Today in White Sox History: March 5
A DH in 1967? Possibly ...
1967
In what is believed to be a first, the White Sox get permission to use an experimental “partial” designated hitter in their home Spring Training games. This primitive DH rule allowed a player to pinch-hit twice in the same game (rather than just once), provided both teams agree to the rule before the game.
It is not known whether the White Sox every employed this experimental DH in a game.
1996
It is yet another Hall of Fame near-miss for Nellie Fox.
Eleven years after his controversial denial for HOF admission — Fox earned 74.7% of the 1985 balloting but was two votes shy of the 75% threshold and was not rounded up for entry — a similar boondoggle occurs.
This time, Fox earned 75% of the votes from a Veterans Committee who agreed on five players to be added to the 1996 HOF class; however, just one “modern” era player could be elected, and Jim Bunning polled better than Fox.
For a second time, Fox was “elected” to the Hall of Fame — and denied. The wrong would be righted in 1997.
2020
Coming off of a 25-homer, 5.2-WAR season, Yoán Moncada signs a five-year, $70 million contract extension. The deal follows extensions given to Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert Jr., who got theirs without ever having played a game in the majors. Moncada’s situation better resembles that of Cuban countryman Robert, in that both were signed to enormous bonuses to leave Cuba, in Moncada’s case $31.5 million.
Moncada struggled to meet his 2019 greatness in 2020, contracting COVID at the start of Summer Camp and battling fatigue over the 60-game season. He bounced back for a 4.0 WAR season in 2021, but slumped to a .212 average in just 104 games in 2022, putting his promising career at a crossroads.