THE
BOOK OF THE
CHICAGO WHITE SOX A DECADE-BY-DECADE HISTORY
Copyright Š 2018 by the Chicago Tribune All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the publisher. Chicago Tribune: R. Bruce Dold, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief; Peter Kendall, Managing Editor; Colin McMahon, Associate Editor; Amy Carr, Associate Managing Editor/Features; Joe Knowles, Associate Managing Editor/Sports; Robin Daughtridge, Associate Managing Editor/Photo; Marianne Mather, Photo Editor. Printed in XXX The Chicago Tribune Book of the Chicago White Sox ISBN 13: 978-1-57284-244-1 ISBN 10: 1-57284-244-X First printing: April 2018 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18 19 20 21 22
Midway is an imprint of Agate Publishing. Agate books are available in bulk at discount prices. For more information visit agatepublishing.com.
Contents FOREWORD ........................................................................................ XXX INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. XXX ABOUT THIS BOOK ............................................................................ XXX CHAPTER 1 the
1900s ROOM FOR TWO........................... XXX
CHAPTER 2 the
1910s SPLENDOR AND SCANDAL............. XXX
CHAPTER 3 the
1920s WRATH AND WRECKAGE............... XXX
CHAPTER 4 the
1930s STAR-CROSSED............................. XXX
CHAPTER 5 the
1940s RUNNING ON EMPTY.. ................... XXX
CHAPTER 6 the
1950s ON THE GO. . .................................. XXX
CHAPTER 7 the
1960s COMING UP SHORT. . ..................... XXX
CHAPTER 8 the
1970s LOW NOTES, HIGH NOTES............. XXX
CHAPTER 9 the
1980s REGIME CHANGE.......................... XXX
CHAPTER 10 the
1990s NEW HOME, OLD FEUD.. ............... XXX
CHAPTER 11 the
2000s AT THEIR PEAK............................. XXX
CHAPTER 12 the
2010s FUTURE-FOCUSED........................ XXX
EXTRA INNINGS: THE BEST OF THE WHITE SOX . . ...................... XXX The Trophy Case............................................................................................ XXX The Postseason Series................................................................................. XXX The No-Hitters............................................................................................... XXX The Top 10 Managers................................................................................... XXX The Top 5 Best Trades................................................................................. XXX The Top 5 Worst Trades............................................................................... XXX The Broadcasters.......................................................................................... XXX CREDITS ............................................................................................. XXX INDEX.. ................................................................................................ XXX
Foreword BY JOE KNOWLES
The “Hitless Wonders” and “Winning Ugly.” Air-raid sirens and exploding scoreboards. “Old Aches and Pains” and the “Big Hurt.” “El Senor” and Ozzie. The “GoGo Sox” and the “South Side Hit Men.” Harry and the “Hawk.” Minnie and Paulie. Early and Buehrle. Short pants and pinstripes. “Little Looie” and “Big Klu.” Portly knuckleballer Wilbur Wood and lanky flamethrower Chris Sale. “Na Na, Hey Hey” and “Disco Demolition Night.” Nellie and “No-Neck.” “Black Jack” and “Jungle Jim.” The Black Sox scandal and the “White Flag” trade. To be a White Sox fan is to know the highest of highs, the lowest of lows and all points in between. “If there is any justice in the this world,” wrote two-time Sox owner Bill Veeck in his book “Veeck—As In Wreck,” “to be a White Sox fan frees a man from any other form of penance.” But being a White Sox fan also has its rewards. It’s a character-building endeavor with valuable lessons for life. Yes, you have a chip on your shoulder from sometimes being the “other” team in your own hometown, but carrying that chip gives you strength. And sure, 88 years is a long time between championships, but all that waiting made the victory taste even sweeter. Take it from former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, a lifelong South Sider and Sox fan describing his relationship with the team after the 2005 World Series: “You never, ever give up,” Daley said. “You don’t give up to criticism; you don’t give up to lack of acknowledgment by other people. You just move along. And that’s what they did. This team moved along.” As you’ll see in this book, this team almost moved out, too, nearly abandoning Daley’s beloved hometown for Milwaukee or Seattle or St. Petersburg. Over the years, the franchise’s tenuous grip on solvency came perilously loose several times until it was stabilized by the steady hands of Jerry Reinsdorf and his partners. Through it all, the White Sox endure, through good times and bad, down but never out. Their story, told in these pages, is one of resilience and rebirth, much like the story of the city they call home. With apologies to that team on the North Side, Chicago is, and always has been, a Sox kind of town. May it forever be so.
v
Introduction CHICAGO AND ITS SOX: A TALE OF TOUGH LOVE BY PHIL ROSENTHAL
T
he White Sox aren’t just a Chicago team. They are, in many respects, the Chicago team. Every sports organization within a traffic jam of the Loop wants to claim it embodies some aspect of the city. Tough and rough, striving and surviving, hard-working, hustling, resilient and so on. None can make a more convincing case than the White Sox, whose ties to the place and its ethos predate their 1900 arrival in the city and endure win or lose, despite being at the center of baseball’s worst scandal and the occasional threat to pull up stakes for outposts such as Milwaukee, Denver, New Orleans and St. Petersburg, Fla. Nelson Algren’s oft-cited comparison of undying affection for Chicago with loving a woman with a broken nose (“You may well find lovelier lovelies, but never a lovely so real”) has to resonate with White Sox fans.
No one who recalls the first glimpse of green grass as they walked into old Comiskey Park can deny its awesome beauty. Same for the spray of fireworks after a Sox home run. Or 40,000 fans singing “Na, na, na, na” in unison to Nancy Faust’s handiwork at the organ. Or the old ballpark smells of popcorn, peanuts, sausage, spilled beer and smoke. Or the way Hoyt Wilhelm’s fluttering knuckleball, later taught to Wilbur Wood, dizzied opponents. Or the speed, grace and raw power of Dick Allen’s swing. Or Jim Landis’ command of center field. Even the recollection of Sherm Lollar, running with a figurative piano on his back, can evoke a smile. Yet clear-eyed determination and faith is required—and in many ways is taught through generations—to embrace the White Sox, winners of three World Series titles but only one since 1917. They went 40 years between pennants from the 1919 Black Sox scandal to 1959, another 46 after that to 2005 championship and, as of this writing, who knows? There’s no trying to pretty up the dry spells with talk of curses or attempt to pass off losing as lovable in any way. Rather, there’s tacit acknowledgement that struggle and disappointment are part of life and recognizing that is as important as the pursuing triumphs and savoring them. Former President Barack Obama famously adopted the White Sox as his baseball team and hat of choice as he adopted Chicago as
his home. It is, for many, less a choice than an inheritance. Mayor Richard J. Daley’ passed his devotion Mayor Richard M. Daley. Former Vice President Dan Quayle, despite a flirtation with the Baltimore Orioles when living in Washington, became a White Sox fan growing up in eastern Indiana ostensibly because his father was something of a contrarian and drawn to them during his old youth in Chicago suburb of Cubs fans. “We didn’t have air conditioning in our house back in the ‘50s, and so I would stay up until like 12, 1 o’clock at night, keeping score,” the younger Quayle would recall. “Nellie Fox, Chico Carrasquel, I used to keep all those box scores in my living room as a kid.” The White Sox story begins with another kid, the son of an Irish immigrant-turned-Chicago politico who wanted him to be a plumber. It was a rare instance in which Honest John Comiskey’s powers of persuasion failed him. Not yet known as The Old Roman, or old anything, young Charles Albert Comiskey left home in 1876 at age 17, already seduced by baseball and looking to follow his dreams as a ballplayer. When he moved back home for good, 24 years later, it was as owner of a minor-league team with a secret strategy that, in the spirit of Daniel Burnham’s proscription on little plans, not only would become Chicago’s second major-league ball club but give the nation its second enduring major baseball league.
1
1900s
1900s
April 22, 1901 In the first official American League game, the White Sox defeat the Cleveland Blues 8-2 at South Side Park.
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
Sept. 20, 1902 Sox right-hander Jimmy Callahan throws the first no-hitter in AL history, a 3-0 decision over Detroit at South Side Park.
March 21, 1900 The St. Paul Saints of the Western League move to Chicago to become part of the American League, the fledgling rival to the more-established National League. The new Chicago franchise adopts the nickname of “White Stockings,” a name formerly associated with Chicago’s NL team. The nickname is soon commonly abbreviated to “White Sox.”
8
R OOM FO R T WO
June 5, 1904 Sept. 27, 1901 The White Sox wrap up their inaugural season with a 6-4 victory over the Senators in Washington. The Sox finish 83-53 to claim the first pennant in AL history.
Sox player-manager Jimmy Callahan asks to be relieved of his managerial duties and is replaced by Fielder Jones, the team’s centerfielder. Callahan remains with the club as an outfielder/third baseman.
1900s Oct. 9, 1906 Nick Altrock outduels Cubs ace Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown and the Sox stun the highly favored Cubs by winning the Series opener 2-1.
Oct. 13, 1906 With the series tied at 2-2, the Sox—known as the “Hitless Wonders” for their ability to scratch out just enough runs to win— rough up Cubs pitchers Ed Reulbach and Jack Pfiester and win Game 5 by the score of 8-6.
Oct. 3, 1906 With their 3-1 victory over Cleveland, the Sox clinch first place in the American League, setting up a World Series showdown with their crosstown rivals, the Cubs. The Sox finish the season at 93-58, while the Cubs rack up a record-setting 116 wins against just 36 losses.
1905
1906
Oct. 14, 1906 The Sox tag “Three Finger” Brown for seven runs in the first two innings and coast to an 8-3 victory in Game 6 to complete what remains one of the greatest World Series upsets in history.
1907
Oct. 6, 1908 After the Sox lose the season finale 7-0 to Detroit, costing them the AL pennant, Fielder Jones announces his retirement as player/manager.
1908
1909
May 16, 1909 The Sox trade pitcher Nick Altrock, first baseman Jiggs Donahue and outfielder Gavvy Cravath to Washington for pitcher “Sleepy” Bill Burns, who later becomes a key figure in the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal.
ROOM FOR TW O
9
1900s
1906 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS
‘Hitless Wonders’ I
prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction
12
R OOM FO R T WO
t was hailed at the time as baseball’s finest World Series. Certainly it was Chicago’s finest baseball hour—the only time its two major-league teams have met to decide the ultimate championship. And the 1906 results are regarded as perhaps the greatest of all World Series upsets. The White Sox, appropriately known as the “Hitless Wonders” because of their .198 team batting average in the six-game series, stunned the powerful Cubs (then known as the “Spuds” to many). The Cubs had won the National League pennant by 20 games with the amazing record of 116 victories and 36 losses, a .763 winning percentage that has never been equaled. Player-manager Frank Chance’s Cubs, who were then on display at West Side Park, were regarded as favorites in odds that ranged from 8-5 to 3-1. Tickets, which cost from 50 cents to $1.50, were in such demand that the Tribune, to accommodate the overflow, rented the Auditorium, the First Regiment armory and the McVickers theater, where, on large replicas of baseball diamonds, play-by-play reports of the contest were presented. Even though it was an unusually cold early October in Chicago (temperatures as low as 30 and peaking at 50), the enthusiastic fans swarmed the parks early in great numbers. After all, the Cubs had not won a pennant in 19 years and the White Sox had last succeeded in 1902. Fur coats, blankets and “steamer rug” were part of the dress code and cowbells, megaphones and tin horns were required fan equipment. The White Sox cause seemed hopeless. They had needed a 19-game winning streak in August to overhaul the A’s then just nipped the Yankees in the final week of the season to win the AL by three games. Their hitting was woeful and their fielding was sometimes brilliant but often erratic. The Cubs, led by the famous double-play trio of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Chance, plus catcher Johnny Kling and five outstanding pitchers—Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, Jack Pfiester, Ed Reulbach, Carl Lundgren and Orval Overall—had destroyed the Sox 4 games to 1 in a city exhibition series in 1905. But Sox manager Fielder Jones also boasted outstanding pitching, and with the aid of some poor Cub fielding, Nick Altrock pitched the South Siders to a 2-1 victory over Brown in the opening game on Oct. 9—the 35th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire— at West Side Park at Polk and Wood Streets before
1900s
Caption
“That night there were wild scenes in Loop cafes. . . . Owner Comiskey established himself in his favorite haunt, pulled out $2,000 in currency and said he would not leave until it was all spent. There were plenty about to help him spend it.” 12,960 spectators. Battling occasional snow flurries, each team managed only four hits but one was a decisive triple by utility infielder George Rohe, who had replaced injured George Davis. The next day in the Sox park at 39th Street and Wentworth Avenue, the Cubs romped 7-1 behind Reulbach’s one-hitter. The temperature plunged to 30 on the afternoon of the third game, but Big Ed Walsh used a frosty spitball to stop the Cubs on just two hits for a 3-0 victory, with Rohe again stroking an important triple off Pfiester. The Cubs won the fourth game 1-0 to even the Series at two victories apiece. Reulbach and Pfiester limited the White Sox to only two hits, giving the South Siders just 11 hits in the first four games. Altrock lost a seven-hit performance.
But then the tabbies turned tigers. The White Sox insulted the Cubs by banging out 26 hits and scoring 16 runs in the final two games to win 8-6 (despite six Sox errors) and 8-3. The decisive game was at White Sox park on Sunday, Oct. 14 before 19,249 fans. Doc White stopped the Cubs on seven hits while Brown was knocked out in less that two innings by a seven-run outburst. “That night there were wild scenes in Loop cafes,” the Tribune reported. “On the South Side a huge parade of fans formed and tramped to the homes of various players and Manager Jones and would not leave until speeches had been made. Owner Comiskey established himself in his favorite haunt, pulled out $2,000 in currency and said he would not leave until it was all spent. There were plenty about to help him spend it.” ◆
ROOM FOR TW O
13
1910s
Caption
34
1910s
SP L E NDOR AND SCANDAL
35
1930s
90
S TAR - C R O S S ED
1930s
STAR- CROSSED
91
THE
1940s RUNNING ON EMPTY
TEAM OF THE DECADE First base: Joe Kuhel Banner year: 1940 .280, 27 HR, 28 2B, 94 RBI
Second base: Don Kolloway Banner year: 1942 .273, 3 HR, 40 2B, 60 RBI
J. Louis Comiskey’s effort to control the White Sox’s fate from the grave almost cost his family the team. His will called for the shares to be held in trust, managed by the First National Bank of Chicago for his widow, Grace, along with daughters (then 22 and 18) and son Charles A. Comiskey II, who was 13. Each child was to gain control of shares over time, between the ages of 21 and 35. With an eye to Chuck someday becoming owner, the will expressly urged the bank to resist selling the team if possible. Yet six months after J. Louis’ death, unimpressed with the team’s finances, the bank announced its intent to sell. Grace Comiskey successfully blocked the sale in court, renouncing the will and eventually wresting control. But the White Sox of the 1940s could not match her courtroom success on the field. Cleveland’s Bob Feller threw a no-hitter to beat them, 1-0, in the ’40 season opener. Overcoming their sluggish 1940 start, the Sox were just four games out of first with two weeks to play when they ran out of gas, and that was as good as things got. The ’40 American League batting title came down to the last day, when the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio edged the White Sox’s Luke Appling. Appling won the batting crown in ’43. But two years later Tony Cuccinello’s lead was washed away by rainout of the Sox’s final game, the title going to the Yankees’ Stuffy Stirnweiss by one point. Under Grace Comiskey, the franchise was tight with money and slow to make changes. But if the team ran cold, manager Jimmie Dykes ran hot. In one memorable bench-clearing brawl against the Browns in 1941, Dykes pounced not on a player but on the St. Louis mascot. Another Dykes ouster for arguing a call in a 1942 game inspired young Chuck Comiskey, by then 16, to make his own beeline from the dugout to the ump and earn his own ejection. Four days before Chuck’s 20th birthday in November 1945, Sox vice president and general manager Harry Grabiner ended his 40-year run with the team to work for owner Bill Veeck in Cleveland. The widow Comiskey and new GM Les O’Connor would replace Dykes during his 13th season in 1946 with Ted Lyons, who could not match the success of his 21-season Hall of Fame White Sox pitching career. A 51-101 finish in 1948 finally convinced the Comiskeys to clean house. Under GM Frank Lane and manager Jack Onslow, the ’49 Sox still lost 91 games. Opposite:
Shortstop: Luke Appling Banner year: 1943 .328, 3 HR, 33 2B, 80 RBI, 27 SB, .419 OBP
Third base: Ralph Hodgin Banner year: 1943 .314, 1 HR, 50 RBI
Right field: Taffy Wright Banner year: 1941 .322, 10 HR, 35 2B, 97 RBI
Center field: Thurman Tucker Banner year: 1944 .287, 2 HR, 46 RBI
Left field: Moose Solters Banner year: 1940 .308, 12 HR, 80 RBI
Catcher: Mike Tresh Banner year: 1940 .281, 1 HR, 64 RBI
Pitchers: Thornton Lee Banner year: 1941 22-11, 2.37 ERA, 30 CG, 130 SO
Ted Lyons Banner year: 1942 14-6, 2.10 ERA, 20 CG, 1.070 WHIP
Orval Grove Banner year: 1943 15-9, 2.75 ERA, 18 CG
Joe Haynes Banner year: 1947 14-6, 2.42 ERA)
93
THE
1950s ON THE GO
TEAM OF THE DECADE First base: Eddie Robinson Banner year: 1951 .282, 29 HR, 117 RBI
Second base: Nellie Fox Banner year: 1959
The 1950s culminated with the White Sox’s first American League pennant and World Series in 40 years. Along the way, as the no-go Sox became the Go Go Sox, a family schism cost the Comiskeys control. Luke Appling by 1950 was poised to retire with Chico Carrasquel settling in at shortstop while second baseman Nellie Fox came from the A’s. Paul Richards was installed as manager for 1951, and a three-way deal brought speedy outfielder Minnie Minoso from Cleveland. Shot down by matriarch Grace Comiskey for a raise, Richards exited in the last month of the ’54 season to become Orioles general manager, replaced by Marty Marion. The Sox finished third for the fourth straight season in ’55, but just five games out, and this time it was GM Frank Lane bolting in September. Chuck Comiskey and brother-in-law John Rigney, a former White Sox pitcher wed to Dorothy Comiskey, took over the front office. They dealt Carrasquel to Cleveland for Larry Doby, who had broken the AL color line three months after Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Dodgers debut. Venezuelan star Luis Aparicio, the new shortstop, won 1956 rookie-of-the-year honors. But yet another third-place finish ensured the end of Marion’s run in favor of Cleveland’s Al Lopez. In December ’56, Grace Comiskey died. Son Chuck, then 31, always expected to run the team and chafed under his mother, even quitting as vice president briefly in 1952 (while retaining his shares) because he thought his mother should cede him the presidency. She got the last word, willing control of the team to Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, his surviving older sister. (The other had died four-and-a-half years earlier at 31.) Dorothy sought to sell her 54 percent share and anticipated a deal with her brother, as her father and grandfather would have wished. But, dismayed by a low-ball offer and a probate fight, she sold to a group led by Bill Veeck just before the 1959 season. Veeck wanted Chuck’s shares, too, but Chuck retained hope of gaining the upper hand through maneuvering and a court case that dragged into the next decade. While this was playing out, Lopez led the Sox to second place in 1957 and, with Early Wynn and Al Smith acquired from now-Cleveland GM Lane, again in ’58. That teed up the ’59 Sox to be AL champs. An 11-0 victory over the Dodgers in the World Series opener went for naught as Los Angeles won the title in six games. Opposite:
.306, 2 HR, 34 2B, 70 RBI, .380 OBP, GG
Shortstop: Luis Aparicio Banner year: 1959 .257, 6 HR, 51 RBI, 56 SB, GG
Third base: George Kell Banner year: 1955 .312, 8 HR, 81 RBI, .389 OBP
Right field: Jim Rivera Banner year: 1955 .264, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 25 SB
Center field: Jim Landis Banner year: 1953 .259, 11 HR, 26 2B, 16 3B, 78 RBI, 22 SB
Left field: Minnie Minoso Banner year: 1954 .320, 19 HR, 29 2B, 18 3B, 116 RBI, .411 OBP
Catcher: Sherm Lollar Banner year: 1959 .265, 22 HR, 84 RBI
Pitchers: Billy Pierce Banner year: 1956 20-9, 3.32 ERA, 21 CG, 192 SO
Dick Donovan Banner year: 1957 16-6, 2.77 ERA, 16 CG
Virgil Trucks Banner year: 1954 19-12, 2.79 ERA, 16 CG, 5 SHO
Early Wynn Banner year: 1959 22-10, 3.17 ERA, 14 CG, 159 SO, 5 SHO
111
1950s
1 22
ON T HE G O
1950s
“When young kids came to see him play, you could tell them, ‘Now, that’s the way to play ball.’ ” —BILLY PIERCE
Fox surely helped Marion, who put him in the lineup every day but one—Aug. 6, 1955, a steamy afternoon in Baltimore, when Marion decided Fox could use a day off. That broke Fox’s string of 274 straight games. The next day, he began another, this one lasting 798 games, until illness forced him out of the lineup Sept. 4, 1960. “One thing you could say about Nellie,” Marion said. “When you go into that clubhouse office, you start writing out that lineup card. You wrote down Fox. That was permanent.
“He was a great ballplayer.” Marion said. “He was just as great if he isn’t in the Hall of Fame as if he was in the Hall of Fame. He’s still the same player.” And what kind of player was that? “When young kids came to see him play,” Pierce said, “you could tell them, ‘Now, that’s the way to play ball.’” Nellie Fox died of cancer in December of 1975, a few days short of his 48th birthday. ◆
ON THE GO
123
1970s
186
LOW N O TE S , H I G H N O TE S
1970s
Caption
L OW NO TES, HIGH NOTES
187
1970s
202
LOW N O TE S , H I G H N O TE S
1970s
South Side “Hit Men” L
errin LaGrow knew this was going to be different the day he arrived in Sarasota, Fla., after being traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the White Sox, the American League’s worst team in 1976. LaGrow, a pitcher who had spent most of the previous season in the minor leagues, walked into the courtyard of the Sarasota Motor Hotel late on the afternoon of March 23, 1977. He asked for the team’s owner, Bill Veeck, and was directed to the hotel pool. Those were the days when many Sox players spent spring training not in fancy condos but in the shabby motel, the days when first baseman Jim Spencer was holding out for a $10,000 raise to $60,000 a year. Veeck lived in Room 148, where the bed always was littered with rosters, a minor encumbrance for a man who rarely slept. When General Manager Roland Hemond wanted some sleep after returning from dinner, he sneaked into his room without turning on the light, for fear Veeck would see Hemond still was awake. That meant a few more hours of conversation about anything under the sun or moon, including how to build what became a team with an enduring legend. When LaGrow found Veeck, the owner was sitting in the sun with his shirt off, his wooden leg on a table and a beer in his hand. Veeck looked up from a conversation with Hemond and said to LaGrow, “Welcome to the White Sox. What do you want to do, start or relieve? We’re so bad it doesn’t make a difference.” It was then LaGrow understood this would be like night and day from the rest of his baseball experiences. He would become the star reliever, with seven victories and 25 saves, on a team that couldn’t field and gave up more runs than 20 of the other 26 major-league teams that season. After all, manager Bob Lemon, a Hall-of-Fame pitcher, greeted the news of the LaGrow trade by saying, “One arm? We need an octopus.” The shortcomings eventually would keep them from a division title, but that failure has diminished over time. What mattered was the 1977 White Sox hit enough moonshots to bring sunshine into the lives of the players and fans who made old Comiskey Park rock to the beat of “Na-na-na-na . . . Na-na-na-na . . . Hey, Hey, Hey . . . Goodbye!”
This was the team that would go down as the South Side Hit Men, a team that was in first place in the American League West continuously from July 1 until Aug. 12 before finishing third, 12 games behind Kansas City. Yet early in spring training, left-fielder Ralph Garr said, “This is the worst team I’ve ever played for,” and at that moment, his judgment was perfectly accurate. “It was a bunch of misfits and no-names, but we all fit together,” said LaGrow. If the author had the marketing savvy of, say, a Pat Riley, who thought fast enough to trademark the term “Three-peat,” he could have been writing this story with a mai-tai in his hand on a Maui balcony overlooking the Pacific. The nickname “South Side Hit Men” never was trademarked or copyrighted over all the years of Tshirt sales. Yours truly never made a penny off his creation, which first appeared in the Chicago Daily News of May 9, 1977, after the White Sox swept a May series from the Indians by scores of 7-5, 5-2 and 8-3. It began like this: “CLEVELAND—Capone’s crowd is still living respectably in Cicero. Marvin the Torch is on the unemployment line. The guys who work Coogan’s trade have guns and nowhere to travel. “But the mob is making a comeback with a bunch of South Side hit men. There are contracts out on American League pitchers, and they are being executed mercilessly with baseball bats.” Two months later, in the Daily News of June 11, the concept had been transformed to a logo. The “Hit Man” was an unshaven, cigar-chomping hood carrying a violin case with three bats. He was a perfect contrast, South Side vs. North Side, to the cuddly “Little Blue Machine” logo the Daily News developed for the Cubs, whose manager, Herman Franks, had coined the nickname for his overachieving team. The scruffy Sox and the cute Cubs both spent all of July in first place. There was no shared joy in the achievement, though. Chicago is a city that, in the perfect symbolic gesture, has a sculpture of a baseball bat
Caption
L OW NO TES, HIGH NOTES
203
1970s
20 8
LOW N O TE S , H I G H N O TE S
1970s
Disco Demolition Night O
n July 12, 1979, Bill Veeck, Harry Caray, radio host Steve Dahl and a cast of thousands were joined together on one of the craziest, haziest, most controversial nights in the history of Comiskey Park. Michael Veeck, son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck, was serving as promotions director for the club at the time. A frustrated guitarist, Veeck, then 28, had a particularly bitter attitude towards the increasingly popular disco craze. “I loathed disco,” recalled Veeck. “I felt it was a blight on the American music scene. Remember, this was almost 10 years after Woodstock, and people didn’t have much to throw themselves into. Discobashing became a cause simply because there was nothing else around.” Veeck caught wind of the disco record-bashing antics of an outrageous disc jockey on WLUP-FM named Steve Dahl and heard about Dahl’s legion of fans, who called themselves the “Insane Coho Lips.” Veeck talked his father into a staging a goofy promotion between games of a Sox-Detroit two-night double-header. Both teams were slumping, and the extra attendance couldn’t hurt. “We had a meeting,” said Mike Veeck, “and decided to put a quarter stick of dynamite in a crate of disco records and let Steve Dahl blow them sky-high.” Dahl, who had staged a well-attended anti-disco rally weeks earlier at a south suburban club, approved the idea when his station bosses pitched it to him. He was to dress in army fatigues, ride onto the field in a Jeep and blow up disco records, thereby promoting his morning show, the station and the Sox at the same time. “I walked into the ballpark and I’m thinking: ‘We really blew this,’” said Dahl. “There were 8 million guys selling Insane Coho Lips T-shirts, and 90,000 people trying to get in, some of them climbing up the walls, and I’m not making a penny out of it.’ Timing . . . timing.” Venerable Sox broadcaster Harry Caray came to the park that night expecting an ordinary doubleheader. But when he walked inside, Caray smelled the distinct odor of an illegal substance. “I’m walking up the ramp, and there are all these
“There was no real riot. But when a team is that bad, you’ve got to provide your own entertainment.” —STEVE DAHL
Caption
L OW NO TES, HIGH NOTES
209
THE
1990s NEW HOME, OLD FEUD
TEAM OF THE DECADE First base: Frank Thomas Banner year: 1994 .353, 38 HR, 34 2B, 101 RBI, .487 OBP, 1.217 OPS
Second base: Ray Durham Banner year: 1998 .285, 19 HR, 35 2B, 8 3B, 67 RBI, 36 SB
Shortstop: Ozzie Guillen Banner year: 1996 .263, 4 HR, 8 3B, 45 RBI
Jerry Reinsdorf proved the most politically adept and influential White Sox owner since their first, Charles A. Comiskey. The Old Roman threaded a needle of conflicting interests to move his ballclub into his hometown, help establish the American League and build a South Side ballpark that was the envy of all when it opened in 1910. That beloved venue, Comiskey Park, had seen better days going into its last nostalgic season in 1990. Construction of its massive replacement across 35th Street was evidence Reinsdorf was quite a dealmaker. Leveraging fears he might move the White Sox to Florida, Reinsdorf managed to get city and state politicians to get him a stadium that cost more than six times the price paid for the team a few years earlier. In retrospect, the new Comiskey Park suffered in being the last major-league venue to open before the wave of retro designs, leaving it to feel a bit sterile and dated, but that would be addressed in subsequent renovations. Within Major League Baseball, Reinsdorf quickly became a mover and shaker. A friend of Brewers owner Bud Selig, who in the ‘60s tried to get the White Sox to move to Milwaukee, Reinsdorf supported Selig’s appointment as interim and later full-fledged commissioner. The labor disruptions in ’81, ’85 and ’90 since his acquisition of the White Sox made Reinsdorf—found colluding with other owners to keep free-agent prices down in the ’80s—determined to settle baseball’s labor problems decisively. He pushed for a hard line as things got ugly in 1994 and into ’95. This contributed to a 232-day work stoppage, notable for the cancellation of the ’94 World Series, which Reinsdorf’s Sox appeared to have a real shot to reach—and perhaps even win. Coming off a six-game 1993 American League Championship Series loss to the eventual World Series champion Blue Jays, the ’94 Sox had returning Most Valuable Player Frank Thomas, Cy Young winner Black Jack McDowell, Manager of the Year Gene Lamont and Rookie of the Year runner-up Jason Bere. Further buoyed by Julio Franco, Ozzie Guillen, Tim Raines, Robin Ventura, Wilson Alvarez and Alex Fernandez, they were in first place when the sport shut down on Aug. 12, not to reopen until April 2. So there was ample resentment among Sox fans for squandering a rare contender, amplified by their failure to reach the postseason the rest of the ’90s. That said, MLB, after four stoppages in 23 years, did not have another for at least the next 22. Opposite:
Third base: Robin Ventura Banner year: 1996 .287, 34 HR, 31 2B, 105 RBI, GG
Right field: Magglio Ordonez Banner year: 1999 .301, 30 HR, 34 2B, 117 RBI, 13 SB
Center field: Lance Johnson Banner year: 1995 .306, 10 HR, 12 3B, 57 RBI, 40 SB
Left field: Tim Raines Banner year: 1993 .306, 16 HR, 54 RBI, 21 SB, .401 OBP
Catcher: Carlton Fisk Banner year: 1990 .285, 18 HR, 65 RBI
Designated hitter: Julio Franco Banner year: 1994 .319, 20 HR, 98 RBI, .406 OBP
Pitchers: Jack McDowell Banner year: 1993 22-10, 3.37 ERA, 10 CG, 4 SHO, 158 SO
Alex Fernandez Banner year: 1993 18-9, 3.13 ERA, 169 SO
Wilson Alvarez Banner year: 1993 15-8, 2.95 ERA, 155 SO
Bobby Thigpen Banner year: 1990 4-6, 1.83 ERA, 57 SV, 1.038 WHIP
243
1990s
Caption Caption Caption
248
N E W HO ME, O L D F EU D
1990s
NE W HOM E, OLD FEUD
249
1990s
254
N E W HO ME, O L D F EU D
1990s
NE W HOM E, OLD FEUD
255
2000s
2000s
C TY SERIES
GAME 2
WHITE SOX 7 CUBS 0
S E C T I O N 1 7 • S U N D AY, M AY 2 1 , 2 0 0 6 • I N S I D E : Y O U R COMPLETE SPORTS SECTION
F R I D AY
4
A funny thing happened at the Cubs-Sox fight Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field. A baseball game broke out, with the Sox beating the Cubs and Michael Barrett, the North Side Hit Man, 7-0 in a unanimous decision. The Cubs’ display was a riot in more ways than one.
CHAMPIONS CENTRAL DIVISION AMERICAN LEAGUE
3 UP
Tadahito Iguchi: The international peacekeeper prevented tensions from escalating with his grand slam in the second inning that took all the fight out of the Cubs. Chants of “GOOOOOCH!’’ greeted Iguchi after both home runs, and his smile as he tipped his Sox cap needed no interpretation. How many second basemen in the AL are any better than Iguchi?
PRELUDE TO A PUNCH: A.J. Pierzynski plows into Michael Barrett, prepares
Freddy Garcia: Nobody is wondering about velocity now, unless they are asking how fast it will take Ozzie Guillen to name Garcia to the All-Star team in July. Victory No. 7 looked easy for the guy who quietly joined Kenny Rogers of Detroit atop the league leaders in victories by making the Cubs look like impostors imported from Triple-A Iowa.
April 19, 2000 With a 5-2 decision over Seattle, the Sox move into first place in the AL Central, a spot they would hold for the remainder of the season.
April 22, 2000 A pair of brawls leads to the ejection of 11 players during a 14-6 Sox victory over Detroit at Comiskey Park.
2001
Sept. 24, 2000 Despite falling 6-5 in 10 innings to Minnesota, the Sox clinch the division title when Cleveland loses to Kansas City.
Tribune photos by Phil Velasquez (far left)
and Scott Strazzante to slap home plate for the Sox’s first run and gets wrapped up by Barrett before …
Home-plate flap: Barrett protects it, Sox own it in rout Mike Downey
In the wake of the news
Breakdown of a battle royal— CSI: The Cell
R
3 DOWN Michael Barrett: The “tools of ignorance’’ is another term for catcher’s equipment, but lately Barrett has taken that expression too literally. For the second time in two weeks, the nicest guy in the Cubs’ clubhouse showed a mean streak on the field—and this time his outburst will hurt his team more than it did A.J. Pierzynski. How the Cubs’ already anemic batting order will fare without one its best hitters as Barrett serves the likely suspension is something the bright catcher should have considered before connecting with Pierzynski’s jaw. Brian Anderson: Anderson earned points in the Sox’s clubhouse for the way he sprung to Pierzynski’s defense, which was commendable, but the rookie took baseball chivalry to another level in turning affable Cubs first baseman John Mabry into an unwitting sparring partner. A bearhug might have worked just as well. Rich Hill: Sox hitters might say if the Cubs still are searching for a left-handed batting practice pitcher, Hill looked ideal for the job Saturday in a seven-run, four-inning disaster. Paging the Iowa Cubs’ pitching staff: Next!
… the Cubs catcher rears back and delivers a right cross to set off
GAME 3 S U N DAY
Tribune photo by Scott Strazzante
a second-inning melee that results in four ejections.
1:05 p.m. | WGN-Ch. 9; Comcast SportsNet | WSCR-AM 670; WGN-AM 720 Carlos Zambrano (2-2, 3.34 ERA) vs. Jose Contreras (5-0, 1.41 ERA)
1
2
3
4
2002
Oct. 24, 2000 Kenny Williams is named general manager, replacing Ron Schueler.
5
ON THE WEB
Your guide to the home of the White Sox at chicagotribune.com/thecell
ich Hill said what A.J. Pierzynski did was “gutless.” Dusty Baker said it was “a clean play by A.J.” Michael Barrett said “it was a great play on his part” and that he was sorry for punching Pierzynski in the face. Pierzynski said, “I don’t enjoy getting punched in the face. If you can tell me what I did today to deserve it, I still can’t figure it out.” Paul Konerko said, “A.J. ran him over perfectly clean.” Jacque Jones said, “The play was clean, the punch was clean. And I was just, like, ‘Wow.’ ” Wow, holy cow and pow, right in the kisser. Welcome to Catchermania, a nasty, bareknuckle, no-holds-barred, unexpected Saturday-in-the-park Chicago baseball rumble that caught 25 Cubs, 25 White Sox and a crowd of 39,387 at U.S. Cellular Field totally off guard. This city has had fights before. It has had South Side vs. North Side gangland hits. It has had baseball brawls. It has had teammates slugging teammates, as when a very famous Bull punched out a less famous Bull at a practice or when a couple of Bears mauled each other at an FBI gun range. Never before, though, has a Cub ever taken it upon himself to sock a Sox in the chops. It happened at 1 o’clock in the afternoon on the button. Here are the facts of the case, as best we can piece together from the perpetrators, eyewitnesses, film evidence and our own personal observations of the mayhem and chaos: On the hill of The Cell for the Cubs was the young Mr. Hill, 26, a left-handed pitcher of considerable promise who, nevertheless, never has won a game in the major leagues, in part because of his inadequacy at throwing a baseball over the plate. After his first 35 pitches, Hill already had received two visits from Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild, whose advice to
Tribune photos by Charles Cherney
Second baseman Tadahito
with champagne following
the Sox’s 4-2 win over Detroit
tension remained seemed to let go of whatever kept them loose. They sure Podsednik said his manager hard-charging Cleveland. satisfaction of holding off . The win gave the Sox the opponent for Game 1 4-2 in Detroit on Thursday Sox is a still-to-be-determined after finishing off the Tigers The only concern for the ,” said the none of that matters now. is a happy day, happy day MIKE DOWNEY (PAGE 3) But mayor will be there. “This the bet can You 4) Field. THE FANS (PAGE 7) It wasn’t a happy day in 2000, of the ALDS at U.S. Cellular THE CHAIRMAN (PAGES 6 and , THE BUILDING BLOCKS and Williams has remade his Buehrle remain. GM Ken Sox Fan In Chief. THE ARCHITECT Frank Thomas and Mark hire those Sox. Only Paul Konerko, irreplaceable talent—and to move what had seemed not after Seattle had swept Reinsdorf had in Williams no less—through repaying the trust Jerry win—over those pesky Indians, first team into a division champ, season’s the From 5) There’s more inside. AND WHAT’S NEXT? (PAGE here.” Neither should you. managed. WHAT A MONTH! said. “We’re not stopping a manager who had never isn’t it,” Dustin Hermanson it was quite a ride. “This the angst-filled final month,
COMING TUESDAY Your complete
guide to the first round of the
COMING WEDNESDAY Your
playoffs. 1
2
3
4
5
After losing the first two games of the Division Series at home, the Sox drop a 2-1 decision in Seattle and are swept out of the playoffs three games to none.
UP TO THE MINUTE
If you can’t watch the game on TV, follow it at chicagosports.com
2004
Jan. 31, 2003
T U E S D AY
, 2003 NOVEMBER 4
~
4
Comiskey Park he is bt in my mind that is renamed ‘There is no dou U.S. ng here we fired. somethi rs are hired to get going to provide .’ will you ‘I believe manage if be to jolt, g ely need. A job, it’s goin Cellular Field. desperat If I get fired in this way.’ because I did it my
my k’s going to play ‘I’m sorry, but Fran sn’t run a fly ball and doe way. ... If he hits at.’ at-b ther won’t get ano the bases, Frank k Thomas
Guillen on Fran
Ken Williams
Ozzie Guillen
z O f o d n a l s i South Side Nov. 3, 2003
ney Mike Dowof the news
Sox finally give job to a Sox guy
AT T HE IR P E A K
complete coverage of Game
6
6
SECTION
time. ell, it’s about Ozzie Not about time shot to Guillen got a isn’t even He . team a manage to wait at all. had ’t hasn He 40. time a White No, it’s about d to come Sox star was aske club. the back and run cares about Somebody who who sees y ebod the Sox. Som just a job. than this as more last time a the was n Whe e ball hero mad South Side base correturn to the a triumphant Shields as the ner of 35th and
W
Central.
THE CLINCHER (PAGE 3) Scott
X M A N AG E R W WHITE SO GUILLEN NE
Oct. 6, 2000
to capture the American League
Welcome to
Iguchi celebrates as he is sprayed
PLEASE SEE DOWNEY, PAGE 4
2003
In the wake
266
SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
SECTION
By David Haugh
Tribune staff reporter
Umpires: Congress has decided national security issues quicker than the umpires sorted through the mess of the melee in the second inning. But whatever they said to both teams during their 15-minute powwow worked. Even if it gets chippy with retaliatory nonsense in Sunday’s finale, Charlie Reliford’s crew helped prevent an ugly situation from getting any uglier.
2000
★★
3 UP, 3 DOWN
Ozzie Guillen is named manager, replacing Jerry Manuel.
1.
2000s Oct. 4, 2005 Sox open playoffs with a 14-2 rout of Boston at Comiskey Park.
Oct. 7, 2005
Oct. 12, 2005
Paul Konerko’s 2-run homer in the 6th propels the Sox to a 5-3 victory over the Red Sox in Boston, completing a three-game sweep.
After losing Game 1 of the ALCS to the Angels, the Sox even the series thanks to a heads-up play by A.J. Pierzynski, who advances to first on a dropped third strike, then scores the winning run on an RBI single by Joe Crede.
FINAL
Believe it! 50¢ City & Suburbs; 75¢ Elsewhere
T H U R S D AY , O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 0 5
159TH YEAR — NO. 300 CHICAGO TRIBUNE
~
CHICAGOLAND
White Sox bring World Series title back to Chicago with historic sweep
Oct. 16, 2005 Jose Contreras goes the distance in a 6-3 decision over the Angels in Anaheim, ending the ALCS in five games and sending the Sox to their first World Series since 1959.
OCTOBER 2005 Oct. 22, 2005 In the first World Series game held in Chicago since 1959, the Sox defeat Houston 5-3 at U.S. Cellular Field.
Oct. 23, 2005 The Sox take a 6-4 lead on Paul Konerko’s 7th inning grand slam, but Houston ties it up with two runs in the 9th before Scott Podsednik’s homer in the bottom of the inning gives the Sox a 7-6 victory in Game 2 of the World Series.
2005
2006
Oct. 25, 2005 Geoff Blum’s pinch-hit homer with two out in the 14th inning propels the Sox to a 7-5 victory over Houston in Game 3.
Oct. 26, 2005 Jermaine Dye—who would be named World Series MVP— drives in the game’s only run with a single in the 8th inning, giving the Sox a 1-0 victory and a four-game sweep for their first title since 1917.
2007
Joe Crede jumps to the top of the White Sox
John Kass
‘Today we wear black, for joy’ “Now that it’s over, after the celebration scene on the grass and the champagne scene in the clubhouse, I can’t stop thinking about home. About that chip that was on our shoulders for so long, and about the camaraderie of strangers greeting each other on the streets of Chicago… Today, we know other’s hearts by the color we wear.” PAG E 2
2008
June 9, 2008
Sept. 29, 2005
The Sox win their seventh straight, a 7-5 decision over Minnesota at U.S. Cellular Field, to increase their lead to a season-high six games over the second-place Twins in the AL Central.
Sox defeat Tigers 4-2 in Detroit to clinch Central Division title.
Sept. 25, 2008 Nov. 25, 2005 The Sox acquire Jim Thome from the Phillies in a trade for outfielder Aaron Rowand and pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Haigwood.
celebratory scrum after the South Siders’ nailbiting
1-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game
4 of the World Series.
Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo
South Siders end 88-year drought
The Twins take a halfgame lead in the division thanks to a 7-6 walk-off, 10-inning victory over the Sox in Minnesota.
By Dan McGrath
HOUSTON—This one’s for you, Chicago. Old Chicago, new Chicago, and all of Chicago that cares about the Chicago White Sox. Make that the world-champion Chicago White Sox. They earned that distinction for the first time since 1917— that’s 88 years if you’re counting, and most Sox fans most assuredly are—by besting the Houston Astros in the World Series, completing an improbable four-game sweep Wednesday night with a 1-0 victory that literally came down to the final pitch. Series MVP Jermaine Dye singled home the only run of the game, Freddy Garcia and three relievers combined on a five-hit shutout and shortstop Juan Uribe made two remarkable fielding plays to end it, touching off a wild celebration among team mem-
Tribune staff reporter
bers who knew it wasn’t as easy as they might have made it look. Two of the games were decided by one run and the 14-inning Game 3 marathon was a two-run affair. “I congratulate the Chicago White Sox,” Astros manager Phil Garner said. “They played well all year, and they deserve to be called world champions.” Sox fans from Bourbonnais to Barrington joined the party vicariously, as did the few hundred who had made their way to Minute Maid Park. After watching so many fans in so many other cities celebrate so often, it was almost as if they didn’t know what to do with themselves besides smile, shout and hug somebody. The formula the Sox devised in spring training—strong pitching, 1
2
3
4
tight defense and clubhouse togetherness—was followed to the letter during a 99-win regular season and one of the most dominant playoff runs in recent memory. The Sox went 11-1 in the postseason, taking care of the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Angels and the Astros as their starting pitchers gave them at least seven innings in 11 of the 12 games. “A lot of people have waited a long time for this moment, and I’m happy that we were able to give it to them,” said Ozzie Guillen, the Sox’s charismatic, live-wire manager who won baseball’s biggest prize in his second year in charge. “I didn’t come here for the glamor, I didn’t come here for the money. I came here to win.” And he did. Did he ever. 5
Baseball, in its glory “Even before the game was played, you knew. Your friends knew, too. The whole city knew.” BACK PAGE FULL COVERAGE ON PAGES 20-21, OUR 14-PAGE SPECIAL SECTION AND AT CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM.
6
Oct. 6, 2008 Tampa Bay defeats the Sox 6-2 in Game 4 to win the first-round playoff series three games to one.
2009
Sept. 29, 2008 The Sox defeat Detroit 8-2 in a makeup game and finish the season at 88-74 and tied with Minnesota for first in the AL Central.
Sept. 30, 2008 In the one-game playoff that would later become known as the “Blackout Game,” Jim Thome hits a solo homer and John Danks and Bobby Jenks combine on a two-hitter as the Sox defeat Minnesota 1-0 at U.S. Cellular Field.
AT THEIR PEAK
267
2000s
296
AT T HE IR P E A K
2000s
Ozzie Guillen A
s a 19-year-old from Caracas, Venezuela, thrust onto the Double-A level in Beaumont, Texas, in the San Diego Padres’ farm system, Ozzie Guillen had only “my bat and my glove to speak for me,” he recalled. He picked up a few English phrases on the street and from former teammate John Kruk. “It was tough because we didn’t have coaches, players, teammates . . . you had maybe two or three guys on every team,” he said. “If you would see somebody here from another team who [spoke] Spanish, you would take them to the house to eat together, go to the hotel together. “I didn’t understand [anything],” Guillen said. “I was by myself, no car, nothing. Now, you go to Double A, they have someone there to kiss you, [ask] what you need, what can we do for you. When I was there, it was like, ‘If you’re no good, go back to your country.’” Guillen was good enough to play 16 years in the majors—13 on the South Side—and earn three trips to the All-Star Game. He was known as much for his chatter as his reliable glove and disdain for taking walks. Guillen was the American League’s rookie of the year in 1985, batting .273 and striking out only 36 times (and walking only 12 times) in 513 plate appearances. He also was durable, playing in 149 or more games in each of his first seven seasons with the Sox. On April 22, 1992, Guillen collided with left fielder Tim Raines in a game against the Yankees. After surgery to repair the ligaments in his right knee, Guillen put in a year of rehab. “He has two choices,” Sox trainer Herm Schneider said at the time. “Do what we tell him to do or never play again.” Guillen made his ninth consecutive Opening Day start in 1993. When you speak your mind, as Guillen always did, you become a magnet for controversy. The unfiltered Ozzie made for great headlines, but also earned him a fair share of detractors. Guillen alienated some fans in 1995 when he criticized those who had treated teammates Frank Thomas and Chris Sabo harshly after the players strike was settled. Guillen got booed at games and received nasty letters. “When they started throwing money at Sabo, I thought enough was enough,” Guillen later said. “I was
SHORTSTOP, MANAGER 13 1985–1997 (player); 2004–2011 (manager)
embarrassed by the ugly names they were calling Frank. There were two sides to that [strike] story, and I didn’t want them to come and blame it all on the players. “Finally, I said, ‘If you don’t want to come to the games, then don’t come.’ But I was protecting my teammates.” But Guillen also was unafraid to call out those teammates if he thought they were making excuses or failing to give their maximum effort. In 1995, Thomas complained that new batting-practice times would alter his pregame routine. Responded Guillen: “Make a new one.” After a 1996 spring training game, Guillen criticized Thomas when he failed to scoop a low throw to first base. “Most of my errors are your fault,” Guillen reportedly told him. After Thomas’ ugly exchange with manager Jerry Manuel in the spring of 2000, Guillen said of Thomas: “The White Sox thought he’d be the man to teach the kids how to play the game. They were wrong, because he doesn’t know how. . . . To be ‘the man’ you have to move runners over, run the bases hard. He’s not going to hit a ground ball and run down the line hard to show a kid how it’s done. That’s not Frank.” The next day Thomas called Guillen an old friend and said: “You listen to his jokes and you take what he says with a grain of salt. Sometimes you don’t know when he’s kidding or when he’s serious. I didn’t take any of that to heart.” After he hit a career-low .245 in 1997, the Sox declined his $4 million option. On the eve of his final game in a Sox uniform, Guillen prophetically said: “I might come back as a coach or a scout. Or maybe I’ll come back as a manager.” But first Guillen would make a few more stops as a backup shortstop, playing 12 games with Baltimore, 175 with Atlanta and 63 with Tampa Bay, which dumped him after the 2000 season. “When Tampa Bay releases you,” Guillen said, “it’s a pretty strong sign.” So Guillen became a coach. He spent one year as Jeff Torborg’s assistant in Montreal and two seasons as the third-base coach for the Marlins. In November of 2003, he returned to Chicago as manager of the White Sox. Neither his volatile personality nor his lack of experience discouraged the Sox from hiring Guillen to run their club.
AT THEIR PEAK
297
EXTRA INNINGS
THE
NO-HITTERS (SINCE 1900)
Date
Pitcher
Opponent
Score
April 21, 2012
Philip Humber
at Seattle
4-0 *
July 23, 2009
Mark Buehrle
vs. Tampa Bay
5-0 *
April 18, 2007
Mark Buehrle
vs. Texas
6-0
Aug. 11, 1991
Wilson Alvarez
at Baltimore
7-0
Sept. 19, 1986
Joe Cowley
at California
7-1
July 28, 1976
Blue Moon Odom and Francisco Barrios
at Oakland
2-1
Sept. 10, 1967
Joe Horlen
vs. Detroit
6-0
Aug. 20, 1957
Robert Keegen
vs. Washington
6-0
June 1, 1937
William Dietrich
vs. St. Louis
8-0
Aug. 31, 1935
Vernon Kennedy
vs. Cleveland
5-0
Aug. 21, 1926
Ted Lyons
at Boston
6-0
April 30, 1922
Charles Robertson
at Detroit
2-0 *
April 14, 1917
Eddie Cicotte
at St. Louis
11-0
May 31, 1914
Joseph Benz
vs. Cleveland
6-1
Aug. 27, 1911
Ed Walsh
vs. Boston
5-0
Sept. 20, 1908
Frank Smith
vs. Philadelphia
1-0
Sept. 6, 1905
Frank Smith
at Detroit
15-0
Sept. 20, 1902
James Callahan
vs. Detroit
3-0
* – Perfect game
326
T HE B E S T O F T H E W H I T E S O X
EXTRA INNINGS
THE
TOP 1O MANAGERS 1. Fielder Jones
426-293, 5 YEARS
How can a player-manager who led the “Hitless Wonders” to a World Series victory against the Cubs in 1906 not be at the top of the list?
2. Al Lopez
840-650, 11 YEARS
Hall of Fame manager led the “Go-Go” White Sox to the American League pennant in 1959, the franchise’s first postseason appearance since the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
3. Ozzie Guillen
678-617, 7 YEARS
Won a World Series title in 2005, the team’s first in 88 years. Enough said for the outspoken former White Sox shortstop who was named AL Rookie of the Year in 1985.
4. Clarence “Pants” Rowland
339-247, 4 YEARS
Before he umpired games in which Babe Ruth played, or became a scout for the Cubs, Rowland led the 1917 White Sox to 100 victories and a World Series title against the New York Giants.
5. Clark Griffith
157-113, 2 YEARS
Led the Sox to the American League pennant as a player/manager in 1901, their first season. Also was 24-7 with a 2.67 ERA and 26 complete games that year and batted .303 with two home runs.
6. Tony La Russa
522-510, 8 YEARS
Though none of the Hall of Famer’s three World Series titles came with the Sox, La Russa led the “Winnin’ Ugly” team to 99 victories and the American League West championship in 1983.
7. William “Kid” Gleason
392-364, 5 YEARS
Managed the infamous 1919 “Black Sox” team that threw the World Series and saw six Sox players banned from the game. Gleason was not involved in the scandal and managed the Sox for four more years.
8. Gene Lamont
258-210, 4 YEARS
The Cubs fan who grew up in Kirkland, Ill., was named American League Manager of the Year in 1993, when he led the team to the AL West title and its first postseason appearance since 1959.
9. Jerry Manuel
500-471, 6 YEARS
Won a division title and was named AL Manager of the Year in 2000. His teams also finished second four times during his time as the boss on the South Side.
10. Jimmy Dykes
899-940, 13 YEARS
No top 10 list would be complete without the all-time wins leader. His teams also never finished higher than third and he lost the most games in franchise history.
327
EXTRA INNINGS
THE
BROADCASTERS B
ob Elson was a study in coolness and restraint. Harry Caray was a crowd-pleasing provocateur. Ken Harrelson mixed passion with playfulness. There are as many great storytellers in White Sox history as there are great stories to tell. The list of broadcasters is impressive for the depth and breadth of its talent: there were the professional game-callers such as Jack Brickhouse, Milo Hamilton, Red Rush, Jack Drees, Joe McConnell, Lorn Brown and John Rooney, plus studious and articulate former bigleague stars like Steve Stone, Ed Farmer and Don Drysdale. Hall-of-Fame players Early Wynn and Lou Brock are on the list as well, although their abilities as analysts never came remotely close to matching what they did on the field. Thanks to try-anything owner Bill Veeck, the Sox even broke new ground with a woman, Mary Shane, in the booth in 1977. But three people, each with distinct and unique personalities, have defined the history of Sox announcers: Elson, Caray and the “Hawk” dominate the timeline with their lasting impact. Beginning in 1929, Elson became the team’s signature play-by-play radio man with a 40-year run that stretched from the careers of Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle, not to mention several generations of Sox fans. Known as “The Commander” for his service in the Navy in World War II, Elson had a dignified, if not laid-back, style of calling a game. It fit the tone of his era, as his stately voice on the radio was the soundtrack of many summer nights in Chicago. Elson also made his mark as an interviewer of both athletes and celebrities ranging from actors to politicians. His iconic status was confirmed when he was the recipient of the Hall of Fame’s Ford Frick Award, saluting excellence in baseball broadcasting, in 1979. He was the third inductee after Red Barber and Mel Allen. Elson, though, found himself out of fashion after the 1970 season. The Sox wanted to liven up their broadcasts and they found their man in Caray. However, keep in mind when Caray arrived in Chicago, he desperately needed to revive his career. Immensely popular in St. Louis, he was abruptly fired by the Cardinals after the 1969 season. Then after spending a year working for Charlie Finley in the Oakland
330
T HE B E S T O F T H E W H I T E S O X
wilderness in 1970, he accepted the White Sox offer in 1971 even though their games aired on low-signal radio outlets. It didn’t matter, as the force of Caray’s personality eventually made him the Sox’s biggest attraction. He took the town by storm. With a beer seemingly attached to his hand, he was immediately nicknamed the “Mayor of Rush Street,” running unopposed. On the air, Caray, who eventually did TV and radio for the Sox, was loud, boisterous, and his passionate calls seemed like thrill rides. While he is best remembered in Chicago for his work with the Cubs, he was at the peak of his abilities during his 11 years with the Sox. It was Veeck who noticed how the fans sitting under his broadcast perch reacted to Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch. So one night in 1977 he stuck a public-address microphone in the booth, and suddenly a tradition was born, off-key warble and all. Caray also became a fan favorite by not holding back. Sox players and managers, much to their dismay, often were the targets of his harsh, biting criticism. Calling a game in which White Sox shortstop Lee “Bee Bee” Richard already had made a couple of errors, Caray cracked: “Richard just picked up a hotdog wrapper at shortstop. It’s the first thing he has picked up all night.” The critical vibe went to another level when Caray was paired with Jimmy Piersall in 1977. Often it was open season, as the pair lashed into the Sox. With Piersall so unpredictable and outrageous, and Caray feeding right into it, you will be hard-pressed to find another local broadcast team as entertaining—or as controversial—as they were. Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, though, sought to put their own stamp in the broadcast booth when they purchased the team in 1981. Seeing that the future of sports TV was in cable, they spent big money to pair Drysdale (lead play-by-play) with Harrelson (analyst) with their launch of SportsVision in 1982. Even though distribution for the new pay-TV outlet was shaky at first, the announce team quickly became fixtures. In fact, Harrelson commanded such a presence, the owners actually made him the general manager in 1986. The move lasted only one season, and after a short
EXTRA INNINGS
jaunt to the Yankees, Harrelson returned to the Sox TV booth in 1990. This time, Harrelson was the lead play-by-play voice, forming a popular duo with analyst Tom Paciorek. In his new role, “Hawk” established his unconventional approach to calling a game. He gave nicknames to players. He is credited for “The Big Hurt” label on Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. He also created his own lingo and catch phrases. Every Sox fan knows a “duck snort” is a bloop hit, and “grab some bench” signifies a Sox pitcher striking out a batter. Above everything else, you will be hard-pressed to find another announcer who roots harder and is more passionate about his team than Harrelson. He always has embraced being called “the biggest homer” in baseball. “That to me is the greatest compliment that can be
paid to an announcer,” Harrelson once said. “I want the White Sox to win. When they win there is not one person happier than I am. When they lose there is no one more down than I am.” Jason Benetti was brought in when Harrelson cut back on his schedule in 2016. A native of Homewood, Benetti grew up a Sox fan. He overcame being born with cerebral palsy and set his sights on becoming a professional broadcaster. “We always heard him calling video games in his room,” said him mom, Sue. Benetti admits landing his “dream job” still seems surreal. When he sat in the TV booth for the first time, he realized how far he had come. “I’m used to sitting out there,” said Benetti, pointing to the outfield seats. “This is going to be my office. It’s hard to wrap my head about it.” ◆ T HE BE ST O F THE W HITE SOX
331
CHICAGO WHITE SOX By the Chicago Tribune Staff
The Chicago Tribune Book of the Chicago White Sox is a decade-by-decade look at one of the American League’s original eight teams, starting with the franchise’s Windy City beginnings in 1900 as the Chicago White Stockings and ending with the current team. For more than a century, the Chicago Tribune has documented every Sox season through original reporting, photography, and box scores. For the first time, this mountain of Sox history has been mined and curated by the paper’s sports department into a single one-of-a-kind volume. Each era in Sox history includes its own timeline, profiles of key players and coaches, and feature stories that highlight it all, from the heavy hitters to the no-hitters to the one-hit wonders. To be a Sox fan means to know breathtaking highs and dramatic lows. The team’s halcyon days—starting with the championship it won during the first official season of the newly formed American League in 1901—have always been punctuated with doldrums and stormy stretches, including a period of time in the ’80s when it looked likely that the team would leave Chicago. But with the diehard support of their fans, the “Good Guys” have always made a comeback—including the team’s landmark 2005 World Series win, the first by any Chicago major league team in 88 years. This book records it all. The award-winning journalists, photographers, and editors of the Chicago Tribune have produced a comprehensive collector’s item that every Sox fan will love. The Chicago Tribune staff comprises the award-winning editors and journalists working for this
flagship newspaper established in 1847. The Chicago Tribune Book of the Chicago White Sox features content collected by the paper’s sports section editors.
SPORTS & RECREATION / BASEBALL ISBN: 978-1-57284-244-1 Publication date: April 10, 2018 $35 | 9.5 × 11 | 338 pp.
For more information, contact Jacqueline Jarik at 847.475.4457 ext. 4# or at jarik@agatepublishing.com. Please supply two tear sheets of any published review. 1328 Greenleaf St., Evanston, IL 60202