Lip Man 1

Point of clarification. John Allyn was basically told by MLB (who badly wanted to settle the lawsuits imposed by King County and the city of Seattle) that his only options were either sell to Bill Veeck or take Seattle's offer. It should also be noted that had the Sox moved to Seattle, Charlie Finley, who had most of his business interest in Chicago, was immediately going to move the A's in. So the city was not going to be without a major league team for 1976.

In a story in Sports Illustrated he showed in detail how he used to cork his bats.

Ralph Garr played well for the Sox.

I have always believed and heard from sources that JR has complete, utter control of the team and day to day operations. In fact it is written into his contract that he has a free hand without having to consult the other owners. The other owners can offer opinions and disagree but have limited to no power to do anything about the operations of the club including selling it. JR does not need to gain their approval. I know a few years ago a group of other owners got together and tried to force a sale which was quickly killed by JR.

This and that: The Sox traded the cream of their minor league crop before the start of the 1960 season. They traded Johnny Callison (whom they tried to reacquire before the start of the 1962 season), Norm Cash, John "Honey" Romano, Don Mincher and Earl Battey They also traded pitcher Barry Latman. Every one of those guys made the All-Star team in the next few seasons. Veeck knew he needed to get power because the Yankees had just acquired a guy named Roger Maris. He originally wanted to get Orlando Cepeda and Bill White. Had a tentative deal with Giants for him that included Sherm Lollar but it fell apart. He then did what he could by getting Minoso, Gene Freese and Roy Sievers. Oddly enough those guys all performed well in 1960, but down years from the veteran regulars Fox, Aparicio, Landis and the drop in pitching from Early Wynn and Bob Shaw meant a third place finish. Along with this bizarre situation: August 28, 1960 - Of all the crazy games and things that have happened when the Sox played at Baltimore, this one topped the list. The Sox started the day 2 ½ games behind the Yankees and trailed the O’s 3-0 going into the eighth inning. With two out, Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox and Roy Sievers ripped consecutive singles, scoring a run and putting the tying runs on base. Manager Al Lopez called on Ted Kluszewski to pinch hit. “Big Klu” drilled the pitch from Milt Pappas into the right field stands for an apparent three run homer except for one small thing… Third base umpire Ed Hurley called time! Nobody remembered seeing him do it but he refused to change his call. Fox were ejected in the confrontation afterwards and Lopez played the game under protest. The next day Hurley was quoted in the newspapers as saying "I wish to heck I hadn’t called it, I’d gladly take it back...” End result was the Sox lost, and were now three games behind the Yankees. Kluszewski later recalled that this game was the one that broke the team’s spirit that season. Regarding Denny McLain...he wasn't traded: April 8, 1963 – On this date, one of the biggest ‘what if’s’ in franchise history took place. As per the rules at the time, the White Sox had to choose between two pitchers signed to ‘bonus baby’ contracts. The rules stated that only one player signed to a deal for over a certain amount of money could remain in the organization. The other would have to be waived. With that in mind rookies Bruce Howard and Denny McLain squared off in an intra-squad game to see who would be released and who got promoted to Double A Lynchburg. Howard won 2-1. McLain got his walking papers and was claimed by Detroit the following week. He’d go on to win 131 big league games including 31 in 1968. When I interviewed Milo Hamilton, he remembered this about McLain: MH: “Well the pitch-off was only part of the reason the Sox let him go. He was a cocky kid. His high school used to get tickets to Sox games and I can still remember him sitting by the dugout yelling “I can beat those guys.” He was hard to handle and his attitude was something that Al Lopez (Author’s Note: White Sox manager) and the organization just wasn’t going to put up with. In spring training he ran up a 700 hundred dollar phone bill talking to his girlfriend and he refused to pay it.” “Howard was a clean cut kid. Never gave anyone any trouble. Unfortunately he didn’t turn out to be much of a pitcher and in that respect you have to give McLain his due, he turned into a great pitcher. I mean he won 30 games one season.”

Actually the pitching on the teams 63-67 was insane. Four times out of five they led the league in ERA. As far as hitting they made a better offer to get Frank Robinson than the Orioles did but were turned down by the reds. They twice tried to get Yaz before his Triple Crown year in 67 and made a big attempt to get Hawk after he was made a free agent in August 67.

You're right. He was the guy the Sox assaulted in the "Memorial Day" massacre that season at Fenway Park. I actually have some Red Sox TV video of that game in the library.

This issue is of course like so many Sox so-called outfielders, that he may not actually be able to play the outfield competently and will become a defensive liability.

Before the start of the 71 season Roland and Chuck Tanner (since they worked together) had acquired Mike Andrews, Luis Alvarado, Jay Johnstone, Rick Reichardt, Tom Egan, Tom Bradley, Vicente Romo, Steve Kealy and Ed "the Creeper" Stroud. Almost a complete rebuild overnight. Then you add in the talent the Sox already had in Melton, May, Ed Herrmann, Wilbur Wood and Tommy John and that's how you go from 56 wins to 79.

On the postgame show last night Garfien was openly promoting the idea of the Sox signing him to play third and bat in the group with Jimenez and Jose'. Melton was a little skeptical because of his injury history.

He along with a number of other guys on the 40 man roster need to be sent as far away from the organization as possible.

That was his birth name but he went by Joe. Unfortunately Joe now is in a nursing home in San Antonio where because of Alzheimer's he doesn't remember much about his playing days.

You should ask the PA guy about that...I would.

And so was Joe Horlen, Gary Peters, Walt Williams, Carlos May, Wilbur Wood and ken Berry.

He'll be around but whether he can actually play is an entirely different matter. And his history says the odds are he'll get hurt again.

I'd agree except the umpires union has a lot of power, how else do you thinks stiffs like Joe West, C.V. Bucknor, Angel Hernandez keep their jobs?

The Bears have basically been a joke on and off the field since the end of the 1991 season. A good season here and there but basically Cincinnati Bengals bad over the course of 25 years. Nothing changed tonight and they had a golden opportunity to start writing a new script. Instead they fell flat on their faces.

Regarding Rodon probably not as long as Scott Boras is his agent.

The Dodgers of course because of a loaded farm system and an open checkbook haven't been impacted as much though because of those injuries. They have the resources and the will to buy their way out of those issues.

Did Hendricks or Kuechel have Scott Boras as their agent? This isn't hard to understand in my opinion. Boras takes his guys to FA. If Rodon pitches well he'll command a deal far beyond what this current ownership has ever done. Do you risk losing Rodon for absolutely nothing? Or do you trade him when you can still get something for him?? Now if new ownership is in place that changes the dynamic. Who knows what new ownership would be willing to do.

South: I can tell you from the Sox media guide that last year they were slightly above the major league average in times using the DL and a lot higher than league average in days missed to injury for what that may be worth to you. The second point means that the injuries they were getting weren't just bruises or ankle twists, they were of a more serious nature.

It's actually been longer than that although the past few seasons that has gone up dramatically for them according the Sox media guide.

The two main issues are worthwhile discussing since they seem to be impacting the rebuild: 1. Is the same front office that drove the franchise into the ditch it is now in capable of fixing the damage they did? 2. Given the past three seasons worth of injuries at the major and minor league level is there something that may be missing now from a training / conditioning standpoint? If you can't keep the guys you are counting on to anchor the rebuild healthy at all levels (including the major leagues) you have a serious issue. It is still to early to call the rebuild a success or a failure. The next two years, I think, will help determine that. If at the end of the 2020 season the Sox are still floating around the 60-65 win mark, then ownership (whomever that may be) is going to have to make a decision on the future of the front office and the direction this team needs to go in, in my opinion. I had hoped for some real improvement in the won/lost column in 2019, not contention, not a winning season but real improvement. I'm afraid now that doesn't seem like a real possibility.

A while. (Assuming Dunning and Hansen are actually healthy)

It's been cloudy for over a decade now with no end in sight apparently.