This Day In Sox History...October 30

[Lip Man 1]

October 30, 1959 - He was acquired before the start of the 1958 season and part of the cost was trading the popular “Minnie” Minoso. Pitcher Early Wynn didn’t start out on the right side of things with a lot of Sox fans. Compounding the issue was a mediocre season.

In 1959 however Wynn turned back the clock leading the Major Leagues with 22 wins and he had an ERA of 3.17. That won him the Cy Young Award. He got 13 of the 16 votes. This was a time when only one award was given to the best pitcher in baseball as opposed to now when the award is given to a pitcher from each league. Sam Jones of the Giants got two votes with Bob Shaw of the White Sox getting the final one. Wynn also led the league in starts, innings pitched and batters faced.

 

October 30, 1967 - The White Sox announced that nine regular season games in 1968 would be moved from Comiskey Park to County Stadium in Milwaukee.

In nine dates in Milwaukee, the White Sox drew 265,552 fans, averaging 29,506. Meanwhile, attendance was just 538,203 in 72 games at Comiskey Park  averaging 7,475. In 1969, the second and last year of the experiment, the White Sox drew 196,784 over 11 dates at County Stadium, averaging 17,889. At Comiskey Park in 70 games, the White Sox averaged just 5,611. A franchise hadn’t played ‘home’ games outside of its home park in the American League since 1905.

What was suspected at the time of the experiment, and later shown to be true, was that Sox owner Art Allyn was testing the Milwaukee market speaking frequently with Allen “Bud” Selig who was attempting to get another Major League franchise to relocate to Milwaukee which lost the Braves after the 1965 season. Selig thought he was close to getting the White Sox after getting a handshake to move but Art Allyn decided to sell the club in September 1969 to his brother John thwarting Selig’s efforts and John kept the team in Chicago.

 

October 30, 1986 - Larry Himes was hired as the new Sox G. M. replacing Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. 

Himes drafted and signed Sox future stars like Frank Thomas, Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura, Ray Durham and Alex Fernandez as he rebuilt and guided the franchise through the possibility of moving to Florida.

He would be fired in September 1990 after philosophical differences between him and ownership, in particular Jerry Reinsdorf, made working together impossible. At the press conference announcing Himes’ firing Reinsdorf let his feelings be known loud and clear. "Larry Himes took us from point A to point B. He was very successful in getting us to point B. We need to get to point C. It’s our opinion that Larry Himes is not the best person to get us to point C — a world’s championship."

 

October 30, 1990 – White Sox manager Jeff Torborg was named the Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America after guiding the team to a record of 94-68.

The Sox shocked the baseball world after being picked to finish no higher than fourth place. Instead, they challenged the eventual A.L. champion Oakland A’s right into September and were the only club in the league to have won the season series from them. Only the A’s and the Pittsburgh Pirates had better records during the season than the White Sox.

Torborg got 23 of 28 first place votes for 128 points. The A’s Tony LaRussa, the former Sox skipper, picked up the other four first place votes and finished up with 72 points. Joe Morgan of the Red Sox got the final first place vote finishing third with 28 points. Jeff was the only manager to be named on every ballot.

 

October 30, 2005 – Literally days after the White Sox won their first World Series since 1917, Al Lopez, arguably the greatest manager in team history died at the age of 97. Lopez took over for Marty Marion before the start of the 1957 season and through 1965 led the club to nine straight winning seasons, five of them with 90+ victories and the 1959 American League pennant.

He returned to the team in the managers capacity for parts of the 1968 and 1969 years.

Lopez was a fundamentalist and as a former All-Star catcher knew the game. He worked through his assistant coaches as a game progressed but wasn’t shy about calling players out if he felt they weren’t giving a best effort or were constantly doing something wrong. Among Sox players who felt his wrath at times were All-Stars Nellie Fox and Jim Landis.

But under Lopez the team got results and because he got along well with the media, positive publicity even at times when things weren’t going as well as could be on the field.

Lopez, “The Senor” won 840 games with the Sox and had a winning percentage of .564.

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Lip Man 1

[The Grinder]

3 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

October 30, 1959 - He was acquired before the start of the 1958 season and part of the cost was trading the popular “Minnie” Minoso. Pitcher Early Wynn didn’t start out on the right side of things with a lot of Sox fans. Compounding the issue was a mediocre season.

In 1959 however Wynn turned back the clock leading the Major Leagues with 22 wins and he had an ERA of 3.17. That won him the Cy Young Award. He got 13 of the 16 votes. This was a time when only one award was given to the best pitcher in baseball as opposed to now when the award is given to a pitcher from each league. Sam Jones of the Giants got two votes with Bob Shaw of the White Sox getting the final one. Wynn also led the league in starts, innings pitched and batters faced.

 

October 30, 1967 - The White Sox announced that nine regular season games in 1968 would be moved from Comiskey Park to County Stadium in Milwaukee.

In nine dates in Milwaukee, the White Sox drew 265,552 fans, averaging 29,506. Meanwhile, attendance was just 538,203 in 72 games at Comiskey Park  averaging 7,475. In 1969, the second and last year of the experiment, the White Sox drew 196,784 over 11 dates at County Stadium, averaging 17,889. At Comiskey Park in 70 games, the White Sox averaged just 5,611. A franchise hadn’t played ‘home’ games outside of its home park in the American League since 1905.

What was suspected at the time of the experiment, and later shown to be true, was that Sox owner Art Allyn was testing the Milwaukee market speaking frequently with Allen “Bud” Selig who was attempting to get another Major League franchise to relocate to Milwaukee which lost the Braves after the 1965 season. Selig thought he was close to getting the White Sox after getting a handshake to move but Art Allyn decided to sell the club in September 1969 to his brother John thwarting Selig’s efforts and John kept the team in Chicago.

 

October 30, 1986 - Larry Himes was hired as the new Sox G. M. replacing Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. 

Himes drafted and signed Sox future stars like Frank Thomas, Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura, Ray Durham and Alex Fernandez as he rebuilt and guided the franchise through the possibility of moving to Florida.

He would be fired in September 1990 after philosophical differences between him and ownership, in particular Jerry Reinsdorf, made working together impossible. At the press conference announcing Himes’ firing Reinsdorf let his feelings be known loud and clear. "Larry Himes took us from point A to point B. He was very successful in getting us to point B. We need to get to point C. It’s our opinion that Larry Himes is not the best person to get us to point C — a world’s championship."

 

October 30, 1990 – White Sox manager Jeff Torborg was named the Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America after guiding the team to a record of 94-68.

The Sox shocked the baseball world after being picked to finish no higher than fourth place. Instead, they challenged the eventual A.L. champion Oakland A’s right into September and were the only club in the league to have won the season series from them. Only the A’s and the Pittsburgh Pirates had better records during the season than the White Sox.

Torborg got 23 of 28 first place votes for 128 points. The A’s Tony LaRussa, the former Sox skipper, picked up the other four first place votes and finished up with 72 points. Joe Morgan of the Red Sox got the final first place vote finishing third with 28 points. Jeff was the only manager to be named on every ballot.

 

October 30, 2005 – Literally days after the White Sox won their first World Series since 1917, Al Lopez, arguably the greatest manager in team history died at the age of 97. Lopez took over for Marty Marion before the start of the 1957 season and through 1965 led the club to nine straight winning seasons, five of them with 90+ victories and the 1959 American League pennant.

He returned to the team in the managers capacity for parts of the 1968 and 1969 years.

Lopez was a fundamentalist and as a former All-Star catcher knew the game. He worked through his assistant coaches as a game progressed but wasn’t shy about calling players out if he felt they weren’t giving a best effort or were constantly doing something wrong. Among Sox players who felt his wrath at times were All-Stars Nellie Fox and Jim Landis.

But under Lopez the team got results and because he got along well with the media, positive publicity even at times when things weren’t going as well as could be on the field.

Lopez, “The Senor” won 840 games with the Sox and had a winning percentage of .564.

 

And now we have Pedro