White Sox Fans, Bridgeport Business Owners Not Buying That Reinsdorf Is Selling: ‘Just Another Ploy’

BRIDGEPORT — Longtime White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is reportedly looking to sell the team — but fans and Bridgeport business owners say they’re unfazed by what could be his biggest bluff yet.

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Reinsdorf is open to selling his majority stake in the team, sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic in a bombshell report published Wednesday. “Active discussions” about a sale are centered around a group led by former major league pitcher Dave Stewart, who has been involved in a push to bring a major league team to Nashville, according to The Athletic.

Reinsdorf met with the mayor of Nashville in December regarding a potential relocation, according to the Sun-Times . Whether Stewart would plan to relocate the team remains to be seen.

The news comes as Reinsdorf, 88, asks lawmakers to fork over $1 billion to help bankroll a South Loop ballpark along the Chicago River as part of a massive development, The 78.

Bill Guide, owner of Cork & Kerry at the Park, 3259 S. Princeton Ave., thinks the rumors are “very coincidental” to Reinsdorf’s pursuit of a new stadium farther north in town.

“I hope it’s not just some rouse to lobby for more public money. But at this point, I think it is,” Guide said. “If Jerry and the ownership group really wants to sell, that’s their prerogative, but sell to somebody interested in keeping the team in Chicago and Bridgeport.”

Fans’ faith in Reinsdorf hit rock bottom as the White Sox set the record for most loses in a single season this year, drawing signs and booming chants of “Sell The Team” at the ballpark in the final days of the season.

Reinsdorf, who also owns the Bulls, published a letter last month pledging to take the “ultimate responsibility” for the Sox season, saying the response from fans was “completely understandable” — but that he was hopeful in the team’s direction and its young prospects.

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“You all deserved better,” Reinsdorf wrote to fans. “It was a long, painful season for us all.”

Stewart, the floated buyer, has close ties to former White Sox manager Tony La Russa, a top confidant in Reinsdorf’s notoriously tight inner circle, according to the Sun-Times.

Mario Scalise, a former Sox journalist who gave up on the team to open the pizza place Stix n Brix, 218 W. 33rd St., said Reinsdorf floating a sale is nothing but a leverage play.

“This is just another ploy to get the new stadium, so if not, he can say he’ll sell to a new owner that’ll move them out of town,” Scalise said. “If the end result of them staying is eating up tax payer dollars, I rather them just leave.”

Longtime friends from Beverly gathered Thursday at Franco’s Ristorante, 300 W. 31st St., for their monthly lunch, debating whether “The Bear” is a comedy under a signed portrait of indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

When the conversation turned to the White Sox, they all agreed Reinsdorf shouldn’t get a dime of taxpayer money for a new stadium.

“The White Sox first broke my heart in 1959,” Paul Serritella said. “Now, this is all just a play so Reinsdorf can build a new stadium. It’s a stalking horse. What pisses me off is he wants taxpayer money to put this team on the field.”

Rick Leonard remembers when Reinsdorf bought the Sox for about $20 million in 1981 . Reinsdorf later threatened to move the team St. Petersburg, Florida, if Illinois lawmakers didn’t pony up to replace Comiskey Park.

It worked, with the Sox now playing in the state-owned Guaranteed Rate Field.

“I hope he sells to someone who won’t move the team,” Leonard said. “It should stay in Bridgeport. Sox have a loyal fanbase here. It’s their identity; they’ve have always been the red-headed stepchild.”

Ken Brucks said it may take someone new with deep pockets to keep the Sox where they are — as Reinsdorf resorts to his old playbook.

“Michael Jordan, cough up some money,” Brucks said. “Do something for Chicago.”

The sorry Sox didn’t drive much business to Stix this year. And even if the Sox stick in Bridgeport and build up the area around the stadium, the project would likely leave “the Sox as the biggest winner” instead of the neighborhood.

“They’ll just gobble up the property around the stadium,” Scalise said.

Despite all the noise, Guide doesn’t see any problem with the Sox’s current stomping grounds.

“The fans who come in here feel the same way,” Guide said.

Only the Yankees have had an ownership group with a longer tenure in major league baseball than Reinsdorf.

The team’s current stadium lease with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority runs through the 2029 season.

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