Today in White Sox History: October 15
One title — and one step closer to another
1917
The White Sox won their second World Series title, beating the New York Giants four games to two. The score in the series clincher was also 4-2. Just two days after finishing the Game 5 win with two innings of relief, Red Faber threw a complete game six-hitter to secure the crown.
A hapless fourth inning for New York keyed the win, as Chicago scored three runs and would never trail in the game. Eddie Collins led off and got on via throwing error by third baseman Heinie Zimmerman, and Shoeless Joe Jackson followed with a fly ball that right fielder Dave Robertson dropped. With runners at the corners, Happy Felsch hit a comebacker to Giants hurler Rube Benton, catching Collins off of third base and in a pickle; however, Collins scampered home to score, as Zimmerman was unable to catch him — a play that became known as Zimmerman’s Chase. With Jackson and Felsch moving up to second and third, Chick Gandil tapped a single to right to score them, providing what would hold up as the winning margin.
All four White Sox runs in the game were unearned, as the Giants racked up three total errors in the decider.
Future Hall-of-Famer Collins hit .409 in the Series, with Faber (another future Hall-of-Famer) winning three games (and losing one!)
Afterwards, a young federal judge and White Sox fan — one Kenesaw Mountain Landis — sent a telegram congratulating the Sox for a job well done. The telegram read, “We did a fine job today ... we disposed of the Giants.” Landis would go on to become the first baseball commissioner, in the wake of the “Black Sox” scandal at the end of the decade.
1964
The White Sox made a minor but ultimately foolish deal, trading 19-year-old phenom Rudy May to the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Mike Heath and a player to be named later (starting pitcher Joel Gibson).
GM Ed Short had shrewdly stolen May from the Minnesota Twins in 1962’s first-year player draft, and the righthander responded with a 17-8 campaign with a 2.61 ERA pitching for Chicago’s Single-A and Triple-A affiliates. May was a bit wild, but struck out 235 batters in 207 innings, at a time when one K per inning was a superstar pitching rate.
The White Sox had a logjam of arms in the big leagues, but to think that May would not have helped out as soon as later 1965 was short-sighted, especially in light of the return.
Heath had a very good Triple-A season for Indianapolis in 1964, but played in just one game, with one at-bat, for the White Sox that year; he was shipped to Houston, where he hit .301 with the Astros in 1965 in the only regular MLB action of his career. Gibson was pretty awful in 40 games in the minors for the White Sox in 1965-66, probably battling arm injury, and never pitched after that.
May was a late bloomer, seeing 30 games with California (after another trade) in 1965 but not reaching the majors again until 1969. He piled up 20.6 pitching WAR in his career, with better-than-average seasons in 1971, 1974-75 and 1982 and an All-Star level WAR (4.9) with the Yankees in 1981, at age 35.
A 20.6 WAR with the White Sox would have placed May 21st all-time among White Sox pitchers, roughly the equivalent to John Danks.
2005
The White Sox continued their quest to become the first Chicago World Series winner of the century and first South Side champion since 1917, as Freddy García threw a complete game-win in Anaheim, 8-2. The White Sox moved to 3-1 in the ALCS and were now one win from the Fall Classic.
This contest was over early, as Paul Konerko blasted a three-run homer off of Ervin Santana in the first inning. It was PK’s second straight game with a home run in the first frame, and Konerko would go on to win the ALCS MVP award for such slugging.
García continued an anachronistic trend in this ALCS, spinning the third straight complete game for the White Sox, following Mark Buehrle in Game 2 and Jon Garland in Game 3.
2020
On the basis of the first White Sox winning season since 2012 and tremendous individual accomplishments, The Sporting News named White Sox GM Rick Hahn its Executive of the Year, and first baseman José Abreu the Player of the Year.
Hahn became the third Sox executive to win the award following Roland Hemond (1972) and Bill Veeck (1977). Hahn’s deals and restocking the farm system during the rebuild proved to be worthwhile, as the Sox turned the corner during the pandemic-shortened season with a mark of 35-25 and their first playoff appearance since 2008. He received six of the 18 first-place votes. San Diego’s A.J. Preller was second.
Abreu crushed baseballs from the first day of the shortened campaign, posting a .317 batting average with 19 home runs, 15 doubles and an American League-high 60 RBIs during the 60-game season, appearing in every game. He led the American League in hits (76), slugging percentage, total bases (148) and RBIs, and was second in home runs.
Abreu joined Frank Thomas (1993) and Early Wynn (1959) as White Sox players to win the award. Cleveland righthander Shane Bieber was second in the voting, with Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman finishing third.