This Day In Sox History...August 2

[Lip Man 1]

August 2, 1921 - A Chicago jury found the eight “Black Sox” players innocent of conspiring to commit fraud by virtue of fixing the 1919 World Series.

The players expected to go back to the Sox but then Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis permanently banished them, destroying the only team that could have played with the Yankees throughout the 1920's. It also sunk the franchise into a spiral that saw only seven winning seasons between 1921 and 1950.

One of the players George “Buck” Weaver maintained his innocence until his death and applied for reinstatement many times without success.

 

August 2, 1968 - The Sox and Senators completed a trade as infielders Tim Cullen and Ron Hansen were exchanged for each other.

Why the notoriety? Because the same two players were traded for each other by the same two clubs on February 13th!

The players even wore the same uniform number with the White Sox (#4) and had the same identical locker location! Hansen had been with the club since 1963 and played a solid shortstop.

 

August 2, 1979 - Tony LaRussa replaced Don Kessinger as White Sox manager. The Tampa native, who had passed the bar exam in Florida, was only 35 years old.

He remained as manager until June 1986. LaRussa posted winning records in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1985. He won the Western Division title in the 1983 season. LaRussa was fired because of basic conflicts on how the team should be run by new G.M. Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf later publicly admitted letting LaRussa go was one of the worst mistakes he ever made and he’d eventually correct it (in his mind) by getting LaRussa out of retirement to come back as manager for the 2021 season that saw the Sox win the division with 93 victories.  

 

August 2, 1985 - An incredible weekend in New York started with perhaps the most unusual play in White Sox history. As a national TV audience watched on Friday Night Baseball on NBC, and with pitcher Britt Burns on the mound, Rickey Henderson slammed a double to left center over the head of outfielder Luis Salazar. Yankee runner Bobby Meacham was unsure if the ball would be caught by center fielder Salazar or left fielder Reid Nichols, so he went back toward second to tag up before reversing course, and then stumbled slightly.

Meanwhile, Dale Berra (Yogi’s son) had taken off from first and didn’t hesitate as Meacham had. So, when the ball finally came to rest on the warning track in deep left field near the 411-foot mark, only about 20 feet separated the two runners. Salazar picked up the ball and fired it to shortstop Ozzie Guillen as Meacham and Berra rounded third. Third-base coach Gene Michael tried to get Berra to hold up at third but it was too late. Guillen relayed the ball to catcher Carlton Fisk in plenty of time to tag Meacham, who didn’t slide and instead tried unsuccessfully to knock the ball out of Fisk’s glove. Fisk did a ‘matador’ on Meacham for the first out of the inning. Meacham did succeed in twirling Fisk around slightly so that he wasn’t facing the field, but he recovered in time to tag Berra, who also did not slide. It was scored an 8-6-2 double play. That’s two for the price of one at home plate! To cap things off the Sox won the game 6-5 in 11 innings.

 

August 2, 1990 - In the first game of a double header first baseman Frank Thomas made his Major League debut in Milwaukee. The greatest hitter in franchise history went 0-4 in his first game. The next night Frank narrowly missed a home run in the seventh inning when his line shot hit the top of the wall in right field and went for a triple. It would be his first Major League hit. The Sox would sweep five games from the Brewers that weekend.

A bit of trivia; when Thomas came up with the Sox, he did not wear #35. His first number was #15.

 

August 2, 2016 - When White Sox outfielder Charlie Tilson was helped off the field in Detroit he became, incredibly, the fourth player making their Major League debut for the club to be injured and not be able to finish the game that season.

Catcher Kevan Smith injured his back in pregame warm up’s and was placed on the disabled list, outfielder Jason Coats suffered a cut lip and a mild concussion after a collision, infielder Matt Davidson broke a bone in his foot running the bases and was placed on the disabled list and Tilson tore his left hamstring, he also went on the DL.