Lip Man 1

Like McGuffy said, "It starts at the top down..."

July 29, 1942 - The Sox staged the first twi-night double header in club history as they beat the Yankees 6-5 in 11 innings and 7-5. Over 27-thousand fans showed up at Comiskey Park for the wartime promotion which became a regular attraction over the next several decades. July 29, 1962 - In a double header versus the Yankees in New York, Sox outfielder/first baseman Charlie “Paw-Paw” Maxwell hit three home runs and knocked home five RBI’s in the split. Maxwell had a curious history of doing his best hitting on a Sunday. When acquired from the Tigers it was discovered that 25 of his 70 career homers (to that point) were hit on the Sabbath. Of his 10 in 1962, five came on Sunday. On July 8, Maxwell got six hits in a double header against Cleveland and on August 19, Maxwell hit a grand slam and knocked in six against Detroit. Yes… all of those games were on Sunday. July 29, 1963 - Facing the Senators in Washington, Sox pitcher Joe Horlen took a no-hitter into the ninth inning. Only leading 1-0 and under incredible pressure, Horlen not only lost the no-hitter but the game 2-1, as Chuck Hinton grounded a roller up the middle with one out for a hit that Horlen wasn’t able to get a glove on and then Don Lock belted a curve ball for a two-run homer with two out to win it. Horlen looked ready to cry on the postgame show talking with announcer Jack Brickhouse on WGN-TV. July 29, 1989 - At the time it was an unpopular deal, but in the long term it worked out very well for the Sox. G.M. Larry Himes sent All Star outfielder/DH Harold Baines and infielder Fred Manrique to the Rangers for infielder Scott Fletcher, outfielder Sammy Sosa and pitching prospect Wilson Alvarez. Fans hated to lose Baines but the Sox weren’t going anywhere and he was expendable. Fletcher and the pre-steroid Sosa played important roles in the franchise’s revival in 1990 and Alvarez would become a very solid starter beginning in 1993 for the Western Division champions. July 29, 1998 - It was a small move at the time that would turn out to have major implications. G.M. Ron Schueler shipped inconsistent relief pitcher Matt Karchner to the Cubs for former #1 draft pick, pitcher Jon Garland. It took time, but Garland finally realized his potential in the 2005 season where he helped lead the club to the World Series title with 18 wins and an All-Star appearance. In seven years with the club starting in 2000, he won 92 games and had double-figure wins in six of those seasons. July 29, 2000 - With the Sox badly in need of pitching at the trade deadline due to injuries to starters Cal Eldred and James Baldwin, G.M. Ron Schueler (a former pitcher with the team in the 1970’s) went off in another direction acquiring catcher Charles Johnson and DH Harold Baines. It was Baines’ third stint with the Sox and while he and Johnson helped offensively, it did nothing to lighten the load on the pitching staff. That staff, even though they’d go on to win the division, suffered even more arm injuries to starters Jim Parque and Mike Sirotka and relief pitchers Bobby Howry and Kelly Wunsch. The Sox would pay for Schueler’s mistake the following season since the staff was decimated, many coming off surgeries. It should be noted however, in his defense, that some of the pitchers the Sox were rumored to be interested in like Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling, said they would not accept a trade to Chicago for various reasons.

And since the start of the 2007 season Sox fans can't even count on having a winning season anymore.

And given their reputation and on-field performance to get a very good free agent they'll probably have to overpay.

That's the way the White Sox roll...dumpster diving.

This isn't a secret, I mean I was told how bad things were last year for my story this past November. There is no leadership in this clubhouse, none. Chuck and McGuffy have been saying the same thing for weeks. There is (or was) talent on the roster but no cohesion and no depth.

Even this bunch will run into a win every now and again.

They'll rush Davis Martin back like with Crochet and Hendriks.

Kenny is semi retired spending most of his time in Arizona. His contract ends either this year or next and I've been told he has already told JR he is done after that. I have no idea where this talk started about Kenny taking over for Hahn but that's nonsense. At this stage in his life trying to fix this garbage is the very LAST thing he wants to do.

It's not my book I've written chapters for Dr. Fletcher's second book on the 1990 Sox and the construction of the new stadium. That comes out next summer. His first book, in which I was a consultant is called, "Chili Dog MVP, Dick Allen, the 1972 White Sox and a transforming Chicago." There will be a third book in the series dealing with the 1993/94 teams and the labor impasse which will come out after the second book is released. The chapters I wrote for the second book are the history of SportsVision and Hawk Harrelson's year as Director of Baseball Activities.

Well if they get rained out they can't lose can they?????

?

Winning does help but it's also clear there were some serious issues going on even then: “The problem with this team is there was no real leadership, nobody to hold guys accountable. No red-asses like the Sox had in the past… Carlton Fisk, Jack McDowell, A.J. Pierzynski. Paul Konerko was a quiet guy but when we weren’t doing well he’d get really pissed. Elvis Andrus tried to supply some leadership when he came and Lucas Giolito tried.” “I’d come into the locker room after a game and you couldn’t tell if they won or lost, just nothing.” “You’d go in the locker room and all the Latino guys would be in one place, the whites in another and the African-Americans someplace else.” “I had heard that groups were apart and not close but part of that could be human nature, language divisions for example. I know the Latin guys were always around Jose’s locker, Moncada was always there. The Sox locker room is a big square so guys aren’t close to start with, the Cubs locker room is circular. I don’t know if that was by design or what but that lends itself to guys getting together.” “The problem is some of these guys just don’t care, they want to win sure but they already have gotten their money with these contracts before they proved anything. Moncada would strike out and just walk back to the dugout like no big deal, he fouls a ball off and now he can’t play for three days? His contract makes him untradable but he needs to go.”

I'll help pack their bags so they both can get out of town quicker.

July 28, 1931 – The Sox set the franchise record for the most runs ever scored in the eighth inning of a game when they plated 11 runners home to beat the Yankees 14-12 at Yankee Stadium. The Sox trailed 12-3 before the offensive explosion. They had 12 hits in the inning and four of the runs were unearned. July 28, 1963 - Sox second baseman Nellie Fox banged out his 2,500th career hit, a single to center off the Orioles Dave McNally. It came in the sixth inning of the Sox 4-1 win in Baltimore. Fox would end his career with a total of 2,663 hits…2,470 of them came in a White Sox uniform. July 28, 1976 - John "Blue Moon" Odom and Francisco Barrios combined to throw a no-hitter against the A’s in Oakland. The Sox won it 2-1. It was one of the strangest no-hitters in history. Odom and Barrios combine to walk 11 Oakland hitters! Odom walked nine himself in only five innings. July 28, 1985 – He was a record setting pitcher who appeared in over a thousand games in his 21-year career. Hoyt Wilhelm mastered the most difficult pitch ever, the knuckleball and with it he wound up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, inducted on this date. Hoyt spent six years with the White Sox from 1963-68 becoming the dominant relief pitcher of the 1960’s. From 1964-68 with the White Sox, Wilhelm went 41-33 with 99 saves and a 1.92 ERA in 361 games – all coming after his 40th birthday. His nickname was “Old Tilt” because of the way his head looked releasing his signature pitch which was almost impossible to hit and for that matter catch! Just in his time with the White Sox Wilhelm was charged with 23 wild pitches that his catchers simply couldn’t handle because of the unusual break. July 28, 2009 – The Sox Mark Buehrle set the Major League record for most consecutive batters retired at 45 when he took a perfect game into the sixth inning at Minnesota. Mark was coming off his perfect game set the previous week when he blanked Tampa Bay in Chicago. It was Alexi Casilla who walked with two out in the sixth inning that broke the streak. The 45 straight batters broke the record first set by the Giants Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by Buehrle’s teammate Bobby Jenks in 2007.

This goes back decades, Joe Horlen was cut soon after the 1972 labor impasse ended along with most of the other player reps at the time. Joe told me all about it. Fortunately for him Charlie Finley could care less and signed him and he got a ring with the A's in 72.

When you've owned the team for over 40+ seasons I would certainly hope so.

The White Sox now and forever will be example #1 any team owner will ask his G.M. who wants to tank about. "Show me how this rebuild isn't going to turn out like what happened in Chicago..."

That was expected. After the Sox fought Giolito over 50,000 dollars and was willing to take him to arbitration (plus he was the union rep) you knew his days were numbered.

It is part of the reason though.

To each his own and I admire your loyalty. Me personally I don't care if the beer is cold, if the sun is shining or if there are a lot of pretty girls in the stands. Did the Sox win?, are they having a good season? That's the bottom line for me, the game itself is secondary. I like baseball...I love the White Sox...big difference.

On the latest Podcast that dropped today McGuffey again said that Hahn wanted to sign nine figure players for the clubhouse. Then he stopped and just let that remark hang there. He had previously said on Podcasts that the rebuild failed because the front office wasn't allowed to finish the job. No defending Hahn who should have been fired years ago but the blame just doesn't start and stop with him.

Hilarious note to the Podcast...Chuck read a text he received from a former White Sox player, he didn't name the player but read the text on-air, "This team is God awful. I thought this was their window?" ?

"It starts at the top and here we are, it starts at the top. And the reason it failed is from the top down. God damn it I'm so mad right now! Everyone deserves so much better. What a screw job this has been." -- Ryan McGuffey on the latest Sox Podcast.

The Sox will resign him as soon as JR decides to give out a nine figure deal. (Which isn't happening...)