Breaking ground on the Baseball Palace of the World
1910
Ground was broken on a new ballpark on the South Side, initially called White Sox Park but eventually becoming Comiskey Park. Fewer than five months from this day, the White Sox played their first game in The Baseball Palace of the World. The ballpark was used for 80 full seasons, and should still be standing today.
1915
After 13 seasons on the South Side (making him the longest-tenured player in White Sox history at that point, having started his career with the club in 1901 and missing the 1913 season), catcher Billy Sullivan was released.
Sullivan was an innovative (holding a patent for a chest protector) leader (player-managing the team to a 78-74 record in 1909) — but not the strongest player. He averaged 88 games per season in his first 12 years on the South Side, was a subpar hitter, and came close a regular’s WAR (2.0) in just two of his summers. But while his 8.4 career WAR for the White Sox seems (and is) paltry, by that measure he remains the sixth-best catcher in White Sox history. (Ray Schalk, who to this day is Chicago’s all-time best catcher per WAR, quickly put Sullivan in the rear-view mirror, passing his 8.4 WAR and not looking back in the 1915 season.)
Schalk likewise broke Sullivan’s tenure record with the White Sox, playing his 14th year with the South Siders in 1925.