Today in White Sox History: September 1
The Big Hurt sets a homer mark
1970
With the White Sox approaching the end of their worst season in franchise history, GM Ed Short was fired after nine years on the job. Short made brilliant offseason deals in 1963 and 1964 to net the club players like Hoyt Wilhelm, Pete Ward, Tommy John and Tommie Agee, but starting in 1968 his moves backfired and lost the club players like Agee, Tommy McCraw, Don Buford and Bob Locker without getting anything substantial in return.
Short had started his White Sox career in 1950, when he was hired to serve as publicity director and then later as traveling secretary. In an almost equally-strange move as promoting your PR man/traveling secretary as GM, the White Sox named as Short’s replacement Stu Holcomb, at the time the GM of the Chicago Mustangs NASL soccer club and previously a basketball and football coach.
Sox owner John Allyn, who bought the team from his brother the year before, also fired field manager Don Gutteridge, scouts and other front-office personnel in a massive house cleaning.
1980
Ed Farmer and Tigers outfielder Al Cowens put their feud to rest before a 11-3 White Sox win at Tiger Stadium. In 1979, Farmer broke Cowens’ jaw with a pitch, and on June 20, 1980, Cowens attacked Farmer on the mound instead of running to first base on a grounder (an attack that permanently debilitated Farmer, who had a genetic kidney condition). Cowens had been suspended for seven games for that attack, while Illinois issued an arrest warrant that prevented Cowens from playing an August series in Chicago.
Farmer said he would drop the charges against Cowens in exchange for a handshake, and thus the two players exchanged lineup cards at home plate and shook hands before the game.
1993
Frank Thomas hit his 38th home run, breaking the team mark shared by Dick Allen (1972) and Carlton Fisk (1985). Scroll down to see how long his record lasted, however.
Also on this day, the White Sox traded reliever Donn Pall to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named later, who in a week’s time was announced as catcher Doug Lindsey. For lifelong Sox fan Pall, being dealt from a sure playoff club and being denied the chance to contribute to a White Sox postseason was “the worst day of my career, I was crushed.” And infamously, a month later it was he along with Fisk who were denied entry into the clubhouse in before Game 1 of the ALCS to wish his teammates good luck, a moment that created permanent bad blood between the club and the catcher.
1998
Albert Belle hit his 42nd home run of the season in the same game he got his 337th total base of the season. Both milestones set franchise records, in Chicago’s 9-5 win at Baltimore. Belle ended the year with 49 home runs, 152 RBIs, a .328 batting average, 42 doubles, 200 hits and 399 total bases. Later he’d say, with some truth, that he had a better year than the much-publicized duo of Mark McGwire and former Sox outfielder Sammy Sosa.
2008
It wasn’t the only time Carlos Quentin would have his temper bite him in the hiney, but it cost both him and the White Sox most dearly in this game, when after fouling off a pitch during his last at-bat, the slugger slapped his bat barrel in frustration.
Quentin ended up nicking his wrist, fracturing it. He opted for surgery to insert a screw into the wrist a few days later, in hopes for returning before season’s end and finishing off what was shaping up to be an MVP year. However, he did not heal quickly and failed to see any action in the remaining regular season or playoffs.
Quentin ended his season with 36 home runs and 100 RBIs in just 130 games, finishing with 5.3 WAR. He finished fifth in MVP voting despite missing all of September, and with Red Sox and Twins players splitting the top four spots, it’s very likely Quentin could have risen to the top of the voting and taken home the 2008 hardware.
The 2008 season would be the high point of Quentin’s career. He was traded from the White Sox in 2011.