White Sox don’t have the excuses the Spiders did

1899 Cleveland SpidersMuch of the time when writers or announcers refer to the 2024 White Sox steaming toward the worst record in major league history, they include the word “modern,” either with or without quotation marks. That’s because 1901 is considered the start of the modern era of professional baseball, basically because it was the first year the National and American Leagues both existed as recognized “major” leagues (well, the American League just “declared” itself major). and soon after the two leagues struck the National Agreement, began working together in a coordinated fashion, and met in a World Series to determine league supremacy.

A major (league) reason is that before 1901,…