4. The Chicago Public League Baseball conferences What do Andre Dawson, Carlton Fisk, Ernie Banks, Jackie Robinson, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa and Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe all have in common? Yes, they are all former baseball stars.
Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe
Photo courtesy of npr.org
But most importantly, they all have individual groups named after them in the Chicago Public League. Dawson, Banks, Santo and Sandberg all starred for the Chicago Cubs. Robinson's inclusion should come without explanation. Fisk played for the White Sox and Sosa played for the Sox and the Cubs. Radcliffe came to Chicago as a teenager and was a Negro Leagues star, retiring in the city as well.
Naming leagues after sports stars is uniquely Chicagoan.
Local look: "It used to go by names like it does in basketball, like Red West, Red South and Red North. And blue, and green. (The current baseball naming format) certainly wasn't in existence in 2001 when I retired."
- Taylor Bell, retired preps editor at the Chicago Sun-TimesSchools: Too many to list.
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