By Woodrow Carroll
Entering last weekend’s series with the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox likely had a few mild concerns; not panic. It was just a mild concern given that the Sox had lost five of seven games with AL Central Division rival Kansas City in the prior two weeks.
Whatever concerns the Sox faithful had prior to the three-game series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field were solved by Sunday evening. A three-game sweep of the intra-city rival was the answer.
The opening game of the White Sox-Cubs series was the only close score of the three. The two teams were tied at four after nine innings. Any run the Cubs could put on the board in the bottom of ninth inning would give the home team the victory and had to be scary for Sox fans.
In the 10th inning Friday, the Sox put four on the board, only to have the Cubs come back with two runs prior to the fire being put out.
Friday’s 8-6 Sox victory in 10 innings must have eased the pressure on the White Sox. The final two game scores were 4-0 and 9-3 victories by the Sox.
The Big 50! Following the weekend, the Sox’s record was 66-46 with 50 games remaining..
. The Sox started the series in Minnesota Monday with a 28-26 road record and added an explosive 11-1 victory in game one. The Sox were set to play the first game of the three-game set with the New York Yankees Tuesday in Dyersville, Iowa, at the Field of Dreams in a nationally-televised game. The series will resume Saturday in Chicago. .
The reconstituted Chicago Cubs, with a lineup sans Bryant, Rizzo and Baez, have to concentrate on a winning season. After the series with the White Sox, the Cubs were 52-61 and in danger of their first losing campaign since 2014 when they closed with a 73-89 record.
• What is in a victory? For the 1927 St. Louis Browns it was victory that avoided ignominy.
September 11, 1927 the St. Louis Browns beat the New York Yankees, 6-2.
On the surface it is a notable victory for the Browns over a Yankees’ team featuring the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig that went on to sweep the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.
And, now for the rest of the story.
In 1927 Major League Baseball played a 154-game schedule. Both the American and National League each was comprised of eight franchises. Each team was set to play each foe 22 times.
When the Browns and Yankees squared off September 11, 1927 at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees had won all 21 previous games that season.
With the legendary Milt Gaston on the mound, the Browns won, 6-2, over Ruth, Gehrig and Company and avoided a season sweep by the Yankees. Take that Yankees’ fans!
Milt Gaston? Very interesting! When Gaston died in 1996 he was 100 years old. Briefly with the New York Yankees in 1924, Gaston was for a time a roommate of Gehrig. The 1934 season was Gaston’s last in the majors and with the White Sox.
Gaston was good enough to stick around the majors for more than 10 years, yet, Gaston often pitched for weaker teams. Gaston’s career won-loss record was 97-164. His 67 games below .500 is the Major League Baseball record in reverse.