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Sports Friday, May 1, 2026 | | |
| | | | | Good morning, Chicago. 75 years ago today, Orestes
"Minnie" Miñoso broke the color barrier in Chicago baseball. In his first at-bat in a White Sox uniform on May 1, 1951, at old Comiskey Park, Miñoso homered off Yankees pitcher Vic Raschi. It was the start of a beautiful relationship between Miñoso and Sox fans, one that continued for 64 years until his death in 2015 at age 90. White Sox manager Paul Richards, left, is shown with Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso in an early undated photo. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) As the first Black major league player in Chicago, Miñoso was the Sox’s
Jackie Robinson. He was hired by the team a good two years before the Cubs signed Gene Baker and played Ernie Banks in 1953 to break the Cubs' color line. Nicknamed “The Cuban Comet,” Miñoso spent 12 seasons with the Sox and emerged as one of the game’s first Afro-Latino stars, starting a thriving tradition of Cuban players on the South Side. Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History | | | | Pete Crow-Armstrong’s power has emerged for the Chicago Cubs, while Justin Steele needs a group hug and President Jed Hoyer deserves credit for keeping Moisés Ballesteros. | | | | | Cubs manager Craig Counsell celebrated his 900th career win in the perfect Chicago way: with a shot of Jeppson’s Malört. | | | | | Friends off the court, Jaxson Davis and Trinity Jones stood out from the crowd in winning the 2026 Mr. and Ms. Basketball of Illinois awards. | | | | | Photos from Chicago Sky media day on April 30, 2026. | | | | | Jordan Spieth is like everyone else in golf right now. When trying to figure out if LIV golfers who left the PGA Tour will try to return, he doesn’t mind saying he has no idea. Nobody does. | | | | | Inside 25-foot high, sand-colored walls where inmates once served maximum security prison sentences and where rusty jail cells still stand, thousands gathered for an unusual afternoon ballgame Thursday. | | | |
