Lip Man 1

We shouldn't be surprised this is standard operating procedure.

Two very different items, one heartbreak, one just flat out bizarre: June 27, 1958 - He came so close to perfection. Sox left hander Billy Pierce fired four one-hitters in his brilliant career, but he never came closer than on this night to baseball immortality. With two out in the ninth inning, Pierce lost a perfect game as the Senators Ed Fitz Gerald, a pinch hitter, doubled down the first base line on the first pitch thrown. The hit was fair by a foot off a low outside breaking ball just past Ray Boone. The crowd at Comiskey Park stared in disbelief. The Sox won 3-0 but Pierce never came closer to pitching the ultimate masterpiece. On the night the Senators only hit six balls out of the infield. Pierce struck out nine and only went to a three-ball count on two hitters. The game took 1:46 to play and was Billy’s third straight shutout. He was looking to become the first left-handed pitcher to throw a perfect game in the modern era. Another historical oddity… Fitz Gerald’s grandfather was an important businessman in Milwaukee, including the shipping industry. Years later a ship would be named after him. The name of the ship? The Edmund Fitz Gerald. (Cue the song from Gordon Lightfoot!) June 27, 1967 - It was one of the most bizarre individual plays in White Sox history. The Sox were at Baltimore and in the last of the fourth inning of a scoreless game the O’s Frank Robinson slid hard into second baseman Al Weis trying to break up a potential double play on a ball hit by Brooks Robinson. Robinson’s head slammed into Weis’s knee briefly knocking him out. The next day he woke up with double vision and missed a month. Weis meanwhile had his knee torn up and his season ended because of the contact. While both players were lying on the ground Sox right fielder Ken Berry noticed that time had never been called and Frank wasn’t on the base! He ran in, picked up the baseball and tagged him with it. Second base umpire Nestor Chylak called Robinson out. Officially it went into the books as a force out; third to second to first to right field. The Sox behind Joe Horlen would win the game 5-0.

It's Bruce Levine remember, take anything he says with a large bag of salt. With the almost certain lockout coming shortly after the end of the 2026 season and the impact it could have on the 2027 year, I don't expect JR to do anything this upcoming off season. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he ordered Getz to cut payroll yet again.

It's a mixed bag... pitching has been better than expected, hitting and fielding still awful: “I have to remind myself that although that’s really frustrating and we need to get better there, to finish close games, so much of where we are right now is in things that are underneath, per se, in just the foundation of the organization,” Getz said. That’s not easy to stomach for fans trying to remind themselves why they’re still paying attention to a team that entered Thursday with the worst batting average in the league (.220), lowest OPS (.638), fewest hits (583) third-fewest runs (263) and third-fewest home runs (64). https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/06/26/white-sox-season-halfway-smith-meidroth-vargas

They did have some luck, you play 200 games a year (pre-season, regular season and post-season) and the ball is going to bounce your way at times, fluke things are going to happen, it is inevitable. They took advantage of the times those things happened (like A.J.'s dropped third strike) and that is the mark of a good team.

Chapter 1 (Chapter 2 drops July 3):

There may be some truth to what you think. Guys can get confused which makes things worse. Sometimes it is better to just say, "see the ball, hit the ball" and the hell with everything else.

It's been going on literally for years, one incident after another, from in-fighting among the front office people to players leaving with bad feelings to broadcaster in-fighting to trainers suing the organization and so on. Some of this is expected, people are human after all, but the total body of dysfunction and incompetence is stunning and based on how little is ever done about it, JR seems to be fine with things. Everything starts at the very top and runs downhill from there.

Sosa definitely does not need to be playing first base. As far as playing second, if he could cut down on his errors he could certainly be useful there.

I was commenting on the posters in the thread who were talking about the errors. But I guess you need something to celebrate a team that is now (checks the standings) 26-55. We good now Pale? 😆

If the Dodgers keep paying premium rates they'll happily go there.

Vargas with 11 errors already, Sosa with nine.

They even incurred the wrath of Steinbrenner after they signed Bannister (who the Yankees badly wanted) saying he regretted having voted against Edward DeBartolo.

With all due respect 1999 has nothing on the past few seasons and how this franchise with a future that looked so promising went absolutely right down the toilet because of the owner who seemingly simply doesn't care anymore and who's ego and arrogance are unmatched.

A desultory night on offense.

If the changes lead to seasons where six pitchers (maybe more when all is said and done) don't have to have TJS that a definite win.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/06/23/white-sox-trade-deadline-luis-robert-jr-miguel-vargas-chris-getz-garrett-crochet

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2025/06/23/white-sox-colson-montgomery-triple-a-chris-getz-noah-schultz-top-prospects-shane-smith

If you mean Roger Clemens that is a good point (assuming you don't mind the steroid accusations). After JR signed Albert Belle the Hendricks brothers, Clemens' agents, reached out to the Sox and said he was interested in signing with them. Then G.M. Ron Schueler was quoted as saying "Roger Clemens is over the hill..." and signed Jamie Navarro instead. Ooops...

Jerry's ears are closed. It's 200 million (maybe) or you'll get nothing and like it! 😉

And they won't have any until new ownership takes over.

Don't know if this will help his broadcasting ability but I give the man props for doing this: https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/white-sox-broadcaster-john-schiffren-does-cn-tower-edgewalk-after-dare.html

And you have to look at the reason why they were extended early, the Sox were trying to save money in the long run by locking guys in before they hit arbitration and eventually free agency.

It would be a very interesting read.

June 23, 1956 – It was first of the two great fights on the field between Yankee and White Sox players; almost one year later, June 13, 1957, the second one took place. In this one Bob Grim (the late uncle to former Sox Director of Business Development and Broadcasting Bob Grim) threw one high and tight to Sox outfielder Dave Philley in the home half of the sixth inning. The ball glanced off Philley’s shoulder and bounced into his batting helmet knocking it off. Philley charged the mound as the benches and bullpens emptied. Both players swung at each other, as the rest of the teams held each other back. Order was restored after about 20 minutes. Philley was tossed from the game. Grim was allowed to stay in, but perhaps shaken; he was tagged for two runs...driven in by Sherm Lollar and Luis Aparicio, the only runs on the day in the Sox 2-0 win.