Tag: Chicago White Sox

Oct 6: Biggest baseball crowd

OCTOBER 6, 1959 | LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – The biggest crowd to watch a major league baseball game – 92,706 – packed the Los Angeles Coliseum on this date in 1959 for game 5 of the World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The mammoth Coliseum was the Dodgers’ home during their first few years in Southern California (after moving from Brooklyn in 1957) until Dodger Stadium was built in 1962. A high screen had to be erected in left field because the coliseum’s dimensions (more suited for football than baseball) made the fence so short.

Oh, by the way, White Sox starter Dick Donovan beat a young Sandy Koufax 1-0.

The second and third largest baseball crowds were the other two World Series games played in Los Angeles that year. The Dodgers went on to defeat the White Sox in 6 games. It was the Dodgers first World Series appearance since leaving Brooklyn after the 1957 season, and the first White Sox World Series since the 1919 Black Sox scandal 40 years earlier.

The biggest crowd to watch a major league game of any kind was set the spring of 2008, also at the LA Coliseum. The 50th anniversary of the Dodgers playing at the Coliseum brought 115,300 out to watch an exhibition between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox.

Contributing Sources
October 6, 1959 box score & play-by-play
Baseball-Almanac
MLB attendance records

Sep 22: Rumors of a fix

SEPTEMBER 22, 1920 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – By the fall of 1920 rumors that the Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series were rampant, but nobody was in trouble, until today. A prosecutor in Chicago heard enough grand jury testimony on this date in 1920 to say the 1919 World Series between the Sox and the Cincinnati Reds “was not played on the square.” Assistant State’s Attorney Hartley Replogle went on to say, “From five to seven players on the White Sox are involved.” Replogle wouldn’t say what the evidence was, but it later surfaced that nine “Black” Sox took money from gamblers in exchange for intentionally losing World Series games. Underdog Cincinnati went on to win the series 5 games to 3 (the series was best of nine in those days).

Eight White Sox players were indicted and put on trial in 1921:
Joe (Shoeless Joe) Jackson
Eddie Cicotte
George (Buck) Weaver
Fred McMullin
Charles Risberg
Oscar (Happy) Felsh
Arnold (Chick) Gandil
Claude Williams

Thanks to the “mysterious” disappearance of incriminating evidence against them, all were acquitted. Baseball’s first Commissioner, former federal judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, however, wanted to make a dramatic statement to rid the game of any hint of gambling so he banned the players for life. None ever played major league baseball again.

Over the years, supporters of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver tried to clear their names. Jackson admitted taking money but denied throwing any games.  Buck Weaver denied taking any money or letting up during the Series, but Judge Landis banned him for not speaking up about what he knew. Their names were never cleared.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
New York Times, September 23, 1920, Page 17, “Says 1919 World’s Series was fixed,”

The Shoeless Joe Jackson Society
Joe Jackson Grand Jury testimony

SEP 6: The AL race of ’67

SEPTEMBER 6, 1967 | CHICAGO, DETROIT, BOSTON, MINNEAPOLIS – Splitting the National and American Leagues into divisions in 1969 brought more teams into the postseason, but it pre-empted some great pennant races, one of those was the American League race of 1967.

The “Pennant” winner, do they even use that term anymore, used to be decided by regular season games.There were no division champions or wildcard teams. The only postseason was the World Series and only two teams made it. Every regular season game was crucial.

On this date in ’67 4 teams were tied for 1st place – not to get to the American League Divisional Series (ALDS) or American League Championship Series (ALCS) – to get to the World Series. This is what the American League standings looked like at the end of the day – September 6, 1967:

American League
—————–W–L– -Pct.–G.B.
Minnesota……78  61  .561    –
Chicago……….78  61  .561    –
Boston…………79  62  .560    –
Detroit…………79  62  .560   –
California……72   67 .518   6
Washington….66  74  471  12
Cleveland…….65  76  .461  14
Baltimore……..62 75  .453  15
New York……..62 78  .443  16
Kansas City…..57 82 .410  21

The Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers all went down to the last weekend of the season to decide the pennant. From August 19th on none of the four teams was ever more than 3 games out. Minnesota and Boston were still tied for the lead on the last day of the season and were playing each other. The Red Sox won 5-3. They went on to play St. Louis in the World Series.

If the original divisional alignment had been in play that year there would have been two 2-team races in the Eastern Division (Boston and Detroit) and the Western Division (Minnesota and Chicago). Four teams is a little more dramatic.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
1967 AL pennant race
Red Sox-Twins final game of the season

July 6th in Baseball history: Dick Allen’s mammoth home-run

JULY 6, 1974 | DETROIT, MICHIGAN – Chicago White Sox slugger Dick Allen hit a mammoth home-run, one of the longest ever hit in Tiger Stadium, on this date in 1974. Allen was facing the Detroit Tigers’ Dave Lemanczyk in the 5th inning when he crushed a fly ball that struck the façade of the roof in left-center field at Tiger Stadium. Players and fans who witnessed the shot said it was still rising when it hit the roof, not likely, but still estimated to have traveled over 500 feet. The façade was 415 from home plate, 85 feet in the air.

He was known as Richie Allen when he came up with Philadelphia Phillies in 1964. He came out of the gate strong, winning National League Rookie of the Year honors.

His personality would prove to be as impactful as his bat. He had his share of verbal and physical altercations and suspensions. His relationship with sportswriters was contentious. He made life interesting for his managers, which is probably why he was traded five times in 15 years.

His bat matched his personality. Besides Rookie of the Year, he was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1972. Allen twice led the American league in home runs. He finished a 15-year career with a .292 average, 351 home runs, 1,199 runs batted in and 1,099 runs scored.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
July 6, 1974 box score/play-by-play 

MAY 21-QUICKEST AL NIGHT GAME

MAY 21, 1943 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – How about an hour and 29-minute major league baseball game? That’s all it took the Chicago White Sox to beat the Washington Senators (today’s Minnesota Twins) on this date in 1943. The 1-0 Chicago victory was the quickest night game in American League history. Sox starter Johnny Humphries beat Senator starter Dutch Leonard.

The National League has the American League beat in the quickest night game category, however. About a year after the above referenced Senators/Sox game, the Boston Braves (today’s Atlanta Braves) beat the Cincinnati Reds 2 to 0 in an hour and fifteen minutes in Cincinnati. And these are just night games.

The times for the quickest day games are startling: 51 minutes in the National League (NY Giants-Philadelphia Phillies September 26, 1919) and 55 minutes in the American (St. Louis Browns-NY Yankees, September 26, 1926).

It’s remarkable that a game could be played in less than an hour and a half. What’s even more amazing is that 13 of the first 26 games the St. Louis Browns (today’s Baltimore Orioles) played in 1943 took less than 2 hours. Only one took more than 3.

The same was pretty much true for the White Sox. By their 26th game, 13 had been under 2 hours. None took more than 3 hours.

There are probably several reasons games are longer now, one is relief pitchers – there are more of them, and complete games by starters – there are fewer of them. In 1943 Chicago White Sox starters completed 70 games. In 2005, the last time the Sox won a World Series, their starters completed a total of 9 games.

Television commercial breaks add to the length of games. But you cannot ignore the fact that pitchers and hitters do a whole lot of nothing between pitches. Unless there are rule changes, such as implementation of a pitch-clock, the record for the quickest night game in American League history will not be broken.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
May 21, 1943 
BASEBALL ALMANAC – Game length records
“Why Baseball Needs a Pitch Clock.”