Lip Man 1

No, an expansion team potentially led by Dave Stewart and yes...Tony LaRussa.

He did in 1982... it bounced off the bill of his cap and led to an inside the park home run by the Red Sox. It was Dave Stapleton, I think who hit it.

Bob certainly did a very good job in his role for 30 years, he retired two years ago. He was also a high school and college basketball ref in the off season.

They aren't going anyplace: https://www.mlb.com/news/orioles-agree-to-30-year-deal-to-remain-at-camden-yards

In 2011 Dunn only hit 11 home runs with 42 RBI’s and had a batting average of .159. It was literally one of the worst seasons in 100 years of MLB according to the metrics and stats.

I'll only comment on Fisk. He played from 1981 through 1993 with the Sox...how many years did you expect him to play? 25? He was treated very badly by JR and the organization but honestly as a player he was done.

I'm not comparing anyone to him you are... one can make the case that all of the individuals being discussed have major flaws and issues which are hurting the organization. But given the organization itself, that shouldn't be a surprise to anybody should it?

All I can tell you, is others have told me, including those in the organization, that his attitude actually drove away businesses interested in the Sox. And given that the Sox are a public trust and rely a lot on fan interest and businesses it's a strange response from you saying that those in charge shouldn't be "nice." I'd think especially for someone like Gallas, who's job was public and media relations to a great extent, that one of the requirements would be to be personable and professional.

From MLB.com today: Dylan Cease, White Sox The most likely of this group to be moved, Cease has already drawn interest from several teams, and sources say they expect the White Sox to move their ace this offseason. Unlike Burnes (and Shane Bieber, who we’ll get to shortly), Cease is under club control for two more seasons, making him a more attractive – and costly – trade option. Chicago surely noted that the Dodgers gave up a former Top 100 prospect in righty Ryan Pepiot and young slugging outfielder Jonny DeLuca in exchange for Glasnow and veteran outfielder Manuel Margot, though that deal was contingent upon Glasnow agreeing to an extension. Two years of Cease should bring back a nice return for the White Sox. Cease is coming off of a subpar year by his standards, as he went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA in 33 starts (177 innings). But he’s been healthy and averaged 176 innings per season since 2021, something appealing to teams around the league. Of course, the Yamamoto suitors aren’t the only ones trying to trade for rotation help. Smaller-market teams such as the Reds and Orioles are looking to add starting pitching and have the prospect capital to make such a deal, but the White Sox aren’t likely to move Cease until Yamamoto (and possibly Blake Snell) are off the market.

I respectfully disagree, my interactions with Gallas and from what I was told by others was that he was taciturn, gruff and insulted people and businesses left and right. He fit right in with JR. As far as the iconic uniforms that was the doing of Jeff Torborg who told me of a conversation he directly had with JR about them. He said he told JR the only team that could wear the iconic "Dodger-script" style uniforms (a la 1986-1990) were the Dodgers themselves and the Sox had to change. Jeff said JR told him, "Well I designed those..." It was an awkward moment to say the least. But Torborg convinced him the pin stripe uniform and the Old English Sox logo on the front were identified by the fan base from the good days (1951-1963) so the change was finally made.

The only way this franchise doesn't cede this season is if every other team in the division/league forfeits. That's not going to happen and the Sox aren't going to be anywhere close to worth a damn in 2024 whether Eloy is around or not. If a good offer comes along ship his lazy, injury-prone ass out the door.

December 17, 1914 - Clarence “Pants” Rowland was named White Sox manager. He was an unknown who never managed above Class B and never won anything but would guide the club to a 100-win season, the most ever by the franchise, and the World Series title in 1917. December 17, 1975 - Under new owner Bill Veeck, the Sox went retro with the naming of former manager Paul Richards to become the new field manager replacing Chuck Tanner. Richards was the man who turned around the franchise in 1951. He was one of the smartest baseball men in the game, but it had been 15 years since he was involved in the day-to-day operations of a franchise. Apparently, he didn’t even really want the job, agreeing to do it only as a favor to Veeck. He would last one season. Years later Tanner would reveal that Richards asked him to stay on as his third base coach with the promise of getting the manager’s job again in 1977 but Tanner instead took a three year offer from the A’s. December 17, 2004 - The Sox claimed pitcher Bobby Jenks on waivers from the Angels. Jenks had a reputation as a reckless individual who wanted to party more than play baseball. Somehow the Sox found a way to reach him and he proved a God-send down the stretch in 2005 with six saves, then added four more saves in the run to the World Series title. He then followed it up with 41 saves in 2006, 40 in 2007 and turned into one of the top closers in the game by 2008. He had 173 saves in his White Sox career.

Interesting column: https://soxmachine.com/2023/12/the-white-sox-need-a-soxfest-more-than-fans-need-a-soxfest/

Who made any comparison about why they won? I certainly didn't. Pitching played a very large part in the success...but so did an offense that didn't need three home runs a game to win. Say the word...balance...pitching, hitting, fielding AND some actually baseball smarts and knowledge of fundamentals.

Hard to imagine given JR's constraints that things are going to get much better on the talent front.

They had the best balanced offense I could remember...among the top quarter of the league in home runs, stolen bases, sacrifice bunts, infield hits and sacrifice flies. They could beat you with a blast, a bloop or a bunt.

Given all the other good players going to other teams it turns your stomach to see the s%*#, flotsam and jetsam the Sox are scraping the bottom of the barrel for. Yet JR thinks they are going to contend? ?

Looks like they are hoping to televise MLB games this upcoming season: https://awfulannouncing.com/sinclair/bally-sports-2024-mlb-games-bankruptcy.html

Chuck Comiskey was the biggest single shareholder. It was Veeck's group that owned 54% of the team after the sale. I made the correction.

I'll have to check on this but I think you are correct!

Arrogance that they thought they knew better than everyone else, dysfunction in the front office and an unwillingness by JR to finish the rebuilding job via acquiring additional talent.

December 15, 1960 - Sox owner Bill Veeck made up for some of his deals after the 1959 season by getting pitchers Juan Pizarro and Cal McLish from the Reds for infielder Gene Freese. Manager Al Lopez and pitching coach Ray Berres had their eyes on Pizarro for a few years but Milwaukee refused to deal him to the Sox. Veeck therefore got his friend Bill DeWitt of Cincinnati to swing a deal and then to ship Pizarro to the South Side. Pizarro was an enigmatic, moody pitcher but when he got on the mound, he was all business. Possessor of a blazing fastball, the left hander had four seasons of double figure wins, among them 16 in 1963 and 19 in 1964. He totaled 75 White Sox wins between 1961 and 1966 and was a two-time All-Star selection pitching a scoreless inning in the 1963 contest. December 15, 1961 - It was the end of 61 years of Comiskey family ownership of the White Sox, as Chuck Comiskey sold his 46 per cent interest in the team to a group of 11 investors, headed by insurance executive William Bartholomay and entertainer Danny Thomas. Chuck had made two major miscalculations in his quest to regain his ‘birthright’ ownership of the White Sox. The first came in the later 1950s, when he lowballed his sister Dorothy; Dorothy had decided to sell her 46 per cent of the club to Chuck, but instead sold to Bill Veeck once Chuck’s insulting offer came across her desk. (Veeck, in declining health, would own the White Sox for only two years, selling out to Arthur and John Allyn.) The second was Chuck compromising his own 46 per cent share of the White Sox — he remained the biggest single shareholder in the team through 1961 — by selling out. Chuck was confident that he could broker a purchase of the near-half of the White Sox that the Allyn’s had purchased from Veeck. Allyn’s near-half of the White Sox would make the Bartholomay/Thomas investors nearly 100 per cent owners of the club, with Chuck back in charge as team president/GM. But the Allyn’s rebuffed Chuck’s overtures, forever ending Comiskey ownership of the White Sox. December 15, 1967 – It was one of the worst deals ever made by then G.M. Ed Short. The Sox sent infielder and base stealer Al Weis along with outfielder, base stealer and home run hitter Tommie Agee to the Mets in exchange for former N.L. batting champ Tommy Davis, pitcher Jack Fisher and catcher Richard “Buddy” Booker. Two years later the Mets would win the World Series thanks in large part to the play of Agee and Weis. None the players the Sox got in return did much for them. It was deals along those lines that sent the franchise into a tailspin and by September 1970 got Short fired from his position. December 15, 1993 - Sox G.M. Ron Schueler’s luck with taking chances on hurt or limited free agents continued when he signed Julio Franco to a contract. Franco would have a tremendous 1994 season hitting behind Frank Thomas. Julio would have 20 home runs, 98 RBI’s, eight stolen bases and a .319 batting average in his one year in Chicago. He went to Japan the next year because the Sox refused to meet his asking price on a new deal and with labor unrest on the horizon wanted some stability.

I apologize as I did not see at the time that one had been posted much earlier in the day.

On paper Royals are a better team than the Sox.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/12/14/24000128/tonys-place-healthier-larussa-back-wants-state-where-he-fits-with-white-sox-reinsdorf-grifol-getz