On Wednesday night, the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros 4-0 in the best-of-seven contest to win their first MLB World Series in 88 years. Jason DeRose puts the team's victory in perspective by taking a look back at 1917, the last time the White Sox were baseball champions.
NOAH ADAMS, host: This is DAY TO DAY from NPR News.  I'm Noah Adams.</s>NOAH ADAMS, host: The Chicago White Sox won the World Series against the Houston Astros      last night, taking four games in a row for the best-of-seven.  It was the      first time since 1959 the Sox had been in the series, the first time      since 1917 that the Sox have won.  NPR's Jason DeRose has this look at      how the city of Chicago, the US and the world have changed in the past 88      years.</s>JASON DeROSE reporting: It's been so long since the White Sox last won the World Series, there      aren't any audio recordings of the event.  In fact, radio broadcasts of      games in Chicago didn't begin until the 1920s.  So to know what was      happening on the field, you had to be one of the 32,000 people at the old      Comiskey Park on the South Side or, says Chicago Historical Society      curator Peter Alter...</s>Mr. PETER ALTER (Curator, Chicago Historical Society): Also what they      had in the early part of the 20th century were these scoreboards posted      throughout the city where the games would be telegraphed to the      scoreboard site.  And so there would be a scoreboard in the Loop, for      example.  There was one in Grant Park in 1917.</s>DeROSE: For more genteel audiences, Alter says scoreboards were also set      up in theaters around town, along with baseball diamond-shaped boards on      which people moved figures of players so audiences could virtually      experience the game.</s>Ms. NORA BAYES: (Singing) Over there, over there, send the word, send      the word over there...</s>DeROSE: About six months before the 1917 World Series, the US officially      joined the war in Europe, later known as World War I.</s>Mr. PETER ALTER (Curator, Chicago Historical Society): And that actually struck home directly with the White Sox      because the White Sox players, shortly after the declaration of war, were      asked to help with recruiting into the volunteer army as well as the      Selective Service.</s>DeROSE: Alter says major-league baseball teams began to stitch US flags      onto their uniforms to show their support for the war as well.</s>DeROSE: 1917 was also the year of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.</s>Unidentified Man: (Russian spoken)</s>DeROSE: And, Alter says, with the Russian Revolution came a fear of      outsiders, especially possible socialists and Communists.</s>Mr. PETER ALTER (Curator, Chicago Historical Society): What you see nationally as well as locally is a crackdown on      any sort of radical thinking, especially in terms of politics and labor.      And so the Industrial Workers of the World, for example--their      headquarters are raided in something like 42 cities throughout the      country, of course, including Chicago.</s>DeROSE: Peter Alter says it was around this time, too, that Chicago      began to be thought of as America's second city, after New York, in terms      of population and economic importance.  It took that title away from      Boston.  1917 was the beginning of the influenza pandemic that killed      millions, and 1917 was the last year before this year that the Chicago      White Sox won the World Series. Then, the victory was against the New      York Giants.  Last night, the victory was at the expense of the Houston      Astros.  Jason DeRose, NPR News.</s>NOAH ADAMS, host: And Jason, hardworking reporter that he obviously is, isn't quite      done yet.  He's run around Chicago and has worked up a second story for      our program.  It's about God and Starbucks, and you'll hear that in a few      minutes.