Chicago's Baseball Blood Feud

Written in 1959 by Al Trace and Walter “Li’l Wally” Jagiello, this is the official fight song of the White Sox — written the same year the Sox went to the World Series. It’s got the same bones as “Go Cubs Go”: simple, singable, built for a crowd. It worked in 1959. It still works now. That’s the test.

Still played at Guaranteed Rate Field today. Some songs don’t need updating.

During their 2005 World Series championship run, this classic rock staple became the unofficial anthem of the team. Manager Ozzie Guillen played it in the clubhouse. The players adopted it. The fans ran with it. By the time the Sox swept the Astros, “Don’t Stop Believin’” was the song of that October on the South Side.

Journey wrote it in 1981 about a small-town girl and a city boy. Ozzie Guillen repurposed it for a baseball team from Chicago’s South Side. Neal Schon had no objections.

This 1969 track is used whenever an opposing team’s pitcher gets yanked. The crowd starts it, the PA cranks it, and 40,000 people wave goodbye to the starter heading to the showers. It is deeply satisfying every single time.

Also been copied by virtually every MLB team, every minor league team, every high school team, every elementary school with a baseball program, and sung enthusiastically by every drunk 16” softball player on the North and South sides of Chicago. You have my respect, you ’ole Chicago-style softball guys. 🥁

The Sox were the first MLB team to use it, starting in the early 1970s. Everyone else followed. The South Side had it first.

Used as the introduction song right before the players take the field at home games. The opening guitar riff of “Thunderstruck” is one of the most recognizable sounds in rock and roll — and it translates perfectly to a baseball stadium right before first pitch. The South Side gets loud for this one.

AC/DC wrote it. The White Sox borrowed it. Nobody asked for permission. Nobody needed to.

Chicago rapper Serengeti’s love letter to the South Side and the White Sox. If the other four songs on this list are the official soundtrack, Dennehy is the one that captures the lived experience — the neighborhood, the loyalty, the particular feeling of being a Sox fan in a Cubs city. Worth knowing about if you don’t already.