In the battle between Chicago White Sox broadcaster John Schriffen and the “radio losers,” put your money on the losers.
They’ll always have the last word.
Only two months into his rookie season as Sox announcer, Schriffen has managed to create more attention than the players of the team he works for, making himself the story for calling out “all the haters” during a call of Andrew Benintendi’s walk-off home run on April 27 and ripping “radio losers” during a May 17 game against the New York Yankees.
“If any of those radio losers clip it and try to make fun of you, nobody cares about them anyway,” Schriffen told partner Gordon Beckham after Beckham misread a promo card.
Schriffen was careful not to name names, and since he stopped talking to the media after the “haters” call, we only can speculate who the haters and radio losers are.
But it’s safe to guess that various personalities at WSCR-AM 670 are part of both categories, as the station allegedly has piled on the new Sox announcer for transgressions big and small, including mispronouncing Bill Veeck’s name, referring to a runner advancing from second to third as a sacrifice fly and not knowing why Sox fans boo Javier Báez.
Being the No. 1 baseball announcer on a team in the third-largest media market means you’re going to be scrutinized, but apparently no one informed Schriffen it wasn’t going to be easy. Instead of ignoring the critics, he’s making things worse for himself every time he claps back.
In the big picture, Schriffen versus The Score is not nearly as nasty as the Drake-versus-Kendrick Lamar beef. But with all the problems the Sox have, this is one that easily could be fixed with one word from Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf: “Enough.”
White Sox marketing executive Brooks Boyer, meanwhile, either condones or encourages Schriffen for speaking his mind on broadcasts, even as many viewers probably have no idea what Schriffen is talking about because they don’t listen to sports radio or The Score.
It has made a virtual mountain out of a rat hole, creating more content for the radio shows that critique Schriffen during this slow time of a Bears offseason while taking some of the focus from his performance as play-by-play man, which remains a work in progress.
Schriffen is in an unenviable position of trying to be positive while calling games for the worst team in baseball while speaking to informed fans who are well aware that what they’re watching is terrible. If he were honest about this team’s performance, Schriffen probably would be looking for a new job next year.
But he has to understand that he’s not a player, and criticism of the team’s play is simply part of fans’ DNA. It’s why Ozzie Guillen, a former player and manager, is considered must-see TV on the postgame show. You can love the team and still be honest about their shortcomings.
Schriffen, who seems like a good guy, is not getting good advice — assuming he’s getting any at all — or else he would tone down his “Stand Up, South Side!” catchphrase and avoid using pejoratives such as “haters” and “losers” when calling a baseball game. No one really cares what the announcer thinks about critics of him or the team. They just want to relax and watch a game.
Of course, if you’ve spent most of your life watching the White Sox, you’re used to beefs between announcers and the media. This one pales in comparison to some, and at least no one has been strangled, which is what former Sox analyst Jimmy Piersall did to Daily Herald sports writer Rob Gallas in 1980.
Piersall, then a Sox analyst, was upset with a story Gallas was working on and confronted him at the ballpark. As Piersall told Sport Magazine before the incident: “As far as what people write or say about me, they know they’ve got to be careful. If I don’t like something, I’ll punch your lights out. I know all about temporary insanity, boy. The best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts.”
People thought he was kidding. Gallas found out otherwise.
In a weird twist of fate, Gallas went on to become the Sox marketing chief and was the man behind popular promotions such as “Dog Day” and “Turn Back the Clock Day” on the South Side. The Sox eventually fired Piersall, but not for strangling a sports writer.
It was a different era.
Years later, Sox broadcaster Ken “Hawk” Harrelson engaged in a public beef with a Sun-Times columnist and ESPN radio host in 2004 that included a confrontation in the press box of the Metrodome in Minneapolis. According to a Tribune report, the columnist threatened to “clock” Harrelson, who replied: “Go ahead. Do what you’ve got to do.”
There was no fight, and the back-and-forth continued with Harrelson name-calling on the air and being ripped in the newspaper. It was great theater and provided more fodder for radio. The radio show was canceled at the end of 2004. The Sox denied having anything to do with it.
But those incidents occurred before the advent of social media, which has helped fuel the current beef between Schriffen and the so-called “radio losers.” Schriffen has no apologies and still uses the hashtag #ForAllTheHaters on a pinned tweet of his home run call. The White Sox use part of the call on a televised promo but curiously deleted the “for all the haters” part, so someone understands it’s superfluous.
Will there be a happy ending to this?
The odds are against it unless Schriffen mutes himself. And two months into the job, he doesn’t seem to mind being the center of attention.
