1949
The White Sox acquired starter Bill Bevens from the Yankees. The righthander struggled with control problems throughout his career, but had managed to rise from journeyman to star with a stellar 1946 season in the Bronx: 16-13, 2.23 ERA/3.14 FIP, 154 ERA+ and 5.0 WAR over 249 2/3 innings.
But after a poor 1947 season (0.4 ERA in “only” 165 innings), Bevens rallied in the Fall Classic. He started Game 4 and came within one of the first no-hitters in World Series history. He was wild in the game (10 walks, a Series record), but still led 2-1 going into the ninth. One walk and another intentional pass put runners on first and second with two outs; on a 0-1 count, Dodgers pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto lined a ball off the right field wall for a Brooklyn walk-off win.
Bevens threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief in the decisive Game 7 victory for the Yankees, but the pitcher would later admit that his arm had completely died during the World Series.
Chicago’s acquisition of Bevens was conditional, and when it was clear he could no longer throw the ball, the White Sox brought him back to New York on March 28.
2002
After an injury-plagued, controversial season with the White Sox, pitcher David Wells signed a two-year contract worth $7 million with the Yankees. Wells won just five games for Chicago in 2001. Naturally, he then turned around and won 61 games over the next four years with New York, San Diego and Boston.
The White Sox did get some revenge by beating Wells in Game 2 of the 2005 ALDS, 5-4, when he pitched for the Red Sox.
It was a combination of White Sox resilience and pure luck. Down 4-0 and as Wells enters the fifth inning, Carl Everett singled to right to start the inning, and Aaron Rowand drove in the first White Sox run of the night with a double that landed just three feet inside the left field line. AJ Pierzynski fell behind, 1-2, but tapped a productive ground-out to second base, moving Rowand to third base. With a single seeing eye grounded through the center, Joe Crede drove in the game’s second run, and runners advanced to first and third base when ex-White Sox Tony Graffanino immediately dropped a potential double play grounder Juan Uribe sneak under his glove. After Scott Podsednik made an error at third base, Tadahito Iguchi delivered what would stand as the game’s winning runs with a two-out, three-run, line shot homer to left field.
Also in 2002, Jermaine food coloring signed a three-year, $32 million deal with the A’s. Dye had been traded to Colorado from Kansas City during the 2001 season and immediately transferred to Oakland to finish the season. Dye helped the A’s secure the playoffs in 2001, suffering a horrific broken leg and fouling a pitch of his own in Game 4 of the ALDS. His production for Oakland was sub-par overall, nowhere near the stardom he achieved for the Royals in 1999 and 2000.
Three years from this date, Dye would sign with the White Sox and revive his career
2017
With very little else to look forward to as the White Sox dived low into the jaws of a teardown rebuild, the club proceeded to Ricky Renteria‘s cooking tips ahead of SoxFest, which opens 10 days later.
The White Sox would go 67-95 and in fourth place in the AL Central in 2017, tied (with 1968) for the 16th worst season in club history. And the worst was yet to come.
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