Lip Man 1

Yankees actually had the best record in the A.L. at 70-43 but the Sox were right up there at 67-46.

Well he was willing to neuter his own teams chances to get to a World Series in 1994 trying to get a salary cap, which the MLBPA will never agree to. The Sox were actual, real serious contenders then. He also was one of two owners (Marge Schott) was the other to vote against the settlement. I don't think his philosophy has changed regarding a cap and thinking players make to much money but we'll see. Frankly I wouldn't hold my breath that he will.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/28/chicago-white-sox-cubs-jerry-reinsdorf-tom-ricketts-trade-deadline/ "If Reinsdorf still believes he has “an obligation to do what’s right for the fans,” he has no choice but to add a frontline starter, no matter the cost. They’re not getting any younger either."

Well stated, it's a potential dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situation.

Five factoids today: 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 an American League record, 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. This game turned out to be Odom's last big league win. 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.

He's one of the six owners on the committee advising Manfred on the labor situation. I suspect he wants his salary cap before he rides off into the sun set. You know that is a non-starter with the MLBPA so you could be right.

Certainly the Friday game you think with Martin pitching they can put it in the win column. Not so much tonight, a 3-0 lead in the first inning against these guys isn't comfortable by any means.

I didn't realize Quero has six errors already.

I didn't think they had much of a chance at winning tonight but when they took the early lead I started to think, 'well maybe...' Just a bad game, three errors, bullpen didn't have it and Schultz has got to be sent down. Getz has got to get starting pitching help. This is a killer stretch, they've started it 1-3 and they have to get some help. Just not a good night.

Jack Brickhouse told the story of Appling asking for a dozen baseballs so he could send to Georgia (where he was from) to be used in a charity auction and the Sox refused his request. Appling sent word to Sox G.M. Harry Grabiner that he needed to attend batting practice that day. Brickhouse said Appling fouled off a dozen or so balls in a row into the seats where fans were watching batting practice and Grabiner said, "OK Luke...you got the balls!" 😄

It was covered a lot and I've interviewed Hemond, Bahnsen and Andrews about the circumstances, neither had much good to say about him. Holcomb actually wasn't hired by John Allyn to help run the Sox, he was hired to run Allyn's professional soccer team the Mustangs. When that team went belly up, he was still under contract and Allyn didn't want to pay him to do nothing I guess, so he moved him over to the White Sox. About the only good thing Holcomb did was hire Nancy Faust. I had never heard of a team before or since deliberately releasing players outright when they refused a team's initial contract offer. Pure insanity.

Tonight could determine if Schultz is going to stay on the big league roster. Important game for the kid.

I agree. They have put him in a tough spot trying to learn on the job at the highest level in the middle of a divisional race. But part of that is because of the situation the Sox put themselves in and were a victim of, namely a lack of quality, healthy pitching at a lot of levels and in roster acquisition.

Interesting you feel that way. I just don't see how you can do business when you don't know what the ground rules and requirements and boundaries are going to be until the next CBA is settled. The owners are for now, making demands that would fundamentally alter how player deals are done (i.e. salary cap, length of contracts et al). Unless it is agreed to upon a settlement that any deals done would be grandfather in as exceptions before the new CBA signing, I can't see anybody taking that risk. We'll see. That's if a season is even played.

Never met the man in my life.

EIGHT factoids today: July 27, 1951 - The Sox trailed the Yankees 3-2 at Yankee Stadium when the game was delayed 25 minutes by rain. When play resumed, the Sox scored twice more to lead 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning. Yankee manager Casey Stengel and his players began stalling hoping for more rain. In fact, Yankee infielder Gil McDougald was ejected by umpire Bill McGowan because of those tactics. After a delay of slightly over an hour the game was called and reverted back to a 3-1 New York win. Both teams protested the game in the ninth inning; the Yankees because of McDougald's ejection and the White Sox claimed that the field was not covered quickly enough at the start of last delay; in essence the Yankee grounds crew was also stalling. On August 29, American League President Will Harridge announced that the Chicago protest was disallowed and he criticized manager Paul Richards for negative remarks about the Yankees, the umpires and the league office. It was umpire Hank Soar in charge of the game that day who made the final decision to call the contest. July 27, 1964 – He was the first of the great White Sox shortstops playing his entire 20-year career on the South Side and on this day Luke Appling was inducted into the Hall of Fame receiving 80 per cent of the vote. Appling made four All-Star teams with four hits in nine at-bats, won batting titles in 1936 and 1943 and in 1936 drove in 128 RBI’s, twice he also had over 100 walks in a season. He finished with 2,749 hits, 1,116 RBI’s and a lifetime batting average of .310. July 27, 1964 – The same day Sox shortstop Luke Appling entered the Hall of Fame former Sox pitcher Urban “Red” Faber also gained admission. Faber spent his entire 20-year career with the White Sox winning 254 games with a career ERA of 3.15. He also won three games for the Sox in the 1917 World Series triumph over the New York Giants. In 14 of those 20 seasons he won in double figures with four of those years topping the 20-win mark. He also threw 4,086 innings! July 27, 1973 - Sox vice president Stu Holcomb retired under pressure after his hardline approach on salaries destroyed the 1973 White Sox. When players wouldn’t come to terms with his initial offer, Holcomb ordered, then player personnel director Roland Hemond, to release them. Not try to compromise with them or try to trade them to get something back... but release them. The Sox gave away Jay Johnstone, Ed Spiezio, Mike Andrews and Rick Reichardt. When Holcomb ordered Hemond to release 21-game winner Stan Bahnsen, Hemond and manager Chuck Tanner went to owner John Allyn. Hemond and Tanner threatened to quit if something wasn’t done. Allyn sided with the duo and Holcomb was history bringing some stability to the front office although the damage was already done. When the Sox suffered injury after injury that year, using the disabled list 38 times, there was little depth to try to fill the gaping holes. They’d end the season in fifth place at 77-85 after leading the division in late May. July 27, 2008 – It all began with the White Sox in 1972 and it ended on this day as Rich “Goose” Gossage was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Gossage was 20 years old when he started his career with the Sox going 7-1 in his rookie season. He was mentored by then manager Chuck Tanner and pitching coach Johnny Sain, who taught him a breaking ball and changeup. Sox first baseman Dick Allen taught him how a hitter thinks and how to set them up and by 1975 Gossage was the A.L. Fireman of the Year with 26 saves, nine wins and an ERA of 1.84. He’d pitch for 22 years, five with the White Sox and end up with 324 saves and 124 wins. He had 30 saves and 29 wins in his time on the South Side. July 27, 2014 - He is one of only two skippers to work over five thousand games in American professional sports history and he started at a very young age with the White Sox in August 1979. Tony LaRussa was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on this day. LaRussa is also one of only a handful of managers with a law degree. He led the White Sox from that August 1979 day through June 1986 recording four winning seasons and the 1983 Western Division title. After leading the A’s and Cardinals to multiple World Series crowns he came back out of retirement to take over the White Sox in 2021, again winning a division title with 93 victories before things went south in 2022 in part because of health issues. July 27, 2014 - Former White Sox star Frank Thomas, the “Big Hurt” was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Thomas played 16 years with the Sox and holds every major hitting record in team history. He was the American League M.V.P. in back-to-back years, 1993 and 1994 and finished in the top ten in that voting nine other times. He was the Comeback Player of the Year in 2000 and helped the Sox on their way to winning the 2005 World Series before getting injured in mid-season. He received almost 84 per cent of the vote becoming the first White Sox player ever inducted on the first ballot. And he did it cleanly, never being accused at any time of enhancing his performance with steroids. July 27, 2025 – He twice missed induction into the Hall of Fame by a single vote but finally on this day Dick Allen was inducted into the Hall after receiving enough votes for inclusion by a select committee that voted in January. Allen played for the White Sox from 1972-1974 and was credited for saving the franchise in the words of then Player Personal Director/General Manager Roland Hemond. He was the A.L. M.V.P. in 1972, a three-time All-Star representing the White Sox and twice led the league in home runs. His long home runs and star power brought fans back to Comiskey Park in droves after the lean years of the late sixties/1970. He was one of only two Sox players to have homered into the center field bleachers below the scoreboard and hit a ball over the roof. Allen also was a mentor to the young players including Rich “Goose” Gossage a future Hall of Famer himself, who credited Allen with showing him how to become a big leaguer when he joined the team in 1972. Allen passed away on December 7, 2020.

Boras' job is to get his client the most money possible by any means necessary. Not to please the team, its owners, front office or fan base.

The Dodgers are making money hand over fist just based on their three Japanese signings. The same thing would work for the Sox.

27 more wins for a winning season.

Given the schedules the next 10 days I'm more worried about Detroit.

I'm guessing Hays is coming up.

You don't see that happen very often although it did happen once with the Sox: August 15, 1996 - White Sox first round draft pick Bobby Seay was declared a free agent because the team failed to offer a formal contract within 15 days of the draft. He was reportedly asking for a two million dollar signing bonus which would have been a record for the time and refused to negotiate with Sox G.M. Ron Schueler when he flew down to see him in Florida telling him to talk with his agent Scott Boras. The southpaw became the first player in the 32 years of the draft to become a free agent in the same summer he was selected. Seay signed with Tampa Bay in November for around three million dollars and made his MLB debut six years later.

😄 Saw a blurb where supposedly they sold 15-hundred of them today.

Of course this move may be predicated on acquiring starting pitching in the next 10 days. Can't have just three guys and two openers every five days.

I think everybody would gladly take five wins in the next 10.