1946
Two almost-teammates with the White Sox in the 1970s, Cy Acosta And Rich McKinneywere born.
A native of Piqua, Ohio, McKinney was selected No. 14 overall by the White Sox in 1968 and made the Majors in 1970. He played third, short, second and right field in a brief two-season career on the South Side before being transferred to the Yankees in 1971 for pitcher Stan Bahnsen.
While McKinney logged 114 games and 0.6 WAR for the 1971 White Sox, Acosta became almost his exact birthday teammate, logging 24 games for the Triple-A Tucson Toros before finally being called up by the bigs in 1972. Acosta was one of the few Roland Hemond (White Sox GM) dealing with Mexican League – aided by White Sox legend Minnie Minosowho was then player-manager for Acosta’s Jalisco club.
A native of Sinaloa, Mexico, Acosta was almost unbelievably good in a short career with the White Sox. The righthander amassed 5.7 WAR in just 186 innings from 1972-74, including the (tied for) sixth-best relief season in White Sox history, 4.1 in 1973. Possibly due to an arm injury, Acosta was sold to Philadelphia at age 28 before the 1974 season and appeared in just six games in his career.
Acosta was also the first AL pitcher to bat after the institution of the DH rule and struck out Dick Allentook place on June 20, 1973.
1950
Greg Luzinski was born in Chicago. In 1968, “The Bull” was drafted by the Phillies out in the first round Our Lady Boys High School in Niles. After a career worst season in 1980 World series winner in Philadelphia Luzinski came home to play for the White Sox. The slugger spent four years on the South Side, amassing 7.1 WAR and earning MVP votes in two of those seasons. After a sub-par 1984, Luzinski retired from the game with 307 home runs and a 130 OPS+.
1983
Slugger Ron Kittel took home the AL Rookie of the Year. The news broke a day earlier than intended, when WBBM in Chicago learned of the BBWAA’s call to Kittle the night before the announcement and broke the story.
After a cup of coffee in 1982, the Gary, Ind. native exploded. for 35 home runs and 100 RBIs, slashing .254/.314/.504. Kittle fell just two shy of the AL rookie record for home runs, set by Al Rosen in 1950.
A 150 Ks lead in the majors and poor defense in left field dropped Kittle’s WAR to 1.9, but those negative numbers didn’t deter voters, who gave him 15 of 28 first-place votes. Clevelands Julio Franco was the runner-up, but the player who cheated the most by this vote was Baltimore’s Mike Boddicker, who registered 4.1 WAR but finished third in the voting.
Kittle’s career would not improve as 1983 was his career year and the only season of his 10 in the bigs in which he played more than 139 games. He was signed and traded away by the White Sox twice, but during seven seasons at Comiskey Park, Kittle hit seven roof homers – more than any other player.
1989
The 10th trade in Crosstown history was the most insignificant yet, as the White Sox sent righty minor league reliever Chuck Mount to the Cubs for left-handed minor league reliever Rich Scheid. Mount never made it to the Majors at all, while it took Scheid until 1992 with Houston.
2000
Despite better offers from several teams, Jose Valentin re-signed with the White Sox for three years and $15.2 million, plus an option for a fourth year of $5 million. It was a huge coup for the White Sox, who had sacked Milwaukee in January by lifting José and Cal Eldred for Jaime Navarro And Johannes Snyder.
Valentín posted an extraordinary 4.9 WAR season in 2000 and helped lead the White Sox to the AL Central title. He followed that with 12.0 WAR from 2001 to 2004, making this contract a valuable signing for the White Sox.
The shortstop remains one of the most underrated players in team history. His 16.9 WAR with the White Sox ranks him 36th among hitters in franchise history, tied with Don Buford.
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