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glencoeanchor.com life & arts<br />
the glencoe anchor | November 9, 2017 | 19<br />
Meeting the man with the answers<br />
Glencoe’s own Rick<br />
Hahn chats White<br />
Sox with hometown<br />
Michal Dwojak<br />
Sports Editor<br />
An intimate group of<br />
Chicago White Sox fans<br />
gathered on a blustery<br />
fall night inside the Glencoe<br />
Public Library to hear<br />
from the man who holds<br />
the keys to their team’s<br />
future.<br />
Fans from the area battled<br />
the obstacles to meet<br />
White Sox general manager<br />
and Glencoe resident<br />
Rick Hahn on Nov. 1, even<br />
though he joked his wife<br />
and kids couldn’t do the<br />
same. While many baseball<br />
fans around the nation<br />
had their eyes glued to<br />
TVs watching Game 7 of<br />
the World Series between<br />
the Los Angeles Dodgers<br />
and Houston Astros,<br />
White Sox fans met to hear<br />
and ask questions from the<br />
man they hope will deliver<br />
them their next World Series.<br />
The North Shore community<br />
has always been an<br />
important part of Hahn’s<br />
life, so the local discussion<br />
only made sense.<br />
“It’s a nice opportunity,”<br />
Hahn said. “Whether it’s at<br />
my kids sporting events or<br />
seeing people in town, I try<br />
to answer questions Sox<br />
fans have around the community.<br />
To do it in a formal<br />
setting that gets people out<br />
there, I was happy to do<br />
that.”<br />
Hahn started the night<br />
explaining his journey to<br />
his current position and<br />
how it began with playing<br />
on the Glencoe youth<br />
baseball team because they<br />
had jerseys the kids could<br />
play in. He filled the crowd<br />
in with fun life anecdotes,<br />
like how he was too short<br />
to play on New Trier’s<br />
sophomore baseball team,<br />
how he once panicked his<br />
law degree from Harvard<br />
University wouldn’t help<br />
him and how White Sox<br />
and Chicago Bulls owner<br />
Jerry Reinsdorf gave him<br />
a rejection letter that won<br />
him a gift card.<br />
These stories filled the<br />
room to the open ears of<br />
White Sox fans who hung<br />
on his every word. Fan reception<br />
of Hahn has been<br />
universally positive with<br />
the moves that he’s made<br />
over the past year to lead<br />
the White Sox on a rebuilding<br />
process that has<br />
fans already excited.<br />
Richard Pipala, Peter<br />
Monahan and David Leibson<br />
were three friends<br />
who came in the library<br />
with a plan. Pipala and<br />
Leibson met together for<br />
dinner before the event<br />
and thought of some questions<br />
they were going to<br />
ask Hahn to figure out<br />
what his plans were for the<br />
team. Once they picked up<br />
Monahan, they were all set<br />
with what they wanted to<br />
know.<br />
“But we’re not telling<br />
you,” Pipala, 78, of Lake<br />
Zurich, joked with The Anchor.<br />
“You’re just going to<br />
have to hear them.”<br />
The three lifelong<br />
White Sox fans discussed<br />
what moves they liked<br />
from Hahn and what they<br />
thought would be good for<br />
the general manager to do<br />
next. They admitted being<br />
Sox fans in a predominantly<br />
Cubs area could be challenging<br />
given the results of<br />
the last few seasons, but<br />
the three know where their<br />
team is heading and just<br />
Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn (left), of Glencoe, chats with fan Richard Pipala at a discussion<br />
Nov. 1 at the Glencoe Library. Michal Dwojak/22nd Century Media<br />
move on when they get a<br />
hard time from Cub-fan<br />
friends.<br />
“I think he’s done a<br />
great job,” Monahan, 64,<br />
of Glencoe, said. “I’m<br />
happy to see the commitment<br />
to the future and the<br />
rebuild. That was the right<br />
thing to do.<br />
“I think the team is in<br />
good hands with Rick<br />
Hahn.”<br />
Hahn hasn’t been immune<br />
to the Cubs either.<br />
While White Sox fans<br />
mostly approach him, the<br />
general manager admits<br />
his son had to take some<br />
heat from friends after he<br />
said the Cubs would never<br />
win the World Series.<br />
The youth factor is<br />
where Hahn admitted he<br />
feels pressure from the<br />
Cubs. He knows how<br />
many kids became White<br />
Sox fans when the team<br />
won the 2005 World Series,<br />
and he doesn’t want<br />
to lose the current group to<br />
the Cubs.<br />
But Hahn will enjoy the<br />
journey of gaining those<br />
kids back. It’s special to<br />
watch his kids play on the<br />
same fields that he grew<br />
up playing, so he’ll enjoy<br />
those moments.<br />
He did, however, warn<br />
fans the next few seasons<br />
might require patience before<br />
they meet at a White<br />
Sox World Series game.<br />
But for now, he’ll be as<br />
honest with fans as he can,<br />
giving them every opportunity<br />
to believe he can be<br />
the man to bring the White<br />
Sox back.<br />
“These people are obviously<br />
passionate about<br />
baseball and the White<br />
Sox,” Hahn said. “I want<br />
them to give them an opportunity<br />
to do that.”
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