Erasmus of Rotterdam was a 16th century satirist whose attacks on clerical abuse laid some of the foundations for the Protestant Reformation. His best known work, In Praise of Folly, has never been out of print since its initial publication in 1509. And while that’s an impressive literary track record – and while I’m all for attacking clerical abuses where possible – I’m borrowing his title for an entirely different purpose.
To wit: The 2024 Chicago White Sox have just concluded a baseball season in which they lost a MLB-record-shattering 121 games. The full story is here. An excerpt is below. And Erasmus, I’m pretty sure, is rolling over in his grave.
How bad were the 2024 White Sox? Up in the press box, reporters traded terrible stats like kids trading scary stories around a campfire. Chicago started the year 3-22, and in a recent stretch of home games they went 1-28. They slumped through separate losing streaks of 21 games, 14 games, and 12 games. Over the course of the season, the White Sox have been outscored by more than 300 runs. After a while, the numbers feel less like statistics than like some sort of numerical insult comedy.
Best quote? The tweet from Kevin Brown accompanying this clip. “Oh my goodness. The White Sox have just gone full White Sox.” At that point, the Boys from Chicago’s South Side were only on their way to losing game #109. Go figure.
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Believe me, as a casual follower of a home-town Rockies team who finished 33 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL West, I know from futility. Still, there’s something almost magical about a team this bad. And sometimes ya just gotta give a shout-out In Praise of Folly: Go Rox. Go Sox. Go Erasmus of Rotterdam.
At least the ownership group in both the latter instances saved a little on player payroll this season compared with the Dodgers’ league-leading total of $352,849,147 – for comparison purposes, please note:
Rockies – $159,327,868
White Sox – $156,089,177
For those of you keeping score at home that’s 18th and 20th out of a total of 30 teams in the league. Any guesses on who #30 is? Here’s a hint: They only spent $80 mil on player salaries in 2024, and they’re moving to a new stadium soon….
Ah well, only 135 days or so until Spring Training. See the Countdown Clock, here. For the record? Erasmus and I can hardly wait.
