Rosenthal: The White Sox have the resources to sign Bryce... - The Athletic

The last time White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf acted out of character the way he would if he signed Bryce Harper was in November 1996.

Reinsdorf, a longtime advocate of fiscal restraint and one of the most hawkish owners during the 1994-95 players’ strike, stunned the baseball industry with his signing of free agent Albert Belle to a five-year, $55 million contract.

“For Jerry Reinsdorf, who’s been a proponent of all the things he’s been a proponent of, to walk up to the podium and bust the market, I think that says something there,” said John Hart, who was then the general manager of the Indians, Belle’s prior club.

Reinsdorf, who was cited by arbitrator George Nicolau as a central figure in baseball’s collusion conspiracy in 1985-87, defended the Belle deal by saying, “It is perfectly fiscally responsible to give him this money . . . We have an obligation to our fans to try to win.”

More than two decades later, the same obligation...

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