Lip Man 1

99 games left. In my opinion the Sox need to win 59. If somehow they can that gives them 86 wins and that should at least get them in with a decent record. Can they do it? We'll see.

June 4, 1959 - 1959 was a year for marathon games for the White Sox. This was the first one that went at least 17 innings, and all took place against Baltimore. In this game first basemen Earl Torgeson’s solo home run in the last of the 17th, off Jerry Walker, was the difference in the Sox 6-5 win at Comiskey Park. Bob Shaw pitched five relief innings to get the victory. The Sox rallied from 4-2 and 5-4 deficits to get the win. The game lasted 4:37. June 4, 1972 - It is forever known as the “Chili Dog Game” one of the most electrifying games ever played in team history. In the second game of a double header with the Yankees, the Sox having already won the first game 6-1, Sox manager Chuck Tanner wanted Dick Allen to be ready to pinch hit in the last of the ninth inning if needed. Allen at the time was wolfing down a chili dog since he had played in the first game, was sitting out the nightcap and was hungry. He quickly had to put on a uniform getting the last of the chili dog all over the top of it which caused the clubhouse boys to give him a new, clean jersey. With two men on and the Sox losing 4-2, Allen was called to hit. On the third pitch from future Sox relief pitcher Al “Sparky” Lyle, Allen deposited the ball into the left field lower deck for a 5-4 win and a sweep of the twin bill. A bat-day crowd of almost 52-thousand exploded. One of the greatest one-liners in Sox history took place as Lyle was walking in from the bullpen. Mike Andrews was on first base. He and Lyle were roommates when both were with the Red Sox. As Lyle approached the mound Andrews called out, “Sparky”, you’re in deep s%*# now!” As a side note, future sportscaster Keith Olbermann, a Yankee fan, wrote about listening to this game in his book that he co-authored with Dan Patrick “The Big Show”. Olbermann wrote that when Allen hit the home run, he threw his radio out of the second-floor window of his parent’s house. June 4, 1973 - Sox pitching ace Wilbur Wood appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. At the time it looked like Wood was on his way to 30 wins, given he already had 13 before June 1. The cover’s caption read, “Wizard With A Knuckler. Chicago’s Wilbur Wood.” But because of a massive number of injuries to the team Wood would ‘only’ finish with 24 wins. He started 48 times, had an ERA of 3.46 and threw an incredible 359 innings. The Sox that year wound up using the disabled list 38 times. June 4, 1977 - In a game at Comiskey Park versus the Yankees, Richie Zisk, the “Polish Prince,” hit a rooftop home run near the left field line off Don Gullett. It was a solo shot in the second inning. He’d become the seventh Sox player to do this. Unfortunately, the Sox would lose the game 8-6 as the Yankees had a seven-run top of the second. June 4, 2016 – It was a trade that could wind up living in infamy. G.M. Rick Hahn sent young hurler Erik Johnson and 17-year-old Fernando Tatís Jr. to San Diego for veteran starter James Shields. Tatís, the son of a former Major League slugger, had been signed less than one year earlier and had yet to play a single game in the White Sox system. Three years after the trade, Tatis was in the Major Leagues, was garnering M.V.P. votes and was considered one of the top young stars in the game. Prior to the 2021 season, Tatis signed a 14-year, $330 million contract extension with the Padres, anointing him as perhaps the premier talent in all of baseball. It was suspected that Tatis was inserted into the deal to help persuade San Diego to eat some of Shields’ onerous remaining salary; that short-sighted gambit succeeded, as the Padres sent $31 million along with Shields, lowering the White Sox obligation to Shields to $27 million over four years. Shields’ 5.31 ERA ranks second only to Jaime Navarro for highest in team history among pitchers allowed to throw at least 400 innings for the club. The warning signs were there…in his last start for San Diego, Shields allowed 10 runs against the Mariners and was publicly ripped by the Padres owner.

According to STATS what happened today (all runs scored on wild pitches, no RBI's) has NEVER happened at least since the "live ball" was brought into the game in 1920.

I enjoy winning not empty promises by incompetent front office's. I like baseball but I LOVE the White Sox. Big difference. When the Sox are awful I don't take a lot of enjoyment watching other well run organizations succeed in the sport.

The White Sox have cornered the market on "baseball stupid" players both offensively, defensively and situational.

The Tigers are rebuilding they SHOULD be worse. The White Sox remember are supposedly in the middle of a contention window planning parade routes. ?

This offense is terrible, just plain brutal.

He can sit up there and do nothing because he's making $$$$$$$$$$.

June 3, 1925 - Sox star second baseman and future Hall of Famer Eddie Collins rapped out his 3,000th career hit. It came in a 12-7 win at Detroit. He had three hits on the afternoon. That season playing in 118 games he’d hit .346! He’d finish his 25-year career with 3,315 hits, 2,094 of them with the White Sox. June 3, 1963 - With the Sox in first place another freak injury occurred reminiscent of past bizarre circumstances that cost the team dearly. Sox first baseman Joe Cunningham, who hit .295, with 70 RBI’s and 101 walks in 1962, broke his right collarbone in Los Angeles running out a ground ball in the fifth inning. Cunningham was trying to avoid stepping on Angel’s first baseman Charlie Dees’ foot, so he twisted and lost his balance, tripping over the bag and crashing down on the ground. It was a wild throw from second baseman Billy Moran that started the sequence. He didn’t return until September. Tommy McCraw was called up to replace him but just couldn’t fill the bill. The Sox decline set in quickly after that, even though the club finished the season in second place at 94-68, 10 and a half games behind the Yankees. June 3, 2023 – It was truly a most bizarre game. The Sox beat the Tigers 2-1 at Guaranteed Rate Field with every run in the game scoring on wild pitches! That had never happened before since the live ball (1920) was introduced to the game. The Sox winning run scored in the last of the 10th when Detroit pitcher Jose Cisnero’s 97 MPH fast ball struck home plate umpire Cory Blaser in the face mask, knocking him down and bounding away from home plate. Yoan Moncada scored on the play.

As a Sox fan I'd still LOVE to have that playoff record. Six appearances in the last nine years? Count me in!

You can in the sense that they were held hitless by a rookie pitcher making his big league debut. Who wasn't lightening up the minor leagues.

The book is about the 1990o Sox team and the new stadium/issues with its construction. Have some sidebar chapters on things like SportsVision, Hawk's year as GM and how all that factored into the situation the Sox found themselves in, in the late 1980's.

Smart people ignore anything Levine writes or says.

That was part of it. I've written a detailed history of SportsVision for Dr. Fletcher's (Chili Dog MVP) next book which comes out next summer. The other factors were historical in nature and technological from a broadcast standpoint. Spoke with some of the folks who worked there.

This and that: If past is prologue Olson will wheel and deal and for that matter Marisnick will have a big night. To answer your last question 20 wins would do it for me (and that's not happening...not with their schedule)

But act like they know more than anyone else!

June 2, 1959 – Down through the seasons when the White Sox played the Orioles strange and bizarre things seemed to take place. For the most part those instances took place in Baltimore but on this night, Comiskey Park played host to one that fans attending never forgot. Future Sox pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm was on the mound for the O’s in the first inning when a swarm of gnats descended on to the pitching mound area. It was so bad he couldn’t see the plate and the game was halted as trainers, the grounds crew, even umpires tried to get rid of the bugs. Finally after 16 minutes Sox owner Bill Veeck, ordered the fireworks crew in from the center field bullpen to set up a launch site. One explosion later the gnats were gone and the game resumed. Wilhelm and Baltimore would win it 3-2. June 2, 1967 - The Sox traded infielder Jerry Adair to Boston for two players, one of whom was pitcher Don McMahon. McMahon would be spectacular out of the bullpen going 5-0, grabbing three saves and having an ERA of 1.67 in 51 games in a little over 91 innings for the “Near Miss” White Sox. June 2, 1995 - With the Sox having blown four straight games to the Indians, and off to an 11-20 start, manager Gene Lamont was fired and replaced by abrasive, taciturn third base coach Terry Bevington. Bevington would turn out to be a disaster on the field and in the clubhouse and the long-term effects of the way Lamont was dismissed would cause his mentor and former Sox coach Jim Leyland to turn down overtures by owner Jerry Reinsdorf to take over after Bevington was removed before the start of the 1998 season. He’d be replaced by first time manager Jerry Manuel.

JR wasn't around in 1967 when Art Allyn took them off WGN after that season to take them to the new WFLD-TV. It was Eddie Einhorn who was the driving force behind SportsVision.

Since we are talking about the media: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/1/23745681/jerry-reinsdorf-stadium-network-blackhawks-bulls-white-sox-tv-broadcasts-nbc-sports-chicago

To be fair he rebuilt the Expos farm system into one of the best in baseball and he did OK with the restrictions with the Marlins too.

June 1, 1914 - Talk about an impressive beginning to a baseball career. Future Sox Hall of Famer Urban “Red” Faber started for the first time in the big leagues, on this day, in Detroit. He’d go 12 and a third innings before losing 2-1. He gave up 11 hits and walked seven Tigers yet wiggled himself out of most jams. He didn’t give up his first run until the 11th inning. June 1, 1937 - Sox pitcher Bill “Bullfrog” Dietrich hurled a no-hitter at the expense of the St. Louis Browns. He won the game, played in Comiskey Park, 8-0. The game took less than two hours to play. Dietrich got run support from both Mike Kreevich and Fred “Dixie” Walker who each knocked in three runs on the afternoon. Dietrich walked two and struck out five. First baseman Henry “Zeke” Bonura saved the no-hitter with two leaping catches of line drives hit by the Browns during the game. June 1, 1985 - Carlton Fisk slammed his fifth home run in four games when he hit a two-run shot off the Royals Bret Saberhagen in a game the Sox won 8-7. Fisk drove in 12 runs in that stretch and served notice that 1985 was going to be his best year in a Chicago uniform. He’d finish the year with 37 homers and 107 RBI’s, both career highs. He also was named to the All-Star team that year for the third time in a White Sox uniform. June 1, 2016 – It had been 50 years since a White Sox pitcher had this happen to him. In the top of the 13th inning in New York against the Mets, relief pitcher Matt Albers led off with a ringing double to left center, the first extra base hit of his career. He’d eventually come around to score the game winning run later that frame thanks to a sacrifice fly from Jose Abreu. The Sox won the game 2-1 with Albers throwing two innings to get the win. The last time a White Sox pitcher scored the game winning run and got the win in extra innings was Bob Locker against the Angels on August 7, 1966. The Sox won that game in 10 innings 9-8.

New ownership is the light. And it will happen eventually. Just take care of yourself and hope to be around to see it.

Well played sir. Moncada would probably pull a groin or something while doing it!

And remember just a few years ago EVERY team in MLB got a check for I believe 52 million dollars when baseball sold off BAM Tech to a private company. The domestic and international revenue streams are staggering right now for MLB.

He can say directly and honestly to the media what everyone has seen. Terrible fundamentals, awful situational hitting, poor defense, pitching afraid to attack the strike zone, little depth et al. THAT's why they "haven't clicked as a team yet..." He comes across as clueless by saying what he did, he's not stupid he's been in the game for over a decade. And putting it the way he did insults the fan base. If WE can see what the hell is wrong and he honestly can't what does that say about him? That's not throwing people under a bus, that's being forthright and honest with everyone...players, front office, media, fan base. If someone doesn't like it, then do something about it. He doesn't even have to say it mockingly or angrily, just stating facts in a respectful tone of voice. It would be a refreshing change of pace from the BS that Hahn says in an arrogant disdainful manner.