This Day In Sox History 3/18...

March 18, 1964 - The Sox purchased the contract of veteran pitcher Don Mossi from the Tigers for 20,000 thousand dollars.

Mossi would have a spectacular season for the club that lost the pennant by one game, going 3-1 with seven saves. He had an ERA of 2.92. In 40 innings he struck out 36 and only allowed seven walks.  

He’d team up with Hoyt Wilhelm and Eddie Fisher to give the club the best bullpen in the league. At the end of the year though he was released.

March 18, 1981 - Carlton Fisk signed a free agent deal with the White Sox beginning the process of turning a laughable organization into a real, legitimate Major League franchise.

The All-Star catcher and future Hall-of-Famer got his free agency after the Red Sox did not tender him a contract by the required date. Immediately Sox co-owner Eddie Einhorn and G.M. Roland Hemond jumped at the chance to get a player of Fisk’s caliber on to the team.

Fisk would play 13 years on the South Side, make four All-Star teams as a member of the White Sox, and have his number #72 retired in 1997. When he retired, he also held the team record for most home runs in a White Sox uniform as well as most home runs in MLB history hit by a catcher.

His two best seasons were in 1983 when he rebounded from a very slow start to hit .289 with 26 home runs and 89 RBI’s for the Western Division champions, finishing third in the M.V.P. voting and 1985, his career season. That year Fisk hit only .238 but blasted 37 home runs with 107 RBI’s.

March 18, 2016 - The ongoing embarrassment that surrounded the retirement of Adam LaRoche ended, at least officially, with the player explaining his side of the story.

Just hours earlier, Chris Sale had kicked off what would be an utterly bizarre year for him by speaking out in support of LaRoche and against his own G.M., Ken Williams. Outfielder Adam Eaton would do the same.

The crux of the story came down to LaRoche claiming that, contrary to what was promised when he signed with the White Sox, his son Drake recently had been completely banned from spring training.  Williams proffered that he’d spoken to Adam about lessening Drake’s constant presence with the team (as prompted by players like Jimmy Rollins, who talked to the G.M. about this strange, unprofessional and intrusive arrangement), and then lost his cool, when after that, he saw Drake on the pitcher’s mound during infield practice and issued a complete ban. The entire situation made the organization look inept and dysfunctional.