The Chicago White Sox

Writing Sports

by Warren Brown

A facsimile reproduction of the 1952 history of the White Sox Warren Brown’s team history of the Chicago White Sox originally appeared in 1952 as part of the celebrated series of major league team histories published by G. P. Putnam. With their colorful prose and delightful narratives, the Putnam books have been described as the Cadillac of team histories and have become prized collectibles for baseball readers and historians. In telling the story of the White Sox, Warren Brown recounts the almost incredible adventures of “the Hitless Wonders” who stole the pennant in 1906 with a team batting average of only .228. Among the many stories is an account of a round-the-world exhibition tour that Charles Comiskey’s White Sox and John McGraw’s Giants made in 1913. The climax of the tour came when the two clubs played before George V of England, who, after an White Sox rally had been nipped by a pop-up to the Giants’ third baseman, turned to his interpreter and remarked, “A most useful catch, was it not?” But it is the infamous team of 1919 that is the author’s major focus. This team was an overwhelming favorite to win the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, but eight White Sox players accepted bribes from gamblers to fix the Series. The players were eventually banned from baseball and branded by history as the notorious Black Sox.

Genres: Baseball

272 pages, Paperback

Published April 6, 2007

About the author

Brown makes you want to run to the kitchen and start baking!"

Reviews

[Timothy]

In 1900, the Chicago White Sox played in the first season of the American League (named the Western League at the time). It might be guessed that, after 110 years, there would be an extensive literature chronicling Chicago White Sox history. This is not the case. Certainly, the “Black Sox” gambling scandal of 1919 is well-documented. The 1950’s “Go Go” era has received attention. But, on the whole, there is not a great deal of published material on the White Sox.

For this reason, the story behind the publication of The Chicago White Sox is nearly as interesting as the book itself. This story is described in a Foreword written years after the book was initially published in 1952. The story goes as follows. Beginning in the 1940’s, the G.P. Putnam Publishing Company began to commission famous sports writers to write definitive histories of select baseball franchises. However, the publication dates centered on team fortunes. The White Sox, who had struggled in the bottom tier of the American League, for 30 year, were not a priority for Putnam. But, when the White Sox fortunes finally turned in 1951, Brown, a long time Chicago reporter, was asked to quickly churn out a Putnam manuscript in time for the 1952 season. He complied, and The Chicago White Sox is the result. Thus it is that a 50 year old book churned out in only a few weeks still stands as a primary record of White Sox history.

Brown’s book is far from brilliant. The writing has a dated feel to it, and is written colloquially. But, get beyond this, and the reader will find interesting historical facts. At minimum, the reader will learn to place White Sox greats like Billy Pierce, Ted Lyons, Jimmy Dykes, Luke Appling, Orestes Minoso, and Chico Carrasquel in a historical timeline. The Chicago White Sox should be read by serious White Sox fans, and by baseball history buffs. Among the more interesting stories in the book (skipping over the well-chronicled story of the “Black Sox”):

1. In 1886, Charles Comiskey managed the American Association champion St. Louis Browns to an upset victory over the National League Chicago team (forerunners of the Cubs) in a post season exhibition series that had a World Series feel to it, but pre-dated the World Series era.

2. The White Sox won the 1906 World Series with a .228 team batting average.

3. In 1947, the White Sox organization was briefly banished from Major League Baseball for refusing to pay a $500 league fine. The Commissioners Office (A.B. Chandler was the commissioner at the time) determined that the White Sox had violated a league rule prohibiting the signing of high school athletes. But, because the rule read that organizations were prohibited from signing any member of the “National Federation of State Athletic Associations”, the White Sox felt they were within their rights – the high school age player in question did not play for his high school team. General Manager Les O’Connor wanted to stand pat and fight, but owner Charles Comiskey II paid the fine. As Brown puts it “Such things could only happen to the White Sox.”