After a brief hello, it was a quick goodbye to Danny Tartabull
1903
Though under contract to the White Sox, shortstop George Davis intends to go to court in order to break it and return to the New York Giants (“May ask courts for release; Davis has novel idea for jumping contract with White Stockings despite peace” read one headline, with the “peace” referring to the battle for players between the new American and established National League.)
Davis’ decision kicks off a tug-of-war over the superstar that lasted more than eight months. He would in fact report to New York, who paid him but flouted his White Sox contract in only four instances (games on June 26-27, June 30, and July 1 before a court injunction took him off of the field for the Giants).
Only when New York formally waived any rights to Davis, in November, did the shortstop re-join the White Sox to resume his Hall of Fame career.
1946
The White Sox create what is regarded as the first media guide, handed out to beat writers.
Now, clearly there were programs and even media guides published before 1946, even by the White Sox themselves. However, those were often (always?) Spring Training and/or player rosters-only. The guide, written by Marsh Samuel and running 17 pages, actually just triggers a deeper, more interesting story … that the White Sox were once forerunners of the metrics revolution!
According to researcher Alan Kornspan at Cleveland State, beginning in 1946 and following in the footsteps of some other innovative figures (Branch Rickey, for one), Samuel began tracking advanced statistics, likely of his own creation but resembling some of what we see in the metrics world today. Cleveland owner Bill Veeck got wind of what Samuel was doing — and hired him away! At that point, Sox successor Ward Stevens took the reins and continued the work, which was still merely siloed in the PR department — not player evaluation.
However, once Frank Lane was hired as GM — at this time, no one wanted the White Sox GM job, as the team was in hock and possessed a woeful roster — he added Earl Flora as both publicity director but also statistician.
Lane’s pet stat, tracked as a child rooting for the Cincinnati Reds, was RBI with RISP. Under Lane’s direction, Flora started tracking reach percentage (i.e. on-base percentage), base runs (both bases advanced by runners, as well as bases a batter’s hit moved runners) and GWRBI. In fact, Lane felt so strongly that RBIs were an overblown stat that he created his own offshoot: OBR (Opportunities to Bat in Runs), the percentage of time batters drove in RISP.
Without extending this too long, Flora returned to sports editing, to be replaced by future White Sox GM Ed Short, a tireless worker who drove statistical analysis on the South Side to new heights.
But that is a story best continued on another Day in White Sox History.
1997
After a one-season spurt with the White Sox, 34-year-old free agent outfielder Danny Tartabull signed with the Philadelphia Phillies for $2 million. Tartabull had been acquired before the 1996 season to add some punch to an already-formidable White Sox lineup, and punch he did: 27 homers, 101 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .487. However, Tartabull’s defense was so poor in right field as to earn him just 0.6 WAR on the season, so with Albert Belle signed for left field and Dave Martinez coming off of a 4.8 WAR season as a supersub ready to step into right, Tartabull was not re-signed.
And that turned out to be a solid move, because a broken foot limited Tartabull to just three games in 1997, and he never saw the majors after that. Thus the final home run of Tartabull’s 262-dinger career came in a White Sox uniform, at the Metrodome, on Sept. 27, 1996.