The White Sox won the 1st American League Pennant, in 1901. They won the 1st intracity World Series, beating the Chicago Cubs in 1906. They won the World Series in 1917. Then they lost the World Series in 1919. The following year, it got out that 7 players on the team had "thrown" the Series, to get money from gamblers, since team owner Charlie Comiskey was underpaying them. It took 40 years to win another Pennant, as "The Go-Go White Sox" did it in 1959.
Over the years, the South Siders had some close calls. They missed the Pennant by 1 game in 1964, and 3 games in 1967. They missed the AL Western Division title by 5 1/2 games in 1972, and led the Division as late as August 8 in 1977, before drifting to 12 games back. They won the Division in 1983, but lost the AL Championship Series to the Baltimore Orioles. In 1990, the last season at the old Comiskey Park, they stayed close to the Oakland Athletics most of the season, before 9 back.
In 1993, they won the AL West, but lost the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays. In 1994, they led the newly-created AL Central Division when the Strike hit. In 2000, they won the Division, but lost the AL Division Series to the Seattle Mariners.
And so their drought after 1959 turned out to be longer than the one they had from 1919 to 1959. What's more, the crosstown Cubs, who hadn't won a Pennant since 1945 and the World Series since 1908, and the Boston Red Sox, who hadn't won the World Series since 1918 -- one year more recently than the White Sox -- were celebrated for their seemingly "cursed" close calls. The White Sox? They didn't have a litany of bizarre incidents down the years that could seemingly be ascribed to a curse. They just... lost.
And with the Cubs having gotten the WGN Superstation to broadcast their games, and the White Sox not, and the Cubs and the Red Sox both having literati write lots of books about their woe-is-us status, it was as if the baseball world didn't care that the White Sox hadn't won the World Series for longer than the Red Sox. Even when the Red Sox finally won it in 2004 *, the attention that was on them didn't shift to the White Sox. If anything, the Cubs got even more.
Finally, the Pale Hose won the AL Central Division again in 2005. They swept the defending World Champion * Red Sox in 3 straight games in the AL Division Series. They lost Game 1 of the AL Championship Series to the team then known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and looked likely to lose Game 2 before a controversial call led to the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.
They never lost another game, tying the 1999 New York Yankees' record for best postseason record in the 1995-present Division Series Era, 11-1. On October 16, trailing Game 5, 3-2 after 6 innings, they won, 6-3, to win the Pennant for the 1st time in 46 years and 24 days.
The White Sox hadn't won the World Series in 88 years. The Houston Astros were in it for the 1st time in their 44 seasons of play. Something had to give. Baseball fans can look at a written record of what happened, and figure that the White Sox had it easy. That was far from the case.
Each team's manager had previously played for them. Ozzie Guillén, like Luis Aparicio and Chico Carrasquel before him, had come from Venezuela to play shortstop for the White Sox, made the move from the old Comiskey Park to the new one in 1990 (the stadium was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003, and would be renamed Guaranteed Rate Field in 2016 and Rate Field in 2025), and was a member of their Playoff team of 1993. He won a Pennant with the Atlanta Braves in 1999.
As a player, Guillén was a slick fielder and a 3-time All-Star, who could run well and hit a little. There was little to suggest that he would one day become a successful manager, and even less to suggest the wild personality that would one day become known.
Phil Garner was a 2nd baseman who, like Guillén, made 3 All-Star Games. He won the World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1973 and 1974, and with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979, before helping the Astros win the NL West title in 1986. Despite the nickname "Scrap Iron," he was not as argumentative, or as controversial, as Guillén.
The White Sox won Game 1 at U.S. Cellular Field, 5-3. Game 2, also at home, was a wild one, before Scott Podsednik hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it. Game 3, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, went 14 innings, tying what was then a World Series record. Geoff Blum, a once-and-future Astro, and now a broadcaster for them, hit a home run for the White Sox in the top of the 14th inning, putting them 1 win away from the title.
Game 4 was played in Houston. Freddy Garcia, formerly the ace of the Seattle Mariners, started for the White Sox, Brandon Backe for the Astros, and both pitched 7 shutout innings, dispatching major threats along the way.
But Garner made a mistake, bringing closer Brad Lidge in for the 8th inning. Willie Harris singled off him, and was moved over by a bunt from Podsednik and a groundout by Carl Everett. Jermaine Dye singled Harris home, and was be named the Series' Most Valuable Player.
The Astros threatened in the bottom of the 8th, but ChiSox reliever Neal Cotts got out of it. For the 9th, Guillén brought in Bobby Jenks, the closer he called "The Big Boy." He allowed a single to Jason Lane, who was bunted over by Brad Ausmus. Chris Burke came up: His 18th-inning home run clinched the Division Series for the Astros, so there was concern. He hit a foul pop-up, of which Juan Uribe made a great catch for the 2nd out.
Orlando Palmeiro grounded to Uribe, who made another great play, and the ball just barely hit the glove of 1st baseman Paul Konerko in time. It was 11:01 PM Central Time on October 26, 2005 -- 12:01 AM Eastern on October 27 -- and, for the 1st time in 88 years and 9 days, the World Championship of baseball belonged to a team based in Chicago.
In Chicago in the interim:
* The NFL had been founded, the Bears had won 9 NFL Championships, including a Super Bowl; and the Cardinals had won 2 Championships, and moved to St. Louis, and then to Phoenix.
* The NBA had been founded, 2 Chicago-based teams and a few other professional basketball teams had failed, before the Bulls began play, eventually winning 6 NBA Championships in 8 years; DePaul University had won the NIT, when that was still considered college basketball's National Championship, and Loyola University had won an NCAA Tournament, and (7 months earlier) the University of Illinois had reached an NCAA Final.
* The NHL had been founded, and the Blackhawks had won 3 Stanley Cups; while the World Hockey Association had run its course, including the Chicago Cougars having reached but lost a Finals.
* The North American Soccer League had gone through its entire existence, with the Chicago Sting winning 2 titles, including the last; and Major League Soccer had been founded, with the Fire winning an MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup in the same year, "doing the Double."
* And the original Soldier Field, the Chicago Stadium, and the International Amphitheatre had all been built, hosted all kinds of events, and been torn down and replaced by new buildings.
In the world at large: Radio broadcasting, television, photocopiers, computers, the Internet and smart phones had all been invented. Penicillin had been synthesized, the polio vaccine had been created, smallpox had been eradicated, AIDS had developed and treatments for it had been created, and it had become possible to transplant major organs. Humanity had developed rockets, been to the Moon, and had sent unmanned probes to all 7 of the other bodies then officially classified as "planets."
And there had been 8 Popes, 16 Presidents and 11 Mayors of Chicago, 2 of them (including the incumbent) named Richard Daley and living within walking distance of the home of the White Sox.
A Chicago team had won the World Series. And it wasn't the Cubs. Still, the Cubs had better attendance over the next few years. And when the Cubs finally won it all again in 2016, it was celebrated as a great moment for Chicago and environs, and White Sox fans were all, "Uh, hello? We did it first!"
Guillén had become the 1st foreign-born manager to win a World Series. The Astros would not win another Pennant until 2017, finally winning a World Series -- dubiously, as it turned out.
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