On Tuesday’s “Baseball Tonight”, The Krukster (or “Kruky” as his colleagues like to call him…to his face, anyway) went apeshit on White Sox fans, sputtering with rage that the surging first place club could only attract an announced attendence of 12,362 on a chilly Tuesday evening in May (and as Kruk noted, it looked closer to 4 or 5 thousand) for their 5-4 win over Kansas City.

“They still haven’t gotten over you retiring,” quipped Peter Gammons.

“They couldn’t wait to get my fat rear end out of there,” snorted Kruk. “If they win 30 in a row, maybe they’ll show up.”

As noted earlier, Kruk quit on the ’95 White Sox, leaving the team not just in mid-season, but in the middle of game to preserve his .300 batting average.

Commenting on Tom House’s published remarks in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle attesting to the widespread abuse of steroids in the majors during the ’60’s and ’70’s, Larry Bowa said “I’d like to ask one question. Why do these guys come out after their careers are over and admit they did stuff? Why do they wait this long? I don’t understand that.”

“They don’t have the guts to come out when they’re playing,” cried Kruk, “it’s sad.”

“….to wait that long and make a statement like that….” mumbled Bowa (without saying anything else on the subject).

Jose Cancesco’s claims were deemed incredible by many because he was clearly motivated by financial gain. Since House isn’t writing a book and wasn’t paid for his Chronicle interview, what’s the excuse this time? Other than, y’know, telling the truth.

Interestingly, almost every time we hear of a former ballplayer having done steroids, former teammates, managers and GM’s line up to say they didn’t suspect anything (Kevin Towers, excepted). Tony La Russa vouched for Mark McGwire. Kruk denied any knowledge of Lenny Dykstra’s alleged steroid use. Despite his long tenure in baseball, Larry Bowa has little to say other than sneering about how Tom House’s won/loss record wasn’t so good. Without wishing to debate the ethical or health implications of steroid use, where baseball’s old boy network is concerned, either they’re lying or they were blind.

Speaking of the sightlesss, White Sox broadcaster Ken “Hawk” Harrelson will be grabbing some bench for the next few days, as he’ll be undergoing surgery to correct a detatched retina in his right eye.