On this date in 1947, disaster struck the White Sox in the form of a blockbuster trade.
In what would become one of the worst deals in franchise history, the White Sox traded pitcher Eddie Lopat to the New York Yankees for catcher Aaron Robinson and pitchers Bill Wight and Fred Bradley.
White Sox historian Richard C. Lindberg rated this swap as the third-worst in club annals in his book “Total White Sox.”
According to Lopat’s Society for American Baseball Research biography, the Yankees were watching Lopat as he went 50-49 for the Sox between 1944 and 1947.
“Any pitcher who can get the ball over the plate can win for us,” Yankee general manager George Weiss said of the precise Lopat upon making the deal.
Using a slow curve and a variety of deliveries shown to him by Ted Lyons during his days with the Sox, Lopat went on to star on the powerhouse Yankee teams of the 1940s and mid-1950s.
The New York native won 113 games between 1948 and 1955 for the Yankees. He led the A.L. with a 2.42 ERA in 1953 and went 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA in seven World Series starts for the Yankees.
Wight lost 20 games in his first year with the Sox but then recovered to have two decent years on the Southside (15-13, 10-16, 3.58 ERA). Bradley was barely a blip for the Sox while the best thing that can be said about Robinson’s tenure with the team was that he was used to acquire Billy Pierce after the 1948 season.