This Day In Sox History...December 1

[Lip Man 1]

December 1, 1956 – It was the first of many awards he would win in his Hall of Fame career.

Luis Aparicio became the first Latin to ever win the Rookie of the Year Award when he was named to that honor by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Aparicio led the A.L. in steals with 21 and played a stellar defensive game leading the league in putouts and assists as well as in games and innings played. Aparicio picked up 22 of the 24 possible votes.

He beat out the Indians Rocco “Rocky” Colavito, who would join the Sox in 1967 and the Orioles John “Tito” Francona who also would be a member of the White Sox for part of the 1958 campaign.  

 

December 1, 1964 - The Sox traded pitcher Frank Baumann to the Cubs for catcher Jimmie Schaffer. It was only the second time the two Chicago clubs ever made a direct trade with each other. The first time coming in the 1940's.

Baumann had one spectacular season with the White Sox in 1960, where he led all of baseball with a 2.67 ERA to go along with 13 wins and four saves.

 

December 1, 1970 - For the second and final time, the White Sox traded Luis Aparicio.

The future Hall of Fame shortstop was sent to the Red Sox for infielders Luis Alvarado and Mike Andrews. Those players helped the Sox in the early 70's but this is one Roland Hemond trade, that some have second guessed. In 1972, if the Sox had Aparicio to provide some stability to the infield, they may have taken the Western Division title. Lee “Bee-Bee” Richards, Alvarado and Rich Morales simply weren’t the answer at shortstop that season.

 

December 1, 1975 – To many fans Nellie Fox was the heartbeat of the “Go-Go” Sox of the 1950’s. On this day he passed away far too soon, at the age of 48.

Fox, acquired from the Philadelphia A’s, broke into the White Sox starting lineup for the 1950 season and remained at second base through 1963. He was an 11-time All-Star representing the Sox and made that game nine consecutive years starting in 1953. He had 14 All-Star hits and batted .368 in that affair.

He was named the American League M.V.P. for 1959 helping to drive the Sox to the pennant and hit .375 in the loss to the Dodgers in the six-game World Series.

Fox paired with Luis Aparicio to give the Sox the best middle infield in baseball during the 1950’s. Nellie himself won three Gold Gloves. He also batted over .300 six times and rarely struck out; only 201 times during his Sox career.

He received his last honor posthumously when he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997.

 

December 1, 1998 - Popular and proficient third baseman Robin Ventura signed a free agent contract with the Mets.

Ventura, who was an outspoken critic of the “White Flag” trade, won five Gold Gloves in his time on the South Side in addition to hitting 171 home runs. He had six seasons with at least 90 RBI’s and hit .280 or better for five seasons.

He’d return in 2012 to become manager which lasted five seasons.

[The Mighty Mite]

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

December 1, 1956 – It was the first of many awards he would win in his Hall of Fame career.

Luis Aparicio became the first Latin to ever win the Rookie of the Year Award when he was named to that honor by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Aparicio led the A.L. in steals with 21 and played a stellar defensive game leading the league in putouts and assists as well as in games and innings played. Aparicio picked up 22 of the 24 possible votes.

He beat out the Indians Rocco “Rocky” Colavito, who would join the Sox in 1967 and the Orioles John “Tito” Francona who also would be a member of the White Sox for part of the 1958 campaign.  

 

December 1, 1964 - The Sox traded pitcher Frank Baumann to the Cubs for catcher Jimmie Schaffer. It was only the second time the two Chicago clubs ever made a direct trade with each other. The first time coming in the 1940's.

Baumann had one spectacular season with the White Sox in 1960, where he led all of baseball with a 2.67 ERA to go along with 13 wins and four saves.

 

December 1, 1970 - For the second and final time, the White Sox traded Luis Aparicio.

The future Hall of Fame shortstop was sent to the Red Sox for infielders Luis Alvarado and Mike Andrews. Those players helped the Sox in the early 70's but this is one Roland Hemond trade, that some have second guessed. In 1972, if the Sox had Aparicio to provide some stability to the infield, they may have taken the Western Division title. Lee “Bee-Bee” Richards, Alvarado and Rich Morales simply weren’t the answer at shortstop that season.

 

December 1, 1975 – To many fans Nellie Fox was the heartbeat of the “Go-Go” Sox of the 1950’s. On this day he passed away far too soon, at the age of 48.

Fox, acquired from the Philadelphia A’s, broke into the White Sox starting lineup for the 1950 season and remained at second base through 1963. He was an 11-time All-Star representing the Sox and made that game nine consecutive years starting in 1953. He had 14 All-Star hits and batted .368 in that affair.

He was named the American League M.V.P. for 1959 helping to drive the Sox to the pennant and hit .375 in the loss to the Dodgers in the six-game World Series.

Fox paired with Luis Aparicio to give the Sox the best middle infield in baseball during the 1950’s. Nellie himself won three Gold Gloves. He also batted over .300 six times and rarely struck out; only 201 times during his Sox career.

He received his last honor posthumously when he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997.

 

December 1, 1998 - Popular and proficient third baseman Robin Ventura signed a free agent contract with the Mets.

Ventura, who was an outspoken critic of the “White Flag” trade, won five Gold Gloves in his time on the South Side in addition to hitting 171 home runs. He had six seasons with at least 90 RBI’s and hit .280 or better for five seasons.

He’d return in 2012 to become manager which lasted five seasons.

I definitely had tears in my eyes when I heard that my boyhood hero died, I idolized Little Nell and the first thing I would do when looking at White Sox box scores in the 50s and 60s is how many hits Nellie had in a game, if the Sox lost a game it was bad and if Nellie didn’t get any hits it was really bad, if the Sox won and Nellie had 2 or 3 hits, life was good and I was on cloud 9.

I never heard that some thought that Aparicio might have made the difference and the Sox might have won the Division in 1972, yeah we could have used someone better than Alvarado, Richard and Morales at short in 72 but then no Andrews to play second and most believe as I do that losing Melton in June with a back injury was why the Sox came up 5 games short in 72.

Edited December 1, 2023 by The Mighty Mite

[Lip Man 1]

3 hours ago, The Mighty Mite said:

I definitely had tears in my eyes when I heard that my boyhood hero died, I idolized Little Nell and the first thing I would do when looking at White Sox box scores in the 50s and 60s is how many hits Nellie had in a game, if the Sox lost a game it was bad and if Nellie didn’t get any hits it was really bad, if the Sox won and Nellie had 2 or 3 hits, life was good and I was on cloud 9.

I never heard that some thought that Aparicio might have made the difference and the Sox might have won the Division in 1972, yeah we could have used someone better than Alvarado, Richard and Morales at short in 72 but then no Andrews to play second and most believe as I do that losing Melton in June with a back injury was why the Sox came up 5 games short in 72.

Which is why I wrote that they "may" have taken the Western title. Ed Speizio did a creditable job filling in for Bill as it turned out but shortstop was a real issue.