In one of the most shocking local broadcast shakeups of the last several years, longtime Chicago Cubs play-by-play man Len Kasper left the North Side for a radio job on the South Side with the Chicago White Sox in 2020. Sahadev Sharma reported at the time for The Athletic that the shift was in part because Kasper “has always wanted to call a World Series,” and, “with games on national television come playoff time, this would be Kasper’s best chance.”
The White Sox, at the time, were also building around what was widely seen as a championship-contending core that included Luis Robert, Tim Anderson, and Eloy Jimenez. Ultimately, things never materialized, and Kasper’s World Series-calling aspirations seemed further from being realized as the Sox struggled, especially during a 2024 campaign that saw the Sox break the MLB’s all-time single-season loss record with 121.
The Sox showed improvement last season, the first under new manager Will Venable, but were still expected to go through the pains of another rebuilding season. Instead, Chicago inked Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami to a deal and hasn’t looked back, entering the weekend’s series with Kasper’s old team at 22-21, in second place in the AL Central and in possession of an AL Wild Card spot.
The Crosstown Classic series would serve as an important litmus test for the South Siders, and it delivered everything a fan could ask for Sunday’s back-and-forth rubber match went into extras, and after the Cubs brought a go-ahead run home in the top of the 10th inning, and with Kasper on the call, catcher Edgar Quero came to the plate with one out and a runner on third. Quero then blase.
Quero proceeded to blast a first-pitch fastball over the centerfield wall, and Kasper, perhaps renewed by some kindling World Series aspirations, had a call for ages.
“It’s back there… It is goneeeeeeeeeeee! Edgar Quero wins it! Shut up!” Kasper exclaimed.
The White Sox have a long way to go before they can be crowned as legitimate pennant contenders, but they have the South Side, including Kasper, dreaming about what might be possible.
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