Columnist Ron Kantowski: Ken Korach, a former LV sports broadcaster rooting for the White Sox

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

There's no cheering in the press box, which is why longtime Las Vegan Ken Korach will be cheering for the Chicago White Sox on his living room sofa during the World Series.

In terms of his Major League Baseball broadcast career that is now well into its second decade, the White Sox were to Korach what that first-pitch fastball Chad Qualls grooved to Paul Konerko was to Chicago's 2-0 lead in the fall classic. They made it all possible.

In 1992 Korach was begining to wonder if he would ever get his foot in the big league door when the White Sox summoned him from triple-A. He was hired as a pinch-hitter for play-by-man man John Rooney on weekends, when Rooney was away doing the game of the week for CBS Radio.

It was the break Korach, the longtime voice of UNLV basketball and football as well as the Pacific Coast League's Las Vegas Stars, was waiting for. He felt like Lou Gehrig when Wally Pipp came down with that headache. Or at least A.J. Pierzynski when Angels catcher Josh Paul rolled that trapped third strike back to the mound.

"It was my first Major League job," Korach said, "and a guy in his first Major League job normally has to start as the No. 2 guy. Yet I was doing six or seven innings. I was like a starting pitcher -- I worked just once a week."

But it was a quality start that got him noticed. After two more part-time seasons with the Chisox, Korach landed a full-time gig with the Oakland A's where he has been ever since as a sidekick to Bill King, the legendary Bay Area broadcaster who died last week as a result of complications from hip surgery.

Korach said he would sum up his three years in Chicago with one word.

"Fantastic," said Korach, who was named in 2003 among the "Best 100 People, Places and Things in Las Vegas" by Las Vegas Life magazine.

"For a guy coming out of Las Vegas and triple-A, everybody in Chicago, especially the White Sox people, treated me so well."

Korach said he walked into a good situation on Chicago's South Side. The new Comiskey Park, as U.S. Cellular Field was called then, had only been open a year and had yet to be overshadowed by Camden Yards and all of the other "throwback" ballparks that would follow. So it was still considered a great place to watch a game, and the modern ballyard just off the Dan Ryan Expressway was always packed.

The White Sox's success on the field helped keep the turnstiles humming. With a nucleus that included Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Wilson Alvarez, Robin Ventura and George Bell, Chicago was a fun team to watch (at least when the Cubs were on the road).

Korach said Carlton Fisk and Bo Jackson were also still around in those days. Chicago went 86-75 in 1992, lost to Toronto in the 1993 American League Championship Series and was locked in a riveting division chase with Cleveland in 1994 before the strike spoiled it.

It was during an August trip to Jacobs Field that the irony of the situation hit Korach.

"I remember walking to the ballpark, thinking it was going to be the most important game I had ever broadcast in my life," said Korach, who still resides in Henderson with his wife, Denise, and daughter, Emilee, during the off-season. "And at the same time, I was also thinking it would probably mean absolutely nothing."

Korach said the only player still on the Sox roster who was around back then is injured Frank Thomas. Ozzie Guillen, the Chicago manager, and his first- and third-base coaches Tim Raines and Joey Cora were regulars on those Chicago teams, and Korach said all -- especially Cora -- befriended him.

That's why Korach feels like a pair or argyles or misplaced cuff links.

He is deep into the Sox drawer.