Lip Man 1

February 15, 1917 - The White Sox, badly needing a competent first baseman, reacquired Arnold “Chick” Gandil from Cleveland for $3,500 dollars. Gandil would go on to become the ring leader of the infamous “Black Sox” scandal in 1919. In his last regular season game for the Sox, he’d go 3 for 4 in a loss to Detroit. In that tainted World Series, Gandil would hit .233 with a triple and five RBI’s. Perhaps sensing what was coming he retired after the World Series loss to the Reds. In 1910 he actually started his career with the White Sox playing 77 games but after only hitting .193 he was sold to Montreal of the Eastern League.

Given his misconduct for wont of a better word (red flags all over the place) and the way things are today vis a vis the public, never underestimate the pressure that's going to be put on MLB to do something given what is public knowledge. The guy may be innocent in this instance but again public pressure and his past issues (COVID, et al) may force their hand.

Here is southeast Idaho we are smack in the middle of a major snowstorm.

Remember fiscal responsibility and making sure JR "wins" any deal are more important than winning.

Excellent take on the new rules and what it is doing to the game itself: https://www.southsidesox.com/2023/2/14/23598790/mlb-rules-changes-against-endless-tweaking-keep-baseball-from-becoming-football

Use of position players as pitchers also was tightened by the committee. They will be limited to extra innings, when a player’s team is losing by eight or more runs or is winning by 10 or more runs in the ninth inning. Last year, a position player could pitch only in extra innings or if his team was losing or winning by six or more runs.

Merkin will do a story on how Moncada's dancing/videos has put him in better shape for this year.

Hate this garbage.

February 13, 1970 - Tragedy struck the White Sox as promising young pitcher Paul Edmondson and his girlfriend were killed in an accident on US-101 near Santa Barbara, California. On a rain slicked highway, Edmondson’s car skidded into on-coming traffic and was struck by another vehicle. In his Major League debut in Anaheim on June 20, 1969, Edmondson fired a complete game two-hitter beating California 9-1. It would be his only Major League win. He also had two hits, scored two runs and drove in a run in it. He would appear in 14 games that season starting 13 of them. In six contests he’d pitch at least seven innings giving up three runs or less.

I turn 68 in August, have been a fan around the time I was five so this marks my 63rd season. I can't recall the last time I was so unenthusiastic about a season. "World Series contender..." LOL Thanks JR, Kenny and Rick, the Three Stooges of baseball. The Sox hope to have a good season, hope is not a recipe for consistent success. It's baseball...anything can happen so maybe the baseball gods will smile on this tortured fan base.

Simple the owner doesn't like change nor hold people accountable.

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/joe-west-wikipedia-page-edits.html

Anything Merkin writes will be a fluff piece straight from the mouth of his friend Rick Hahn.

According to multiple sources from my State of the Sox story, they felt he should have been on the block this off season since he turns 30 and can't stay healthy.

The story is from February 2022 just to be clear, it's not recent.

Rick has a point the money HAS been spent. The problem is, it has been spent stupidly, foolishly and without a lot of thought because of an incompetent, dysfunctional and inept from office. ?

Its been part of the philosophy it seems which is arrogant most of the time. "We're smarter than you...how dare you question us!"

February 9, 1988 - Another one of the smaller moves completed by Sox G.M. Larry Himes that paid off in a major way. Himes shipped pitcher Jose DeLeon to the Cardinals for pitcher Ricky Horton and outfielder Lance “One Dog” Johnson. Johnson, would blossom into one of the better defensive center fielders in the American League, become a solid hitter and steal 226 bases in his eight years on the South Side. He led the American League in triples four straight seasons between 1991 and 1994. Johnson would have a 25-game hitting streak in 1992, batting .439 during that stretch and would also collect six hits in six at-bats in a game at Minnesota on September 23, 1995. Three of his six hits were triples. His most significant defensive play came as part of Wilson Alvarez’s no-hitter in Baltimore on August 11, 1991. In the eighth inning, Johnson sprinted to his left and dove full out catching a low line drive off the bat of Chris Hoiles to save it. He would sign a free agent contract with the Mets after the 1995 season.

Sox relief pitcher Scott "Rad-Man" Radinsky had the same illness and missed the entire 1994 season. The Sox brought in Paul Assenmacher and Dennis Cook to help cover up the shortcoming but of course that was when they were actually trying to win a World Series instead of paying "Lip service" (no pun intended) to championships and parades.

I've never seen a figure for season ticket holders, teams usually don't make that public.

They'll claim they have no more money to spend. ?

It was the collision with Harris in Cleveland on a short pop fly to right field that caused the initial injury.

My bad February 7.

February 7, 2005 - After one of the more acrimonious disputes in team history, four-time All-Star Magglio Ordonez signed a free agent deal with Detroit. Ordonez engaged Sox management in a war of words over how he was treated, the contract offered to him and his health status. Magglio’s agent, Scott Boras, refused to turn over medical information, which infuriated G.M. Kenny Williams and basically sealed Ordonez’s fate. Then manager Ozzie Guillen publicly called out Ordonez in no uncertain terms as well over the contract situation. Considering the severity of his knee injury, which required a secret trip to Austria for experimental surgery, it was hard to blame the Sox for their stance. Ordonez, who was almost traded to the Red Sox at the winter meetings in 2003 for Nomar Garciaparra, played with the team for six full seasons and parts of two others with 187 home runs and 702 RBI’s. In his full seasons he never hit less than .282 and in five of those years he was over .300.