Posted on 08/18/2023 11:17:54 AM PDT by PBRCat
The late Chicago baseball legend Minnie Miñoso was also known as “Mr. White Sox” and the “Cuban Comet.” Now he will be known, too, for a South Side school that newly bears his name.
Minnie Miñoso Academy — the building formerly known as George McClellan Elementary, located just a few blocks west of Sox ballpark Guaranteed Rate Field — was celebrated Thursday with a back-to-school bash ahead of opening day in Chicago Public Schools on Monday. Miñoso’s son, Charlie Rice-Miñoso, and Sox mascot Southpaw were among those on hand to welcome families to the re-christened campus.
The building bearing his name is among three in CPS that are beginning the new school year with new monikers. The others are Daisy Bates Academy of Social Justice, formerly Caldwell Academy of Math & Science, and Monarcas Academy, formerly Enrico Tonti Elementary.
CPS said it worked with families, teachers and students to come up with names that “better reflect the community and its values.”
It’s part of a larger effort to rid Illinois’ largest school district of campuses named after people who were slaveholders or are otherwise considered problematic by modern standards. McClellan, for example, was a politician and a commanding general for the U.S. Army during the Civil War, but while he fought on the Union side, he largely opposed the abolition of slavery.
CPS also recently renamed Daniel Boone Elementary to Mosaic School of Fine Arts. Boone, a pioneer and frontiersman who died in 1820, was long viewed as a folk hero, but his legacy has been reconsidered because he was a slave owner and because of his treatment of Indigenous people. CPS’ equity office determined him to be a “historically egregious figure.”
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
greeter outside of various Chicago taverns before ball games.
Well, with the southside locals in Chicongo, that hits the mark for sure.
How did the change in venue help you to gain insight into Chicago?
I live in rural Ontario, where most ridicule is reserved for the GTA and Ottawa. When one runs across a fellow expat Chicago may be near the top on the ridicule list, but there is stiff competition now days.
I’m from Oregon, so I am tempted to put Portland first, but as usual, Portland is mostly just a JV version of San Fran.
Minnie Minoso and Luis Aparecio were the first two Latin Americans to play the game. They both came from Cuba back before it fell to Castro, who by the way, wanted to be a NY Yankee in his youth. After Cuba fell, many players started to come in from Dominican Republic.
As far as McClellan goes, he was a crappy general. Lincoln fired him for retreating after threatening Richmond, and rehired him 3 months later, right before Antietam, which was considered a draw, although Lee and the Rebels retreated back across the Potomac. Lincoln then fired McClellan again, and hired Burnside, who sucked as much as McClellan and got thousands of Union kids killed trying to breech Fredericksburg 3 months later.
McClellan then ran against Lincoln in 1864 as the “Peace Candidate” but was trounced after a string of resounding Union victories in Tennessee, the Shenandoah Valley, and with Richmond and Petersburg under seize, which showed that the war was wrapping up.
As an active player, Minoso “retired” in 1964. Afterwards, he played baseball in Mexico.
For publicity stunt purposes, Bill Veeck of the Chicago White Sox activated Minoso as a player (designated hitter and pinch hitter) in 1976 and 1980). This allowed Minoso to truthfully claim that he had played MLB in five different decades.
He finally made the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 after numerous campaigns to enshrine him in Cooperstown.
I think that Aparicio was from Venezuela.
The disrespect for McClellan also applied to another Union military hero.
It has been long decades since Chicago closed a public high school named after Ulysses S. Grant. It once operated as a military academy. I believe its closure was dictated by changes to the neighborhood, low enrollment, and newer school buildings being constructed nearby.
Grant was once exceptionally popular in Illinois where he resided immediately before and after the Civil War.
McClellan was an ass.
A pompous ass.
Correct, he was from Venezuela.
The student achievement in Chicago is atrocious. But, the administrators want to make sure they are politically correct.
I’m sure it boosts the self esteem of the black students, to see schools named for famous black people. But does it help their achievement in school? Does it help the learning process?
So they erased a “good” general.
I guess this is a bit off-topic. Like McClellan at Antietam, Grant was a meat-grinder kind of general in battle. However, Grant knew how to win. McClellan was indecisive.
Grant’s generalship did much to free the slaves. He deserved whatever honors came his way. Any attempt to erase Grant’s name is a travesty.
The Democrat’s “country” is the deep state swamp.
“No, he was a bad general.”
Lincoln complained McCellan had the “case of the slows.”
The only way to improve Chicago would be to drop a MOAB on it.
Born and raised in Chicago, and a Cubs fan with 2 Sox fans as best friends, I never heard anybody call Minnie Minoso or anybody else Mr. White Sox.
Mr. Cub was Ernie Banks. Sounds like cultural appropriation by somebody filling space in a media outlet.
Minnie Minoso and Luis Aparecio were the first two Latin Americans to play the game.
I think Adolfo Luque was the first.
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