Tag / Bill Veeck

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Book 20 (of 52) – Chili Dog MVP

Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, The ’72 White Sox and a Transforming Chicago – John Owens and David J. Fletcher

The early 70s were a time of change on the south side of Chicago.  As the ballclub that called Comiskey Park home recovered from the then-worst season in franchise history in 1970 and threats to move the club out of the city they’d called home for seven decades, the demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods started to shift and noted White Sox fan Richard J. Daley, longtime mayor of the city, started to lose his vice-like grip on the Democratic party.  Those changes crystalized in 1972, with the arrival of Dick Allen, a baseball superstar whose reputation was perhaps less than stellar.  But, taking a young ballclub under his wing, he led the upstart White Sox to their best season in five years, challenging the budding dynasty in Oakland for the AL West title.

Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, The ’72 White Sox and a Transforming Chicago, by authors John Owens and David J. Fletcher and editor George Castle, tells the tale of that 1972 White Sox team, while also touching on the things going on around it, both physically and temporally.  They cover the ownership transfers from Arthur Allyn to his brother John in 1970 and then again to Bill Veeck in 1975.  The interconnected revival of Harry Caray’s career announcing for the White Sox with the rise of young organist Nancy Faust, who would spend 40 years with the franchise.  The arrival of Roland Hemond and Chuck Tanner in late 1970, who helped turn the franchise around and were instrumental in the acquisition of Allen and convincing him to come play in Chicago.  And, of course, the career of Dick Allen, especially his three years in Chicago, from the promising beginning to the bitter end, when he quit on the team and temporarily retired towards the end of the 1974 season.

The 1972 White Sox were just a little before my time, so this was a nice glimpse into the franchise just a few years before I was born.  If I have one complaint about its composition, it is that it is treated, and edited, more a collection of one-off essays rather than as a comprehensive story, so details and characters are re-introduced and re-described numerous times.  That small change could have streamlined the tale and probably cut a good ten pages or so from the tome.

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iTunes Top 200: #4

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 songs in my iTunes library, featuring he songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which older songs still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2025.

We continue this week with the fourth highest ranked song, a sing-a-long classic and the oldest composition on this list which has notched 242 plays since my stats began in late 2007.

#3: Harry Caray – Take Me Out To The Ballgame
iTunes stats: 242 plays, most recently on 9/27/2024
Previous ranking: #5

First written in 1908, Take Me Out to the Ball Game was popularized through many vaudeville acts and is considered one of the three-most recognizable songs in the country, although most people today have only heard the chorus.  It is thought to have first been played at a ballpark in 1934 and made an appearance later that year in Game 4 of the World Series.

Harry Caray joined the White Sox broadcast booth in 1971, becoming popular with the South Side faithful and enjoying a reputation for joviality and public carousing.  Returning owner Bill Veeck, knowing that Caray would sing along to Take Me Out To The Ballgame in the broadcast booth during the Seventh Inning Stretch, wanted Caray to lead the crowd in stadium-wide event.  Early in the 1976 season, Veeck secretly installed a public address microphone into the broadcast booth and turned it on once organist Nancy Faust started playing the song.  Caray initially did not want to do it, but, as Veeck explained, “Anybody in the ballpark hearing you sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game knows that he can sing as well as you can. Probably better than you can. So he or she sings along. Hell, if you had a good singing voice, you’d intimidate them, and nobody would join in.”  Caray finally agreed to sing it live, accompanied by Faust on the organ, and went on to become famous for singing the tune.

This version features Caray and Faust and comes from a YouTube video compilation of Caray’s performances from the late 1970s.  While Caray left the White Sox following the 1981 season and passed away in 1998, I still include the song on my White Sox victory playlists, attributing to its high play total.

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Moving On… Slowly

The White Sox announced on Thursday that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and minority shareholder Justin Ishbia have reached a “long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework” for Ishbia to obtain a controlling interest in the franchise within the next ten years.  As part of the agreement, Ishbia will make “capital infusions” into the White Sox in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations.  Following that, Reinsdorf will have the option to sell controlling interest to Ishbia between 2029 and 2033 and, following the 2034 season, Ishbia will have the option to acquire the controlling interest.

Reinsdorf, who has had controlling interest in the White Sox since purchasing the team for $19 million from Bill Veeck in 1981, will be 93 at the start of the initial transition period in 2029.  He has long claimed that he has no interest in selling while he remains in good health but would be 97 by the time Ishiba controls the option to buy.  Ishiba, a billionaire private equity investor, increased his stake in the Whtie Sox this spring to a reported 35%.  In a statement, Ishbia said, “I love Chicago, have always loved baseball, and am thrilled to marry two of my passions.”

Overall, this should be a good thing for the White Sox and their fans.  While Reinsdorf has had one of, if not the winningest ownership tenure in franchise history, he has also managed to successfully alienate most of the fan base, starting with his threats to move the team to Florida in the 1980s, followed by his appearance as one of the largest contributors to the work stoppages that wiped out the end of the 1994 season and the start of the 1995 season and, most recently, overseeing the team’s fall to setting the MLB record for most losses last year.  It is time to turn the page, and waiting for 2029, 2034, and/or Reinsdorf’s death is the price we have to pay for being White Sox fans.

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Book 39 (of 52) – The Truth Hurts

The Truth Hurts – Jimmy Piersall with Richard Whittingham

In The Truth Hurts, Jimmy Piersall, with help from Richard Whittingham, tells the story of his major league career starting in 1953 with his return from “nervous exhaustion” through his tumultuous broadcast career with the White Sox in the late 70s and early 80s.  Of course, my interest was in the later parts, working with Harry Caray and his battles with Bill Veeck, Eddie Einhorn, Jerry Reinsdorf, and Tony LaRussa.

Piersall’s tenure in the White Sox booth was just before my time, so all I knew were a few highlights here and there and stories.  If even half of what he says about Tony LaRussa is true, then it is surprising that he ever became the “Hall of Famer baseball person” that he turned out to be.  Piersall’s association with the White Sox ended in 1983, but he continued to be a Chicago-area presence until his 2017 death.

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By The Numbers – 3

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #3.  52 different players have donned #3 while playing in Chicago, 33 for the White Sox and 19 for the Cubs, including one who had it retired for him while he was still an active player.

Harold Baines was the first overall selection in the 1977 draft after White Sox owner Bill Veeck had seen him play little league years before.  He made his major league debut less than 3 years later, on Opening Day 1980 against the Orioles at old Comiskey Park.  Baines started to break out in 1981, but the long player’s strike limited him to only 82 games.  With a full slate of games played in 1982, Baines appeared in all but one of them, with numbers good enough to garner votes for AL MVP.

1983 was a banner year on the south side, as the White Sox captured their first ever division title.  Baines was a key contributor, hitting .280 with 20 home runs and 99 RBIs.  During the ALCS against the Orioles, Baines struggled, like most of his teammates, getting only 2 hits in the 4-game series.  At season’s end, he picked up 49 votes to finish 10th in MVP voting.

Baines continued to excel in 1984, though the rest of the team did not.  On May 8, he ended the longest game in major league history (8 hours and 6 minutes over 25 innings on successive evenings) with a walk-off home run against Chuck Porter of the Brewers.  He finished the year with a .304 average, a career high 29 home runs, and 94 RBIs, while leading the league in slugging at .541.  He once again garnered MVP consideration, finishing the vote tied for 13th place.  1985 was another strong season for Baines.  He earned his first All Star selection, singling off former teammate LaMarr Hoyt in his only at bat at the Metrodome.  He finished the year hitting .309 with 22 home runs and a career high 113 RBIs.  He earned 49 votes in placing 9th in MVP voting.

Baines saw his body start to betray him for the first time in 1986.  He appeared in his second straight All Star game, going hitless in his one at bat.  A late August knee injury caused him to miss time, and a late September collision with Neal Heaton in a loss to the Twins reinjured the knee, leading to arthroscopic surgery following the season.  He finished the season hitting .296, just missing his 3rd consecutive .300 season, with 21 home runs and 88 RBIs.  He returned for opening day in 1987, getting two hits and knocking in the winning runs on the hard artificial turf of Royals Stadium, but was unable to walk the following day.  A second arthroscopic surgery caused him to miss 23 games before he returned, moving from right field to designated hitter.  He still was named to his 3rd straight All Star team, going hitless in the 2-0 loss by the AL.  Come year end, he had hit .293 with 20 home runs and 93 RBIs.

1988 was a down year for Baines, though he managed to appear in 158 games.  His average dropped to .277, his lowest total since 1982, while hitting only 13 home runs, his lowest total since 1981.  He made only 9 appearances in the outfield while becoming accustomed to being a full-time designated hitter.  He bounced back in 1989.  He was named the starting DH in the All Star game, going 1-3 with an RBI in the AL’s victory at Angel Stadium.  On July 29, he was traded to the Rangers, along with Fred Manrique, for Wilson Alvarez, Scott Fletcher, and Sammy Sosa.  “It’s an unpopular decision as far as the fans are concerned, but sometimes unpopular means exactly that-unpopular,” GM Larry Himes said at the time.  “It doesn`t mean that it isn`t a good decision.  This is a decision we made as far as direction of the Chicago White Sox for today and for our future.”  Baines was hitting .321 with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs at the time of the trade.  Less than a month later, as the Rangers visited Chicago for the first time on August 20, the White Sox retired Baines’ #3, a somewhat awkward attempt to placate the enraged fanbase.

Baines returned to the White Sox as a free agent in 1996.  Appearing in 143 games, Baines hit .311 with 22 home runs and 95 RBIs.  He returned in 1997 and was putting together another fine season, putting up a .305 average with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs in 93 games when, on July 29 again, he was traded to the Orioles for a player to be named later.

Three years later, once again on July 29, the White Sox re-acquired Baines, along with Charles Johnson, from the Orioles for Miguel Felix, Juan Figueroa, Jason Lakman, and Brook Fordyce.  Appearing in 24 games down the stretch, Baines hit .213 with a single home run and 9 RBIs as the White Sox took the Central Division crown.  Baines went 1-4 in the ALDS as the White Sox were swept by the Mariners.  He returned to the White Sox in 2001 at the age of 42, getting extra playing time once Frank Thomas went down with an injury.  In 32 games, he hit .131, failing to homer and driving in only 6.

On July 20, 2008, the White Sox unveiled a bronze statue of Baines at U.S. Cellular Field prior to their game against the Royals.  On December 9, 2018, Baines was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2019 via the Today’s Game Era ballot.

David Ross donned #3 when he joined the Cubs in 2015 on a two-year deal.  Ross announced his plans to retire following the 2016 season, after playing 15 seasons in the major leagues.  During Game 7 of the World Series, Ross hit a home run in his final at-bat, making him the oldest player to homer in World Series history.

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By The Numbers – 9

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #9.  58 players have donned #9 while playing in Chicago, one of whom happened to get it retired in their honor.

Minnie Minoso, born in Cuba, came to the United States in 1945 and became Chicago’s first black player on May 1, 1951, getting 2 hits and driving in 2 runs in his White Sox debut.  Minoso spent the next 7 years with the White Sox, earning 4 All Star nods, 1 Gold Glove, and 3 top 10 MVP finishes.  Following the 1957 season, Minoso was traded back to the Indians, bringing Al Smith and Early Wynn, key players for the 1959 pennant winners, to the south side.

After the 1959 season, new owner Bill Veeck brought Minoso back to the White Sox.  While the Sox failed to repeat as AL champions, it was through no fault of Minoso’s, as the left fielder again made the All Star team and finished 4th in MVP voting.  After a sub-standard (for him) season in 1961, Minoso was traded to the Cardinals.  Minoso returned to the White Sox for the third time in 1964.  He appeared in only 30 games, batting .226, and was released in mid-July.  At 38 years old, this appeared to be the end of the line for Minoso.

In 1976, with Bill Veeck once again owning the White Sox, he brought back a now 50 year old Minnie Minoso to allow him to become a four decade player.  Minoso appeared in 3 games, and managed to get a hit in 8 at bats.  The stunt was repeated 4 years later, with Minoso going 0-2 in 2 games and becoming the first person to appear in games during 5 decades.

His number 9 was retired by the White Sox in 1983.  In his later years, he became an official team ambassador for the White Sox.  As a season ticket holder, I had the opportunity to meet him on a few occasions, and, despite his age, he seemed energized to be interacting with fans.

On the north side of town, another Latino has made #9 his own.  Javy Baez debuted in 2014 and became a full time player in 2016, helping the Cubs end their 108 year championship drought by winning the World Series.  His best season came in 2018, when he led the league in RBI and finished second in MVP voting.

 

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The Hall Calls For Minnie

57 years after he last stepped off the field as a regular player, and 6+ years since his death, Minnie Minoso has been elected to the Hall of Fame by the veteran’s committee.  He joins fellow Cuban Tony Oliva, former White Sox pitcher Jim Kaat, Gil Hodges, Buck O’Neil, and Bud Fowler in gaining entrance to Cooperstown tonight as part of the Golden Days and Early Baseball Era Committee.

Minoso, born in Cuba, came to the United States in 1945 to play in the Negro Leagues.  He joined the Indians organization in September of 1948, after his contract was purchased by Bill Veeck, and he made his major league debut the following year, appearing in 9 September games for the Tribe.  After returning to the minor leagues in 1950, Minoso returned to the Indians for 8 games in 1951 before being traded to the White Sox.

He became the city of Chicago’s first black player on May 1, 1951, getting 2 hits and driving in 2 runs in his White Sox debut.  Minoso spent the next 7 years with the White Sox, earning 4 All Star nods, 1 Gold Glove, and 3 top 10 MVP finishes.  Following the 1957 season, Minoso was traded back to the Indians, bringing Al Smith and Early Wynn, key players for the 1959 pennant winners, to the south side.

After the 1959 season, new owner Bill Veeck brought Minoso back to the White Sox.  While the Sox failed to repeat as AL champions, it was through no fault of Minoso’s, as the left fielder again made the All Star team and finished 4th in MVP voting.  After a sub-standard (for him) season in 1961, Minoso was traded to the Cardinals.  Minoso returned to the White Sox for the third time in 1964.  He appeared in only 30 games, batting .226, and was released in mid-July.  At 38 years old, this appeared to be the end of the line for Minoso.  Bill Veeck, however, had other ideas.

Having reacquired the White Sox in 1975, Veeck brought Minoso, now 50 years old (at least), back in 1976 to allow him to become a four decade player.  Minoso appeared in 3 games, and managed to get a hit in 8 at bats.  The stunt was repeated 4 years later, with Minoso going 0-2 in 2 games and becoming the first player to appear in games during 5 decades.

His number 9 was retired by the White Sox in 1983.  In his later years, he became an official team ambassador for the White Sox and appeared at events and games.  He passed away on March 1, 2015.

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By The Numbers – 54

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #54.  30 players have donned #554 while playing in Chicago, 18 for the White Sox and 16 for the Cubs.

I guess if a Hall of Famer wears the same number on both sides of town, he should be the pick, no?  Rich “Goose” Gossage was selected by the White Sox in the 9th round of the 1970 draft.  He made his debut in April of 1972 against the Royals and spent most of the next four seasons in the bullpen for the White Sox, culminating with an All Star appearance and 26 saves in 1975.  So, of course, in 1976, he was moved in to the starting rotation, going 9-17 with a 3.94 ERA in 29 starts, though he did earn his second straight All Star appearance.  Following the season, as Bill Veeck tried to find a way to use free agency to his advantage, Gossage was traded, along with Terry Forster, to the Pirates for Richie Zisk, who was entering his walk year.

After becoming one of the most dominant stoppers of the late 70s and early 80s, Gossage returned to Chicago in 1988, when he was acquired by the Cubs from the Padres in exchange for Mike Brumley and Keith Moreland.  In 46 appearances, he went 4-4 with a 4.33 ERA, earning only 13 saves.  He was released towards the end of spring training in 1989.


Gossage returned to Chicago as a visitor in 1991 and gave up a walk-off grand slam to Robin Ventura in what might just be my favorite regular season home run.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008.

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Everything Old Is New Again

About 2 1/2 weeks ago, Rick Hahn described the ideal candidate to become the next manager of the White Sox: recent post-season experience with a championship organization.  Depending on your definition of recent, the White Sox found their man today, announcing that Tony LaRussa, who retired from the dugout after leading the Cardinals to a championship in 2011, would once again take the reins on the south side of Chicago.

LaRussa, who is third all-time with 2,728 wins, first became manager of the White Sox in 1979, under owner Bill Veeck.  After leading the team to the AL Western Division title in 1983, LaRussa was fired in June of 1986 by Ken Harrelson.  This has long been cited as the biggest sports-related regret for owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

 

LaRussa caught on with the A’s less than a month after leaving the White Sox, staying there for 10 years, winning 3 AL pennants and one World Series championship.  He then spent 16 years on the bench for the Cardinals, winning 3 NL pennants and 2 World Series championships, retiring after the final one in 2011.  Since then, he has spent time working for MLB and in the front office for the Diamondbacks, Red Sox, and Angels.

LaRussa, who will be 76 on opening day 2021, becomes the oldest manager in the major leagues and the oldest to take over a team since Jack McKeon in 2011.

The two biggest concerns, to my mind, are 1) has the move toward analytics changed the game enough in the last 9 years that he’s been left behind and 2) will the exuberant players on the White Sox roster, namely Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, and Eloy Jimenez, chafe under an older school manager who may not appreciate the bat flips and political outspokenness.  This will either end very well, with post-season success, or will bomb spectacularly.  There really will not be a middle ground.

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iTunes Top 200: #5

itunes_image4 years ago, we last counted down the Top 200 songs in my iTunes library. Since my iTunes stats are still intact, across multiple PCs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones, I figured it was time to take another look at my most listened to songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2020.

Today, we enter the top 5, where we will go more in depth into each song.  The fifth most listened to song in my library, with 168 plays since my stats began in late 2007, is a traditional favorite and a live performance from the late 1970s.

#5: Harry Caray – Take Me Out To The Ballgame
iTunes stats: 168 plays, most recently on 11/20/2019
Previous ranking: #10

Harry Caray joined the White Sox broadcast booth in 1971, becoming popular with the South Side faithful and enjoying a reputation for joviality and public carousing.  Returning owner Bill Veeck, knowing that Caray would sing along to Take Me Out To The Ballgame in the broadcast booth during the Seventh Inning Stretch, wanted Caray to lead the crowd in stadium-wide event.  Early in the 1976 season, Veeck secretly installed a public address microphone into the broadcast booth and turned it on once organist Nancy Faust started playing the song.  Caray initially did not want to do it, but, as Veeck explained, “Anybody in the ballpark hearing you sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game knows that he can sing as well as you can. Probably better than you can. So he or she sings along. Hell, if you had a good singing voice, you’d intimidate them, and nobody would join in.”  Caray finally agreed to sing it live, accompanied by Faust on the organ, and went on to become famous for singing the tune.

This version features Caray and Faust and comes from a YouTube video compilation of Caray’s performances from the late 1970s.  While Caray left the White Sox following the 1981 season and passed away in 1998, I still include the song on my White Sox victory playlists, attributing to its high play total.