be fired at season’s end.

Initial reports seem to indicate that Matt Nagy is safe and will return in 2021. However, we have not heard any similar reports or reassurances regarding Ryan Pace’s job security. In fact, we have heard rumblings that the Bears may be looking to bring in Kansas City Chiefs’ Mike Borgonzi in an unspecified role. While the Bears may decide to bring in a new President and retain Pace, it would not be a surprise if he was let go considering his track record with evaluating quarterbacks.

If they did decide to go in a different direction there are many potential candidates to consider but perhaps the best one is right under their nose. Champ Kelly is currently the assistant director of player personnel. He previously served as the Bears’ director of pro scouting, and before that, he worked for the Denver Broncos’ organization in a variety of scouting and front office roles.

He has a very intriguing background, which includes a playing career for the University of Kentucky before becoming a software/quality engineer for IBM from 2002-05. His background uniquely positioned him to push the Bears to incorporate more analytics into its evaluation process, though as general manager he would likely push that even further.

Kelly has busted his tail to work himself up the ranks. Oftentimes people are promoted by default (e.g. the people ahead of them are promoted) or they leverage connections to advance. Kelly has relied on pure grit, hard work, and performance to work his way up from a player in the United Indoor Football league to being a favorite to land the Broncos’ recently vacated general manager position.

Next: George McCaskey can’t be fooled by playoff berth

The fact that John Elway, who recently vacated the general manager’s seat immediately sought out Kelly to bring him back to the organization should say a lot. If the Bears let Kelly out of the building, who is also garnering interest from the Carolina Panthers, they may come to regret it. Remember, they had the inside track on hiring Chris Ballard until they refused to give him autonomy over the decision to move on from Jay Cutler.

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Chicago Bears may let their next GM walk right out of Halas Hallon January 5, 2021 at 4:00 pm Read More »