Roland Hemond Interview

[Lip Man 1]

He came along at just the right time. In September 1970 things were at their blackest for the Chicago White Sox franchise.

They were the worst team in baseball with 106 losses, fans simply weren’t coming out, the park itself was falling apart and there was talk of moving a charter member of the American League.

No one in their right mind would take on this disaster. Fortunately Roland Hemond was a man who loved challenges. 35 years later in the wake of a World Championship, all Sox fans are very grateful Roland didn’t know the meaning of the word failure. If he didn’t come along at the right time the White Sox might not be around today.

Hemond, a man who is extremely modest, shares some of his memories in this month’s interview at White Sox Interactive, the internet’s best source for White Sox news, interviews, historical audio and fan feedback. www.whitesoxinteractive.com

Hemond the Sox G.M. from September 1970 through the 1985 season, and now a special advisor to current G.M. Ken Williams, discusses why and how he took the Sox job, the motives behind what was perceived as the risky trade to get Dick Allen, working with owners Bill Veeck, Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf and his loyalty to Tony LaRussa, a friendship that started 28 years ago.

This is a coup for White Sox Interactive. Hemond is considering releasing a book on his fifty plus years associated with baseball and is reluctant to discuss those memories for fear they will take away from the book itself but he graciously gave WSI’s Mark Liptak some of his time and those memories are as clear today to him as they were when they first took place in the 1970's and 1980's.

Roland Hemond is a remarkable man.

I hope you will enjoy reading this.

Also just FYI, this interview was conducted before the Sox won the World Series. If I was writing it now, I would add Kenny Williams name to my list of 'best' Sox G.M.'s and remove Ron Schueler's.

Mark Liptak

[mike squires]

Wow~Only you and WSI could pull this off. I've spoken to Rolan a few times although very brief. He is a great man with a great business and baseball mind.

I hven't read it yet, but good job Lip.

[mike squires]

Wow. I don't want to speculate but I will anyway...looks like yet another Hawk hater or at least another one that has personality conflict with Hawk. Does anyone affiliated with the cllub besides Reinsdorff like this guy?

[antitwins13]

Wow. I don't want to speculate but I will anyway...looks like yet another Hawk hater or at least another one that has personality conflict with Hawk. Does anyone affiliated with the cllub besides Reinsdorff like this guy?


It doesn't mean there was a personality conflict. You would probably hate a guy if he stole your job too.

[34 Inch Stick]

[QUOTE=Lip Man 1] he graciously gave WSI’s Mark Liptak some of his time [/QUOTE

This may be a first where a WSI member speaks of himself in the third person. The World Championship is affecting all of us in varied and glorious ways.

[caulfield12]

[QUOTE=Lip Man 1] he graciously gave WSI’s Mark Liptak some of his time [/QUOTE

This may be a first where a WSI member speaks of himself in the third person. The World Championship is affecting all of us in varied and glorious ways.

Maybe Bob Dole was his counselor for the interview, telling him what questions to ask, lol¿

[Lip Man 1]

Actually I simply copied the teaser that I e-mailed out to the media for the feedback thread.

:redface:

Lip

[wilburaga]

Thank you for yet another enjoyable and informative interview.

One minor quibble - I believe the first deal of Schueler's tenure was the ill-fated acquisition of Cory Snyder (and Lindsay Foster) for Eric King and Shawn Hillegas.



W

[HITMEN OF 77]

Good interview Lip, as all of yours always are. Roland is a blast. If anyone has a chance to listen to him at Soxfest during the disscusion seminars, GO!! He and Moose are among the funniest.

[santo=dorf]

What's the story with Melton and Caray? Did Harry make a joke about pancakes? :tongue:

[32nd&Wallace]

What's the story with Melton and Caray? Did Harry make a joke about pancakes? :tongue:Caray was always getting on Melton for whatever reason and his harping on Melton had a spillover effect onto the fans. I think it got so bad that Melton was booed on a father/son's day.

[32nd&Wallace]

Good interview. Lip, did you put Schuler as among the top three GM's simply because of his tenure and that the numbers are not necessarily the result that he was a good GM but rather than he was there for 10 years?

[Lip Man 1]

Wilbur:

You are correct and props to you. The Snyder deal was done on December 4, 1990, the Raines deal on December 24th. You're never to old to learn something!

32nd:

I quote from the interview. "My basis for those four names are the number of championships / post season appearances, number of winning seasons, quality of their trades and an all purpose area called franchise situation. Simply put it means what was going on with the franchise when that person was in charge. What main challenges did they have to face, how did they handle them, what were the successes and what were the failures."

Also as I noted on the bottom of my original post, I would replace Schueler with Williams now that the Sox have won a title. The interview was done before this took place.

Finally I spoke with Roland a short time ago. He had not read the interview yet but apparently had heard from folks who have. He said it sounded like it came out well. We discussed the off season, he's going to New York at the end of the month for an award and how the Sox alumni association is coming.

Then he invited me to meet him in Great Falls, Montana next summer when he comes to visit and evaluate the Sox rookie prospects. If this is a serious offer then naturally I'll be making the drive.

:smile:

Lip