There’s much ado about handshakes in the Windy City this week. The Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox are entangled in the first leg of the annual Crosstown Cup. Chicago’s interleague rivalry has drawn out emotion in many ways over the years. But evidently, things were very icy amid a hot late spring in Chicago.
White Sox announcer John Schriffen filled the vacancy left by Jason Benetti, who now calls games for the American League Central’s Detroit Tigers. Thus far, it’s been a bit of tough sledding for the former CBS voice. Criticism has piled up over the 2024 MLB season for Schriffen in multiple ways.
670 The Score’s Matt Spiegel has been one of Schriffen’s loudest critics. Earlier this year, Spiegel went off on Schriffen and his play-by-play prowess, claiming he “didn’t know baseball.” Schriffen responded to that criticism, referring to ‘radio losers‘ in response. This week, since the Cubs and White Sox play each other, they were all in the same house. However, according to Spiegel and co-host Danny Parkins, it didn’t go so well.
Spiegel explained that he approached Schriffen in the booth during the Cubs-White Sox game. Spiegel said he introduced himself but that Schriffen gave him a shoulder pat and walked away without saying much. That seemed to irritate the Chicago radio host at least a little bit.
“So anyway, I walked down the hall. I opened the TV booth and there was John,” Spiegel said via Barrett Sports Media. “I stepped up and extended my arm and I said, ‘Hey John Schriffen, Matt Spiegel from 670 The Score.’ He… patted my arm on the side with the back of his hand and said ‘Hey buddy, how you doin’ and walked out.”
“So, that was the extent of my interaction,” Spiegel said. “I tried to extend the hand and he did not want to… So, I may try again to further the conversation at some point, I probably will try again, but that’s a pretty direct ‘not interested.'”
Parkins then chimed in via BSM and said, “Turning down a handshake, that’s dirty pool. That’s pretty bush league.”
Given the back-and-forth here, it doesn’t seem like this will just go quietly.
