1914
The White Sox their World Tour vs. the New York Giants to final rest with a banquet in the Gold Room of the Congress Hotel. Pitcher Joe Benz had to skip the celebration — he was getting married that day! Manager Nixey Callahan also had to book out west right after the celebration — White Sox spring training had started out in Paso Robles, Calif., on February 26.
Jim Margalus provided South Side Sox coverage of this night, and the entire tour, back in 2014.
1959 Months after exercising his right
to purchase a 54% (controlling) interest in the White Sox from Dorothy Comiskey, the courts cleared the sale and officially awarded the keys to Bill Veeck. Dorothy’s brother, Chuck, had held up the sale, taking his sister and Veeck to court over his supposed right of first refusal to purchase Dorothy’s shares. Chuck — who would eventually opt to remain on the payroll as an awkward “co-GM” with Greenberg — was said to have sped off in his Cadillac as Veeck arrived at the park for the first time, on this day, after purchase.
1963
Pete Rose made his career Spring Training debut in a game vs. the White Sox at Al Lopez Field in Tampa. Rose went 2-for-2 with a double in Cincinnati’s 1-0, 14-inning (!!) win. The second baseman entered the game in the ninth inning, doubled twice, and scored the only run of the game. He would end up the NL Rookie of the Year that season.
1983
George Kell, briefly a White Sox third baseman, was elected to the Hall of Fame via the Special Veterans Committee.
Kell had failed to reach even 37% in any of his 15 previous ballots for the Hall, and for good reason: He is one of the weaker players by WAR (37.6) in the Hall (50.0 is just about the basement for even the biggest of Big Hall fans).
By the time Kell was dealt to the White Sox during the 1954 season, his best days were past. In fact, Kell was essentially a replacement player (0.3) during that first season in Chicago, with his batting average falling short of .300 for the first time in eight seasons. A big part of his loss in value was the fact that the White Sox moved the ace third baseman to first base for half of his games that summer. However with a return to third base, Kell bounced back with a strong 1955, hitting .312 and putting up a 2.7 WAR. During the 1956 season, almost exactly two years to the date he was acquired, the White Sox shipped Kell to Baltimore, where he ended his career in 1957.
Longtime Dodgers manager Walter Alston was elected along with Kell.
1995
After two stints at White Sox Spring Training and a full season in Birmingham, Michael Jordan announced he was giving up baseball.
Part of the reason came as a result of his struggles with re-learning the game in his 30s. But the other, larger part (as he explained to author Bob Greene in the book Rebound, The Odyssey of Michael Jordan) was because he was being pressured by GM Ron Schueler to cross the MLBPA picket line.
With replacement games set to start during the lockout of major-leaguers, Jordan was told that if he didn’t cross the line, he’d be banished from the main clubhouse. Jordan was furious, saying that he was promised by owner Jerry Reinsdorf he wouldn’t be forced to do that.
Jordan explained that under no circumstances would he ever cross a labor picket line regardless of sport.
“I told them from the beginning that I didn’t want them to use me to make money in the Spring Training games,” Jordan told Greene. “We had an understanding. It was never supposed to even come up. I was disgusted that the promise wasn’t going to be honored.”
Jordan would return to the Bulls at the end of the 1994-95 season, and went on to win three more NBA championships (1996-98).
