Editorial: A toast to Ozzie’s White Sox

Friday, Oct. 28, 2005 | 7:32 a.m.

Ozzie and Harriet made headlines worldwide Thursday, Ozzie for baseball and Harriet for political football. Harriet Miers decided she'd been kicked around enough and withdrew as a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Ozzie Guillen had finished kicking around the top teams in baseball and emerged as a world champion. There must be a TV sitcom here somewhere.

With political football a year-round sport, we concentrate here on the 41-year-old Ozzie, whose season is over until spring training. Ozzie Guillen is one of seven minority managers in the major leagues and one of three Hispanic managers. His world championship ring is the pride of Venezuela, where he was born in 1964. It is also the pride of Major League Baseball and all of America, where opportunities for minorities occur not only in sports but also in every endeavor.

Guillen, a three-time All-Star, played shortstop for the Chicago White Sox from 1985 to 1997 and later coached third base for the Florida Marlins, including the 2003 world championship team. In just his second season managing the White Sox, the team this week swept the Houston Astros in the World Series and became world champion for the first time since 1917.

Professional baseball can be as political as anything experienced by Harriet. But today belongs to Ozzie and his White Sox team, and we're cheering for them as much as any Chicagoan.

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