January 24, 200818 yr THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: JANUARY 24TH For more, see www.whitesoxalmanac.com COLLINS: THE SOX FIRST HALL OF FAMER 1939: Eddie Collins became the first White Sox player voted into the Hall of Fame when he was named on 77.74 percent of the ballots submitted by the Baseball Writers Association of America. In his fourth year on the ballot, Collins exceeded the needed 75 percent for election in finishing second behind George Sisler, who received 85.77 percent of the vote. “Wee” Willie Keeler also received enough votes for induction. He took third at 75.55 percent. Collins, a second baseman, played for the White Sox from 1915 to 1925, amassing a .331 average. Collins ranks among the Sox career leaders in every major statistical category except home runs and slugging percentage. He still ranks second in franchise history with a .426 on-base percentage, third with 1,608 singles and fourth with 2,007 hits. WHAT A DEAL! 2003: The White Sox bagged one of their better bargains when they signed free agent pitcher Esteban Loaiza. Along with the contract, the right-hander was given a non-roster invitation to spring training. Loaiza beat out Gil Heredia among others for the fifth spot in the rotation in becoming the first non-roster invitee to make the club out of spring training since Danny Darwin in 1997. The native of Tijuana went on to have one of the great seasons ever by a White Sox starting pitcher. Using a refined cut fastball, Loaiza went 21-9 with a 2.90 ERA and a league-leading 207 strikeouts. His renaissance season included a record-tying number of victories for Mexican natives and the starting assignment for the American League in the All-Star Game at US Cellular Field. For his efforts, Loaiza finished second to Toronto’s Roy Halladay in the A.L. Cy Young voting. The following July, the Sox dealt Loaiza to the Yankees for pitcher Jose Contreras in a deal that would pay huge dividends for the franchise in 2005.
January 25, 200818 yr Has there ever been a better set of players moves than Esteban Loiaza? They got his near Cy Young season for $500,000. Then they traded him for a guy that won 15 games in a row, and powered them to a World Series title. Plus how could you not love his Soxfest shirts?
January 25, 200818 yr QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 25, 2008 -> 07:49 AM) Has there ever been a better set of players moves than Esteban Loiaza? They got his near Cy Young season for $500,000. Then they traded him for a guy that won 15 games in a row, and powered them to a World Series title. Plus how could you not love his Soxfest shirts? SHHHHHHHH... that would imply that Kenny Williams did something right.
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