Tag / Joe Cowley

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#45 – Britt Burns

Name: Britt Burns

Rank: 45

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1978-1985

Britt Burns was selected by the White Sox in the third round of the 1978 draft.  Less than 2 months later, Burns made his major league debut, going 5 innings in a losing start against the Tigers in Detroit.  He made one other start, another loss, before returning to the minor leagues.  He finished the year 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA.

Burns spent most of 1979 starting in Double A, before getting promoted to Triple A and then, briefly, back to Chicago.  He made 6 relief appearances, giving up 10 hits in only 5 innings and finishing with a 5.40 ERA.

Burns found himself in the major leagues to stay in 1980 as he moved in to the rotation for the White Sox.  He found his first bit of success at the big league level, going 15-13 with a 2.84 ERA in 34 appearances, 32 of them starts.  He finished 5th in Rookie of the Year voting, earning 4 first place votes.

1981 saw Burns putting up a repeat performance, despite the strike that split the season.  He earned his first, and only, All Star nod and tied for 7th in Cy Young Award voting.  He finished the year 10-6 with a 2.64 ERA.

Burns regressed a bit in 1982.  His record held steady at 13-5, but his ERA rose to 4.04 in only 28 starts.

In 1983, Burns went 10-11 with a 3.58 ERA as the White Sox ran away with the AL West, earning their first division title.  Burns took the mound in game 4 of the ALCS, with the Orioles looking to clinch the series, and threw the game of his life.  Burns threw 9 scoreless innings, but Oriole pitchers Storm Davis and Tippy Martinez stymied the White Sox offense.  With one out in the 10th, Burns gave up a solo home run to Tito Landrum.  He was replaced and the Orioles tacked on 2 additional runs, ending the White Sox season.

Injuries and ineffectiveness led Burns to split time between the rotation and bullpen in 1984.  He went 4-12 with a 5.00 ERA in 34 appearances, 16 of them starts.  He also earned the only 3 saves of his career.

After an offseason conditioning program improved his physical state, Burns bounced back in 1985.  He 18-11 with a 3.96 ERA in 36 appearances, 34 of them starts, both career highs.  He finished tied for 7th in Cy Young Award voting.  Following the year, he was traded to the Yankees, along with 2 minor leaguers, for Joe Cowley and Ron Hassey.

Burns returned to the White Sox organization in 2013 as pitching coach for Double A Birmingham, a position he held through 2015.

Burns’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#96 – Gary Redus

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Name: Gary Redus

Rank: 96

Position: LF

Years With White Sox: 1987-1988

As spring training was winding down in 1987, the White Sox acquired Gary Redus from the Phillies for pitcher Joe Cowley.  “Our priorities have been to get a right-handed hitter with power or a right-handed hitter with speed to hit at the top of the order,” GM Larry Himes said at the time. “We like what we got with Redus. We traded a player who was going to play once every five days for a player who will play every five days.”  Redus played 130 games, but did not live up to the offensive promise that the White Sox were looking for when they acquired him.  He hit only .236 with 12 home runs, but did finish 3rd in the AL with 52 stolen bases.

Much to his surprise, Redus remained with the White Sox for the beginning of the 1988 season.  His offense improved somewhat, with his average rising to .263, but, after a hamstring injury kept him on the shelf for 2 weeks, he was traded to the Pirates for Mike Diaz.

Redus’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#125 – Ron Hassey

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Name: Ron Hassey

Rank: 125

Position: C/DH

Years With White Sox: 1986-1987

Ron Hassey was originally acquired by the White Sox, along with Joe Cowley, in a December 1985 trade with the Yankees for Britt Burns and some minor leaguers.  Two months later, just as pitchers and catchers were about to report to spring training, he was traded back to the Yankees, along with Matt Winters and 2 other minor leaguers, for Neil Allen, Scott Bradley, a minor leaguer, and cash.  5 months later, at the trade deadline, he was acquired again by the White Sox, along with Carlos Martinez and a player to be named later, for Ron Kittle, Joel Skinner, and Wayne Tolleson.  Hassey put up good numbers over the last 2 months of 1986, hitting .353 in 49 games, driving in 22 runs and scoring 20 himself.

Following off-season knee surgery, Hassey was limited in 1987.  He once again appeared in 49 games for the White Sox, but this time saw his average fall to .214.  Once the season came to an unsatisfactory end, for both Hassey and the White Sox, he became a free agent.

Hassey’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#143 – Joe Cowley

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Name: Joe Cowley

Rank: 143

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1986

Joe Cowley joined the White Sox, along with Ron Hassey, in the December, 1985 that sent Britt Burns a couple of minor leaguers to the Yankees.  Cowley stepped in to the rotation and put together a .500 record with a 3.88 ERA.  The highlight of his season came of September 19, when he threw one of the ugliest no-hitters in major league history.  While he held the Angels hitless, he walked 7 and gave up a run on a sacrifice fly.  Cowley also goes down in history as the only pitcher to throw a no hitter in his final major league victory.

The following spring, Cowley was traded to the Phillies, in exchange for Gary Redus, ending his brief White Sox career.

Cowley’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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