This Day In Sox History 8/10...

Four factoids today;

August 10, 1959 - Sox infielders Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio appeared together on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The caption read, “Magic Up The Middle, Fox and Aparicio.”

August 10, 1990 - The odds had to be a million to one.

They were two of the smallest players in Major League baseball yet on this night in the second game of a double header at Comiskey Park, the impossible happened. In the second inning, the Sox Craig Grebeck and Ozzie Guillen hit back-to-back home runs off hard throwing Nolan Ryan. It was part of a four-run inning in a 5-1 win and a sweep of the two games. Making matters even more incredible was that both Grebeck and Guillen pulled their shots. Craig reaching the left field seats and Ozzie right field! It also was Grebeck’s first big-league home run.

August 10, 1993 - With his career fading, the Sox dealt their all-time saves leader, Bobby Thigpen to the Phillies for pitcher Jose DeLeon. Thigpen saved a then Major League record, 57 games in 1990 but was never the same afterwards posting lower and lower save numbers in the years after the mark was set. A back injury played into his performance and the issues surrounding it.

August 10, 2009 - In an aggressive move the White Sox claimed two-time All-Star Alex Ríos off of waivers from the Blue Jays. Rios was hitting .264 at the time, with 14 home runs, 62 RBIs but was also due 58.6 million through 2015.

Rios’ tenure with the White Sox was a mixed bag, playing poorly after being claimed in 2009, and in the ballyhooed 2011 “All-In” season but flashing the talent that got him claimed by G.M. Ken Williams in the first place in 2010 (3.3 WAR) and 2012 (4.8 WAR). Rios was off to a so-so start in 2013 before the White Sox dealt him to Texas for Leury García. The deal off-loaded more than 20 million the White Sox were on the hook for, but overall, doling Rios out 37.2 million to produce 7.0 WAR in his career on the South Side was a significant overpay.