White Sox Call It Because of . . . Heat?

Chili Davis thought it was some kind of prank. The Angels’ designated hitter returned to his Chicago hotel room after lunch Friday, and waiting for him was a message that Friday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox had been postponed . . . a full five hours before it was supposed to start.

“I didn’t even believe Frank [Sims, Angel traveling secretary],” Davis said. “I went to his room to make sure. I thought someone was playing an April Fools’ joke on me.”

It was no joke. Expecting a game-time temperature of 38 degrees, a wind-chill factor that would make it feel closer to 20 degrees, and possible snow flurries, “We felt it would be best to postpone the game,” Ron Schueler, White Sox senior vice president, said in a release. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader June 24 in Comiskey Park.

There was no mention of Friday night’s first-round NBA playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat and how that might affect baseball attendance on a cold night.

“But I think they [postponed] it because of the Bulls’ game, and because you and I were going to be the only ones out there,” relief pitcher Lee Smith said. “I’ve played in Wrigley Field on days that were worse than this.”

That’s why so many players didn’t believe the news at first. It was chilly Friday afternoon, with temperatures in the mid-40s, but the sun occasionally peeked through the clouds and there wasn’t a hint of rain. Conditions seemed to be worse during recent stops in Milwaukee and Detroit, where the Angels played despite rain and 40-degree temperatures.

“It’s so bizarre,” right fielder Tim Salmon said. “To [postpone] it five hours before the game? I wish my wife had been here. We could have gone out and enjoyed the evening.”

Once the shock of the early postponement wore off, the bright side came shining through. Instead of playing baseball in frigid conditions before a tiny crowd, players got a night off in Chicago, which Davis described as “a great place to have a game postponed.”

They can thank White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf for that. The postponement seemed to be as much a statement by him as a move to protect players.

Reinsdorf cringed as several games were played in snow and freezing temperatures during the first week of the season, and when the White Sox drew only 96,106 to five games during their first home stand.

“Would you buy a ticket to a baseball game when it’s 30 degrees?” Reinsdorf recently asked in the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t blame fans for not coming.”

Dodger pitcher Ramon Martinez suffered a torn groin muscle in Chicago’s Wrigley Field during a game that was played in 36-degree temperatures April 7. Davis said it was ridiculous to play in such conditions.

“People pay to see a quality game, and you’re not going to get a top performance in the snow,” he said. “This game is not made for snow. That’s why they call us ‘The Boys of Summer.’

“The thing I worry about the most is injuries. When it’s wet or cold, it’s hard to stay loose, no matter how much you stretch. Baseball has a lot of stop-and-go action, and if you’re cold or stiff and have to bust your butt to score a run, you can easily blow out a hamstring. Then you’re done for a month.”