Lip Man 1

Another case where the owner thinks he knows better than the front office he hired and is tying their hands. The jokes write themselves.

No media member anywhere is going to ask that question in the way you present it. I'm a media member and I'd ask it like this, "Rick you spoke about being mired in mediocrity, the results say things simply haven't worked. Why should Sox fans still have confidence in your ability to work this situation out?"

It may be "old school" but they are the only people around a team on a daily basis and can provide real information. You certainly aren't going to get that from MLB sponsored sites or say ESPN or Fox who only do deep dives into certain clubs.

If that's true there's no reason to subscribe to them anymore.

That's very surprising. I wonder who will take his place. I'm assuming they aren't going to do what the Tribune did for a few years and not have any beat writers cover the team.

Where did you grow up in Louisiana? Worked in Monroe from 1981-1992. Back in the day the Sox had one of the largest radio networks in all of MLB reaching out through the Midwest and into the South in towns like Jackson, Mississippi and Sarasota, Florida.

He isn't stupid at all. He feels that winning is important as long as it is done HIS WAY, with his ideas and his beliefs as far as what is acceptable. His ego doesn't allow him to admit mistakes very often and he continues he feel (based on his recent comments) that the salary structure, the MLBPA, certain agents are still out of line in his world. History shows his way hasn't worked very well but that doesn't impact him. He is making money and as long as that continues he feels there is no reason to change his ways nor to hold folks accountable.

June 12, 1939 – He was a founding father of the White Sox and also of the American League. Charles Comiskey “The Old Roman” was inducted into the Hall of Fame on this date. Comiskey a former successful player/manager in St. Louis, got together with Byron “Ban” Johnson and others to start the American League in January 1901. He had already moved his St. Paul, Minnesota team to the South Side before this where they have remained ever since. The White Sox became a charter member of the new league which by 1903 was playing the National League champion in the World Series. Comiskey owned and ran the White Sox from 1900 until his death in 1931. Under his watch the Sox won the World Series in both 1906 and 1917 and lost the series in 1919 under a cloud of suspicion. June 12, 1939 – On this date White Sox second baseman Eddie Collins entered the Hall of Fame. Collins is regarded by some as the finest second baseman ever to play the game. He was sold to the White Sox in 1914 by the Philadelphia A’s for $50,000 dollars, an unheard-of sum for the time but he was worth every penny. Collins played 12 years for the White Sox, 10 times hitting over .300. Nine times he amassed over 150 hits in a season including a staggering 224 hits in 1920 when he batted .372. Between the A’s and the White Sox he racked up a total of 3,315 hits in his career. June 12, 1966 - The Sox traded relief pitcher Eddie Fisher to the Orioles for infielder Jerry Adair. Fisher was an All-Star in 1965 and the Fireman of the Year but the Sox had incredible bullpen depth thanks to the anchor, Hoyt Wilhelm, up and coming pitcher Bob Locker and youngster Dennis Higgins. June 12, 1967 - The Sox played the longest game that they lost, in their history, when they dropped a 6-5 decision to the Senators in Washington. The game went 22 innings. Both teams scored a run in the 10th then didn’t score again until the Nats Paul Casanova drove home the winner in the last of the 22nd. Johnny Buzhardt tossed eight innings in relief before giving up the run that cost him the game. Sox outfielder Walt Williams had 10 at bats in the contest. The night game took 6:38 minutes and ended at 2:43 AM Washington time. Both teams went the entire game without an error which is the A.L. record. The contest was played in temperatures around 90 degrees which prompted an angry Sox manager, Eddie Stanky afterwards, to demand implementation of a league curfew. June 12, 1972 - Sox slugger Dick Allen appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. (Teammate Tom Egan was in the background putting on his shin guards) It was one of the most unusual and unique covers in the history of the magazine. The cover’s caption read, “Season of Surprises. Chicago’s Dick Allen Juggles His Image.” June 12, 1981 - A players strike began, wiping out almost two months of the baseball season after owners insisted on wanting player compensation for any free agent signed… in essence instead of a free agent signing, a trade. When both sides agreed to resume the year in August, the owners came up with a bizarre ‘split season’ format. Sox manager Tony LaRussa, who passed the Florida bar exam and was an exceptional thinker, quickly found a major flaw in the plan and suggested that if it would help the Sox get the second-best record and a spot in the post season, they would throw a late season series to the A’s to guarantee that Oakland would ‘win’ both halves thus automatically getting the Sox into the post season. Later Cardinals manager “Whitey” Herzog said he would do the same thing for his club. The owners then quickly changed the format to eliminate the potential for teams having to lose games to, in essence, win. June 12, 2018 – It’s happened less than the number of fingers on one hand for the franchise. On this night the White Sox opened up their game at Guaranteed Rate Field with Yoan Moncada blasting a home run to center field. The next hitter Yolmer Sanchez then hit another home run…again to center field. It was a great way to start a game as the Sox went on to beat Cleveland 5-1. Both home runs came off Indians starting pitcher Adam Plutko. It was the fourth time in franchise history the Sox would lead off a game with back-to-back home runs. June 12, 2021 – Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, you just can’t lose. For Sox pitcher Dylan Cease that meant facing the Detroit Tigers. Cease, backed by a 13-hit assault, handled Detroit 15-2 at Comerica Park and in doing so ran his career record against them to 8-0. In eight starts, he had 47 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.09. He also became the first Sox pitcher ever to win his first eight starts against a single club breaking the record of Mark Buehrle who went 7-0 against the Texas Rangers in his first seven starts against them.

Sorry that was a typo on my part it should have been the 2022 season.

Stats on Anderson for the last year (6/9/22 through 6/9/23) are sobering: 85 games played, 1 home run, 16 RBI's, 12 ground into double plays, .256 batting average, .293 on base percentage, .301 slugging percentage, .594 OPS. The dropoff has been dramatic. I don't take credit for these stats by the way saw them posted elsewhere. Like I said something is clearly wrong and I personally think it goes beyond injuries.

Came from a White Sox family. It was passed down. (And to be clear despite the incompetence and dysfunction I don't regret that)

He's "unavailable" yet again according to Grifol for another few days.

Grifol said it was his normal scheduled day off so my guess is he was sticking to that script regardless of circumstances.

I don't think the Sox had a five game win streak in 2020 either although I don't remember for sure.

JR does not give out eight and nine figure long term deals to pitchers. This just isn't happening. And I think Cease's agent is Scott Boras. I could be wrong on that but if he is, and if Cease does pitch well the next two years, he's hitting the free agent market and will not be signing an extension with the Sox. What could change that? Of course if new ownership is in place anything can happen.

Agreed. That ship sailed when the organization fought him over a 50-thousand dollar difference this past winter in arbitration. His comments and his agents comments after they did that ended that dream.

If is the biggest little word in the English dictionary. TA's numbers for the last few seasons, not just the past few weeks or months indicates something is clearly wrong with him. Regarding Eloy, he like TA, Grandal, Moncada et al can't go a single solitary month with having a serious injury. Again the facts from the past few years indicate this is an on-going issue that for whatever reason the White Sox can't solve. Color my skeptical they will put anything together before the trade deadline. And then if Rick is smart he'll cut bait and admit his rebuild is broken and flushed down the toilet.

"Bullet" Bob James' best season was in 1985. He was another brilliant "minor" trade pick up from Montreal for Vance Law by Roland Hemond. In 1985 he had 32 saves, a 2.13 ERA and struck out 88 guys in 110 innings pitched. He also was indirectly one of the reasons the Sox got "Hawk" Harrelson as GM in 1986. This excerpt from my chapter on that season for Dr. Fletcher's newest book that comes out next year on the 1990 club and the new stadium: "The Sox were beating the Orioles 6-3 in the ninth inning on July 11 with “Bullet” Bob James on the mound working his second inning. James was another “minor” deal executed by Hemond that paid off in a big way as he was having a career season. Hemond got him from Montreal for Vance Law in December 1984. James would finish with 32 saves, a 2.13 ERA and 88 strike outs in 110 innings pitched. But on this day, after fielding a ground ball off the bat of Alan Wiggins, James had to leave with what turned out to be a knee injury that he really never recovered from and saw his career end in 1987. LaRussa called on Mike Stanton, a journeyman pitcher picked up by the Sox on waivers from Seattle in late June, to close things out. Stanton did not get a single hitter out, facing four men… giving up a single, walk, single and a three-run game winning home run from Fred Lynn. Baltimore scored four runs after two outs and won the game 7-6. Up in the TV booth both Drysdale and Harrelson were commenting on the fact that if Stanton was the “best” the Sox could do there were issues that had to be addressed. Both Reinsdorf and Einhorn were thinking along the same lines for several months. Towards the end of the season Harrelson was talking with both men when Reinsdorf asked him what he thought about the state of the organization. “I think there are a lot of holes” was the reply. Reinsdorf then asked what they were and Harrelson said, “Do you want me to write down what I think is the state of the organization?” That is exactly what the owners wanted and Einhorn in particular said that was a real selling point telling the Chicago Tribune, “Of all the people we spoke to, he was the only one who submitted a plan and explained how it could be implemented.”

Well I know stuff about the Sox from before I was born in 1955. I had the desire to learn it. It's called "history."

West Coast team which is his preference.

I'm not familiar with a Bobby Jones are you referring to someone else? The White Sox had a Barry Jones in the early 90's who was spectacular as a set up man for Bobby Thigpen.

Well played sir.

Valid point by you. They are not a well rounded club. When they hit they don't pitch, when they pitch they can't field when the make plays in the field they can't score. Just they way it is.

They simply don't have what it takes to consistently win or put together long winning streaks. Be that lack of talent, injuries, lack of depth, a poor manager...who knows for sure. But the reality is they simply don't have it and would be smart to start selling guys at the deadline for what they can get. It's not going to work again this season and that's the way it is.

As far as "bad owners" my definition only involves activities done or not done on the field impacting the team they own. Rocky Wirtz was wrong for example in the cover-up situation off the ice, but on the ice, he won three championships. Same thing with Al Davis, the man put winning above everything else and the Raiders record under his watch for a very long time was among the best in the NFL, plus three titles if I remember right. Hard to say he didn't give the fan base a best effort at winning.