This Day In Sox History 8/8...

Six factoids today:

August 8, 1914 - The Sox purchased the contract of outfielder Oscar “Happy” Felsch from Milwaukee for 19 thousand dollars.  

Felsch, an outstanding glove man and hitter, would become part of history by his participation in the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal which ended his career when he was banned for life due to his involvement in it.  

August 8, 1976 - With the Sox in last place and going nowhere owner Bill Veeck pulled out another wacky promotion. For the first time a Major League team played a game wearing shorts as the Sox beat the Royals 5-2 at Comiskey Park in the first game of a double header. The Sox would wear shorts two other times, both against the Orioles on August 21 and 22.

The Sox record in the three games was 2-1; maybe they should have worn them more often since they finished the season with 97 losses! No other big-league team has worn them since.

August 8, 1977 – He was arguably the best manager in the history of the franchise.

Al Lopez took his place in the Hall of Fame on this day.

Lopez managed the Sox from 1957 to 1965 coming over after the Indians fired him. He also managed in parts of the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

Lopez compiled 840 wins and a win percentage of .564. He won the 1959 A.L. pennant, had three consecutive seasons from 1963 to 1965 where the Sox averaged 96 wins and had five second place finishes. 

He worked a game through his assistant coaches and emphasized fundamentals and if a player didn’t perform… he didn’t play… period.

August 8, 1994 - With time running out for labor peace, Sports Illustrated put Frank Thomas on the cover along with future Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. The caption stated, “Top Guns. Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. Two powerful reasons to keep playing ball.” Their plea would fall on deaf ears as the following week, baseball shut down ending the season.  

August 8, 2021 – The White Sox put on a show for a national TV audience on ABC Sunday Night Baseball by pounding the Cubs 9-3 and sweeping the weekend series at Wrigley Field. The game marked the first regular season baseball broadcast by that network since August 1995. The Sox jumped out early hammering three first inning home runs by Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Vaughn. It was the first time the Sox hit three first inning home runs on the road in franchise history. Jimenez would go 3 for 4 with two runs scored, five RBI’s and a pair of home runs against his old organization.

August 8, 2024 – Coming off a stretch of 22 losses in 23 games and on pace for the worst season ever in franchise history the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol after less than two seasons in charge.

His overall record of 89-190 is the worst in White Sox history.

Coming from the Royals organization Grifol talked big from the start about being prepared to “kick ass” every night and play sound fundamental baseball.

His teams did neither and his strange on-field decisions left Sox fans scratching their heads quite often.

It was clear he was in over his head as a manager. The Sox announced they would begin looking for his replacement but that individual would not be named until after the season.