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Recalling Jerry Reinsdorf’s come-from-behind victory 40 years ago for control of the Chicago White Sox: ’I’ve never celebrated anniversaries of this sort’

The Chicago White Sox have had plenty of come-from-behind victories in their history, perhaps none bigger than the one 40 years ago Friday.

That’s when American League owners approved the $20 million sale of the Sox to a group led by tax attorney-turned-real estate mogul Jerry Reinsdorf.

Reinsdorf emerged triumphant despite five months of rejections and several apparent dead ends, and he has gone on to retain control longer than any individual in the South Side ballclub’s 120-plus years.

Yet even he is unsentimental about Jan. 29, 1981, the date his hard-won fight to become a baseball owner culminated in a 14-0 blessing of AL owners at the O’Hare Hilton.