1926
The White Sox traded one future Hall-of-Famer player-manager for another.
Second baseman-manager Eddie Collins was released (as player, and manager), with catcher Ray Schalk taking over as manager as well. Indicating there was somehow some bad blood (or, at least, awkwardness) between owner Charles Comiskey and Collins, superstar was let go without even a phone call of warning.
Collins had guided the team to an 81-72 record in 1926 … and chipped in with a .344 batting average and 4.3 WAR! However,
Collins proved a poor manager, recording -4.7 managerial WAR (mWAR) that season, after a -3.1 mWAR in 1925.
Still, Collins caught on as a player-coach with his old club, the Philadelphia A’s and put up one final, outstanding season in 1927, hitting .336 with a 2.3 WAR.
Schalk played in just 18 games in Chicago over two seasons as a player-manager, guiding the club to a 102-125 record over one-plus seasons at the helm. He ended up an even worse manager than Collins, recording -5.8 mWAR in his lone full season managing Chicago.
All three of Collins’ seasons managing the White Sox were winning ones, and he finished with a career record of 174-160.
1964
Future White Sox closer Roberto Hernández was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico.
Hernández was acquired in a minor deal with the Angels in 1989, and two years later was pitching for the South Siders. After getting shelling in the second two of three starts made in 1989, Hernández moved to the pen and with the fast demise of closer Bobby Thigpen, became the White Sox closer for good in mid-August.
He would throw 345 games for the White Sox all told, with his final full season on the South Side, 1996, his greatest: 4.1 WAR and a sixth-place finish in Cy Young voting. The next year, Hernández was part of the “White Flag Trade” made with the San Francisco Giants.
He left Chicago with 161 saves, then second-most in club history behind Thigpen, and still third all-time.
1981
The White Sox hired Charley Lau as batting coach, giving him an unprecedented six-year contract. The contract was warranted given his popular hitting approach, best manifested in the success of Kansas City’s George Brett and encapsulated in Lau’s book, The Art of Hitting .300.
Lau only lived through the first two years of his White Sox deal, as he was stricken with colon cancer and died before the 1984 season, at the age of 50. Since his death, Lau’s No. 6 has been unofficially retired by the White Sox, used only by Lau disciple Walt Hriniak during his coaching tenure in Chicago.
1998
White Sox GM Ron Schueler swapped promising center fielder Mike Cameron to the Reds for infielder Paul Konerko.
Konerko would eventually blossom into a consistent, power-hitting first baseman, finishing his career with 432 home runs and 1,383 RBIs. He was a six-time All-Star, a World Series champion, the 2005 ALCS MVP and 2002 Comeback Player of the Year.
2005
They never made it on the cover of Sports Illustrated for winning the World Series, but the Sox did make the cover of The Sporting News for the accomplishment.
The caption was short and to the point: “Sweep!”
2010
Alexei Ramírez was awarded his first Silver Slugger, the only White Sox player so honored in 2010. For Ramírez, the 2010 season was his breakout star turn, his best-ever season in the majors, so the award was duly earned. The shortstop added a second Silver Slugger to his trophy cabinet in 2014 — but two years later he was out of baseball.
