1995
Spring Training got underway with a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals, in 10 innings. But there was something different about this opener. Perhaps it was the fact it was a game played with scabs “replacement players,” on both sides.
With a lockout in full force after a failed offseason of labor negotiations, the major news of the day being Michael Jordan leaving White Sox camp after being told he would have to cross the picket line in order to continue his quest to play for the White Sox one day. On the field, ex-MLBer Oil Can Boyd started the game, backed mostly by a host of unknowns, in front of 1,504 fans.
1998
It’s a belated but banner day for White Sox icons, as Larry Doby and George Davis are among four players selected for Hall of Fame enshrinement by the Veterans Committee.
Doby was better known for his play in Cleveland and the Newark Eagles, but provided 6.7 WAR in just 280 games for the White Sox over three seasons toward the end of his career. On the whole, Doby very broadly provided similar value as his career contemporary in the AL and Negro Leagues, Minnie Miñoso.
As a favorite of White Sox (and Cleveland) owner Bill Veeck, Doby also made history in 1978, when Veeck elevated the coach from staff to manager, replacing Bob Lemon at midseason. Doby became just the second Black manager in MLB history.
In a coincidence of timing, Doby’s honor came 39 years to the day he was traded from Cleveland to Detroit for Tito Francona. Later that season, Doby was flipped to the White Sox for the second time, and finished out his MLB playing days on the AL pennant-winners.
Davis was an even better player than Doby, starring in the 1890s-1900s as a shortstop for the New York Giants and White Sox. His 84.5 WAR qualifies him as 53rd-best player in baseball history, and the fifth-best shortstop. With the White Sox, Davis put up 33.1 WAR in just seven seasons, placing him ninth all-time among club hitters and the third-best shortstop. Before he moved to Chicago to play full-time, “Gorgeous George” was the subject of an intense fight between the White Sox and Giants, as Davis bolted New York in 1902 to sign with the upstart league at double the salary — then had misgivings and tried to return to the Giants.
Davis, by then 35 and a legend, was a platoon shortstop on Chicago’s first World Series winner, with an OPS of .846 and six RBIs in just three contests in 1906.
And also on this day, former White Sox and Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. The tumor was discovered when Brickhouse was getting dressed to attend colleague Harry Caray’s funeral. Brickhouse would die five months later.
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