I know there’s a lot more that goes into this from a political perspective, but for a guy who was a Cubs fan, James Thompson was a lot more friendly to the Sox and their requests for a new stadium than he was to the Cubs when all they wanted to do was install lights at Wrigley.
Baseball fandom of recent Illinois governors (1977-now):
Thompson - Cubs
Edgar - Cardinals
Ryan - Cubs
Blago - Cubs
Quinn - Sox
Rauner - Cubs
Pritzker - Cubs