GLENDALE, Ariz — It’s hard to say who took more heat on the South Side last year.
Was it Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner who had to listen to “Sell the team” chants while sitting in his suite? Or was it Pedro Grifol, the manager who couldn’t buy a win or keep his job?
Perhaps it was the players who suffered through the 121-loss season and had to hear fans root for the opposing team as the Sox closed in on the modern major-league record for futility?
The answer is none of the above.
While they all took some grief from Sox fans and the media, it was John Schriffen — the broadcaster whose first year as the team’s TV voice was filled with several self-inflicted wounds — who absorbed the most shots.
Whether it was his rants against the “the haters” who criticized the Sox or referring to sports-talk radio personalities who criticized him as “radio losers” or the on-air growling he did when Luis Robert Jr. hit a home run or any number of over-the-top compliments of a very bad Sox team, Schriffen was constantly in the eye of the storm.
He begins Year 2 on Monday when the Sox take on the Texas Rangers at Camelback Ranch in the first baseball game aired on Chicago Sports Network, which replaced NBC Sports Chicago.
As one of Schriffen’s many critics, I wondered why Brooks Boyer and the Sox hierarchy just didn’t tell him to tone it down and call a game without all the histrionics. During a Sox spring training workout last week at Camelback Ranch, I got a chance for the first time to ask Schriffen how he handled all the criticism and what he planned to do to silence those critics in 2025.
“Last year was a huge growing year for me, not only as a broadcaster but as a person,” he said. “I think it was a tough season because of what I walked into. I knew what the challenges were going to be. You have a team where we knew they weren’t going to be very good. Taking over for a broadcaster (Jason Benetti) that everybody loved. We had a network that was changing hands, so they weren’t involved as (they normally would be).
“So there were a lot of things that I really understood going into it. But I’m the kind of person where if you want to have any success in life, you’ve got to swing big, you’ve got to take chances. And that, for me, was what coming to Chicago was — a huge opportunity. I wanted to give it everything I have.
“Looking back on things, maybe I came in a little too hot. I was so excited, and I wanted everyone to feel that — the passion I had for baseball. And for some it probably came off wrong. It was a different tone.
“But going through that, I think I have a better understanding of who I am as a person and just ‘what even matters in life?’ So many people are coming at you in so many different ways. Some people love you, and some people don’t. At the end of the day, how do things sit well with yourself? That’s what I took away from the season, being my own worst critic.”
Schriffen, 40, was well-liked by Sox players and disliked by a segment of fans. It was almost the polar opposite of what his partner, Steve Stone, experienced in 2004, when he was feuding with Cubs players and beloved by fans. Stone left the job he loved after feeling Cubs management didn’t have his back. Schriffen at least has the back of Reinsdorf and Boyer, the only two who matter.
Being a baseball broadcaster in Chicago is no easy task. Breaking in with the worst team in history only added to the degree of difficulty. But we’ve heard “homers” in Chicago before, from Jack Brickhouse to Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, and few endured the kind of shots Schriffen took in 2024.
Slapping back at his critics on the broadcasts was probably his biggest mistake. Many fans who don’t regularly listen to WSCR–AM 670 didn’t know what he was talking about.
So why not just ignore them?
“It’s easier said than done, right?” he said. “Until you’re in a position where you have so many things coming at you, it’s easy to say, ‘Well, just ignore them.’ But understanding it now, having gone through it, it’s a lot easier to step aside and not respond to that stuff.
“I’m a competitive person. I’ve played sports my entire life. When you have things out there you didn’t think were accurate, naturally you’d want to go back (at them). I’ve learned that’s not the best stance. It’s not the best way to go about things. That’s part of the growth. Having one year under my belt in Major League Baseball and understanding everything that comes with a long season (will help) being better in Year 2.”
Compounding the problem was that he also was standoffish to the media, refusing all interviews or even having a friendly relationship with many on the beat. After an introductory interview with the media before spring training, he was declared off-limits when the early reviews of his performance trickled in.
“It wasn’t even a conscious decision,” he said of the separation. “For me, it was just ‘I want to focus on the team.’ And when you have a season like that where things get off the rails so fast, so quickly, it was like, ‘This is my first year in baseball, let me focus on the broadcast, let me do the best job I can.’
“You saw me. I was there every day in the clubhouse, trying to pick up some new information, a little nugget about a player to try and humanize the players. I tried to make it more about the players and the team than (about) myself. I know things didn’t come off that way the first year. But my intent was literally to focus on the team.”
Photos: An inside look at 2025 Chicago White Sox spring training
Schriffen said he would be more approachable now that he’s “more comfortable,” likening it to a student at a new school figuring things out in his second year.
His on-air chemistry with Stone is fine, but I told him it often sounded like a good cop/bad cop routine in which Schriffen would say something nice about the team’s play, and Stone would point out the obvious in his read-between-the-lines manner that we’ve come to know.
Schriffen disagreed.
“I don’t know if that’s the plan or the intended roles,” he said. “I want to make sure I leave all the analysis of the game to Steve. I’m sitting in the booth with a legend. He’s been there, done that, seen everything. I don’t need to inject my opinion on the game when I’m sitting next to one of the best broadcasters we’ve ever seen. From my standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to interject my opinion on what’s playing out on the field.”
Sox fans can see the deficiencies. They don’t need to be told the team is playing hard or that they’re good guys. They want to see results. This year’s version of the Sox might be improved over 2024, but wins will be difficult to come by with so much youth and inexperience.
Schriffen said he’s excited about this stage of the rebuild and is looking forward to watching the position battles in spring training.
As for his battles with critics, he insisted they’re over.
“A lot of (the pushback) was early on and I was still listening to and reading a lot of things about myself,” he said. “It was a new experience for me. I don’t read a lot of stuff anymore. I don’t listen to stuff anymore. The feedback I get from fans is not even social media stuff anymore, It’s more in-person interaction. … I love talking to people, so if you see me in Chicago, please stop me. I love talking about baseball, sports or whatever. That’s the kind of feedback I enjoy.”
It’s a new year, and another opportunity for Schriffen to swing big.
Hopefully this time he can connect.