For the second part of this post we get the checklist card
with quite a bunch of formal signatures. The whole starting line-up is
represented here and between Wilbur Wood and Stan Bahnsen alone, 90 starts,
which I find pretty amazing. Now let’s take a look at the pitching record
holders.
Contrary to many of the Sox’ offensive leaders, Ed Walsh
was a big guy, going about 6’1” and 200 pounds. He was born in rural PA and
like lots of other kids back then was working by the time he was a teenager. In
factory ball he was an outfielder/pitcher and somehow when he was 18 he
enrolled at Fordham although he only lasted there about a week. He returned to
play company ball in 1901 and then signed with Meriden, a D league team, in ’02. After going
16-5 in just 22 starts he would go 9-5 in A ball in ’03 and apparently play for
other teams in between. After that ’03 season he would be drafted by the ChiSox
in the Rule 5 draft and debut for them the next year. Armed with his fastball
and curve Ed went a combined 14-6 in ’04 and ’05 as he split time between the
rotation and the pen. He would continue that dual role but prior to the ’06
season learn a new pitch: a spitball. After 17 wins in ’06 and 24 with an
AL-leading 1.60 ERA in ’07, Ed would explode in ’08, going 40-15-1 with a 1.42
ERA in 49 starts. He also led the AL
in shutouts (11), complete games (42), innings (464!), strikeouts (269), and
saves (6). In ’09 he got hurt and only won 15 and then in ’10 he went 18-20
while winning another ERA title with a 1.27. He then put up successive 27-win
seasons the next two years while both times leading the AL in innings, games, and saves. But then
his arm began to break down from all that work and he would go only 13-8 the
next five seasons, his final one – ’17 – spent with the Boston Braves. When he
was done Ed had a record of 195-126 with a record 1.82 ERA with 250 complete
games in 315 starts, 57 shutouts, and 35 saves. In his only Series in ’06 he
went 2-0 with a 1.60 ERA in a win against the Cubs. He was a .194 hitter and a
very aggressive fielder, totaling 1,207 assists in his 430 games. In ’18 he
worked at a munitions factory for WW I duty. He then attempted a couple minor
league comebacks from ’19 to ’21 and managed and/or coached all three seasons.
In ’22 he gave umpiring in the AL
a shot but he quit when he couldn’t be objective. He then returned to the Sox
as a coach in ’23 – taking ’26-’28 off to coach at Notre Dame while his sons
played there - through ’33. He then made
Meriden, CT
his permanent home and there did some WPA work for the Roosevelt
administration before becoming an engineer and becoming a superintendent of the
city’s water filtration plant. He did that the balance of his working life. He
was inducted into the Hall in ’46. He contracted cancer in the late Fifties and
passed away in ’59 when he was 78.
Patsy Flaherty grew up outside Pittsburgh
where he pitched and played outfield for local teams until he was signed by Youngstown, a Class C
team, in 1896. In ’97 he went 19-20 with a 1.89 ERA in Class B. Around then he
met Honus Wagner who would be his lifetime friend. After spending ’98 in B ball
and ’99 playing for a couple A teams, Honus would get him promoted to Louisville late in the
’99 season where Patsy went 2-3 with a 2.31 ERA in five starts. When the Louisville diaspora happened after the season Patsy joined
Honus in going to Pittsburgh
but after a couple ineffective games returned to the minors. After a couple
middling seasons he went 26-16 in A ball in ’02, got sold to the Sox, and
returned to The Show in ’03, going 11-25 with a 3.74 ERA. After a decent start
to the ’04 season he was released and signed back with the Pirates for whom he
went 19-9 with a 2.05 ERA the rest of the way, winning 20 total. After a downtick in ’05 he returned to A ball in ’06 and went 23-9 after which he was traded
to the Boston Beaneaters. He went 24-33 for those guys in two seasons then
spent ’09 and most of ’10 in the minors where the latter season he played as
much outfield as he pitched and hit .290. He came up again in ’11 and didn’t do
too well on the mound but did hit .287 and led the NL in pinch hitting. It
would be his final season up top where he went 67-84 lifetime with a 3.10 ERA
with 125 complete games. He hit .197 with 70 RBI’s also. He returned to the
minors where he played outfield and managed for a bunch of unaffiliated teams
(in ’13-’14, ’18-’19, ’25, and ’34). In between he coached at that level and
then scouted: for the Cubs (’26-’32); and Detroit
(’35- at least ’40). Thereafter his pastime is a mystery. He passed away in Louisiana in ’68 at age
91.
Sandy Consuegra was a Cuban pitcher who played lots of pro
ball there and in Mexico
before he finally hooked up with Havana,
a Washington B franchise, in ’49 when he was 28. After a 6-5 season that year
he went 8-2 with a 2.15 ERA to start the ’50 season and moved up to DC later
that season. In that year and ’51 he went 7-8 each season as a swing guy with his
two pitches, a fastball and a curve. In ’52 he went 6-0 with a 3.05 ERA and
five saves out of the pen and then started slowly in ’53 and was sold to the
ChiSox in May. For them he went 7-5 with a 2.54 ERA the rest of the way as
manager Paul Richards taught him a palmball and a sinker. In ’54 he got 17
starts in his 39 games and went 16-3 to lead the AL in winning percentage while making the
All-Star team and coming in second in the AL with a 2.69 ERA. After another good year in
’55 – 6-5 with seven saves and a 2.64 ERA – he had a poor start to the ’56
season and was sold to the Orioles. For them he pitched primarily in the minors
while putting up OK numbers in just four games up top. In ’57 he went 7-1 with
a 1.99 ERA in 44 relief outings before he was sold to the Giants for whom he
finished things in The States in a couple outings. Sandy went 51-32 with a 3.37 ERA with 24
complete games and 26 saves in the majors. In ’58 he gave a short run back in Havana and then worked a
farm he purchased as well as managing real estate he had acquired over the
years. When Castro took over Sandy lost all his
assets and moved to Miami
where he had one last comeback attempt in ’61 and then worked in cargo at the
local airport and then security. He passed away in Miami at age 85 in 2005.
Vern Kennedy grew up in Mendon,
Missouri where he was an excellent athlete and
continued that course when he went to Central Missouri
Teachers College in 1925.
While there he played football, baseball, and ran track. He was all-conference
three times in football, which is pretty impressive given he hadn’t played it
before enrolling. In track he was all-conference all four years and
All-American in ’27 when he won the decathlon at the Penn Relays. He graduated in ’29 with a
degree in education and played a year of local ball while working as a brick
loader during which he was discovered by an A’s scout and signed to a minor
league contract. He took a while to get rolling but in ’33 and ’34 put in a
couple pretty good seasons in A ball, going a combined 32-36 with a 3.31 ERA.
Towards the tail-end of the latter season he was sold to the Sox and for them
debuted that September. In ’35 he went 11-11 and threw the first-ever no-hitter
in Comiskey. The next year he led the AL
with his walk total but went 21-9 and was an All-Star in his best season. After
winning 14 in ’37 he was traded to Detroit
where he was again an All-Star in ’38 as he went 12-9. In ’39 he lost 20 while
pitching for the Tigers and the Browns and he would spend the next six seasons
putting up generally losing seasons for the Browns, Senators, Indians,
Phillies, and Reds. His best year during that span was ’43 when he went 10-7
with a 2.45 ERA for Cleveland.
After his release by Cincinnati
in spring training of ’46 he was finished up top with a 104-132 record, 126
complete games, and a 4.67 ERA. Vern was a pretty good hitter, posting a .244
average with 61 RBI’s. He then continued to pitch in the minors through ’55 and
as late as ’52 put up nice numbers – 11-4 with a 2.23 ERA in Double A – when he
was 45. When he was done at that level he was 128-129 with a 3.05 ERA lifetime.
He then returned to his hometown where he taught and coached in high school for
over ten years before he retired. He was an active participant in the Senior
Olympics where he set a bunch of local records. He passed away in Mendon when
at age 85 a shed he was dismantling collapsed on him in 1993. Both the Central Missouri football field and track are named in
his honor.
Eddie Cicotte was born outside Detroit and played sandlot ball there after
high school. In 1905 when he was 21 he hooked up with Class C Augusta where he
went 15-9 with a low ERA. Late that summer when he got called up to Detroit the Tigers asked
him to bring up an outfielder and he opted for a kid named Ty Cobb. He then
returned to the minors where the next two years he won a combined 40 games in A
ball. After the ’07 season he was sold to Boston
and for the Sox came up for ’08. For Boston Eddie would have generally
better-than-average ERA’s but be inconsistent, going a combined 51-43 in his
four full seasons with his best year being a 14-5 1.94 season in ’09. After a
nasty start to the ’12 season he was sold to Chicago for whom he won nine down
the stretch and lowered his ERA by three runs. In ’13 he won 18 with a 1.58 ERA
in his first year with his new pitch: a knuckleball. After a couple so-so
seasons he won 15 in ’16 with a 1.78 ERA and then turned it on for the Series
champs in ’17, going 28-12 with an AL-leading ERA. It was this season – and not
1919 – in which Charlie Comiskey had promised Eddie a big bonus if he won 30
and then had him sit for some late season starts when it seemed that number was
in reach. In ’18 he had a complete turnaround, going 12-19 as he lost some time
to building bombers at Ford for WW I. Then in ’19 he went 29-7 with a 1.82 ERA
as he helped take the Sox back to the Series where he then lost two as one of
the players who took gambling money. After a 21-10 season in ’20 he was banned
from ball. For his career Eddie went 209-148 with a 2.38 ERA, 249 complete
games, and 24 saves. He went 2-3 in Series play with a 2.22 ERA and hit .186
during his career. He then played some ball for some “outlaw” teams a couple
years before returning to Detroit
and working for Ford which he did until he retired. He then sold strawberries
from his farm there through his death in ’69 when he was 84.
Time to see how the Sox do representation-wise in this set.
Two guys with significant at bats were traded mid-season and have no cards
anywhere in this set. DH/infielder Mike Andrews went to Oakland after hitting
.201 in 159 at bats; and former bonus baby outfielder Rick Reichardt went to
Kansas City after hitting .275 in his 153 at bats. On the pitching side the
only guy missing who had a decision is Eddie Fisher, the old knuckler who went
6-7 with a 4.88 ERA in ’73. So between the over 300 at bats and the 13
decisions the Sox land near the bottom. On the team card Andrews is Number 2 in
the third row, Reichardt is Number 46 in the last row and Fisher is the third
guy from the right in the last row.
Steve Stone moved around a bit so let’s try him for the
hook-up:
1. Steve Stone was on the ’73 White Sox;
2. Stone and Willie Mays ‘71 to ’72 Giants;
3. Mays and Gary
Gentry ’72 Mets.
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