THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: JANUARY 29TH/Jerry&Ed, GWRBI, Oz

[StatManDu]

THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: JANUARY 29TH

 

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CHUCK DENIED

1960: In ruling handed down by the Illinois Appellate court, Dorothy Rigney was allowed to sell her mother’s shares of the White Sox to Bill Veeck. Charles Comiskey Jr., Dorothy’s brother, brought forth the suit hoping to gain control of the White Sox.

 

JERRY AND EDDIE ARRIVE

1981: American League owners finally approved the sale of the White Sox to a group headed by Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn. The third time proved to be a charm here. Twice before, A.L. owners had rejected Bill Veeck’s sale to Edward DeBartolo. Reinsdorf originally entered the picture with Chicago businessman William Farley, who owned some Sox stock. After Farley withdrew, Reinsdorf hooked up with Einhorn, a TV executive who was a vendor at Comiskey Park during the White Sox pennant-winning campaign of 1959. Once the sale was approved, Reinsdorf’s group worked fast. Among their first acquisitions were big names Carlton Fisk and Greg Luzinski.

 

GOOD BYE, GWRBI

1989: The game-winning RBI is dropped as an official statistic. GWRBIs were kept as official statistics from 1980 and 1988 and were awarded to the player that gave the winning team the lead for good in a game. For the record, Harry Chappas had the White Sox first game-winning RBI in an 8-4 win over Baltimore April 11, 1980 at Comiskey Park and Steve Lyons had the Sox last GWRBI in a 5-1 win at Kansas City Oct. 2, 1988. Harold Baines set the team record, which was a big league record until 1985, with 22 GWRBIs in 1983.

 

SIX MONTHS LATER, A HOMER

1992: The White Sox signed catcher Nelson Santovenia as a free agent. Santovenia’s claim to fame with the White Sox was that he homered in his first at bat for his only hit with the club July 111, 1992 at Fenway Park. The blast came with Joey Cora on first base off John Dopson in the third inning of an 11-2 loss. Santovenia became just the fifth player in franchise history to have his only hit of the season be a homer. The dinger was the last of his 21 career homers and the second-to-last hit of the veteran catcher’s career.

 

OZZIE AN ORIOLE

1998: Free agent Ozzie Guillen signed with the Baltimore Orioles. The spry shortstop had spent the previous 13 seasons with the White Sox.

 

WELCOME WILLIE

2002: The White Sox acquired infielder-outfielder Willie Harris, the player who would score the winning run in the clinching game of the 2005 World Series, from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for outfielder Chris Singleton. Harris was considered one of the top prospects in the Baltimore organization which is why the White Sox had to give up their regular center fielder to get him. Harris didn’t do much to distinguish himself in his four years with the Sox save for the 2005 postseason. In addition to going 2-for-2, Harris scored the decisive run in Game 4 of the World Series in Houston on Jermaine Dye’s base hit after leading off the eighth inning with a single. That game turned out to be Harris’ last with the Sox. He signed with Boston after being granted free agency following the season.