1917-2017-One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball

One hundred years is a long time... I’m going to assume that no one is alive who saw the 1917 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox play during that season. No one is alive to tell the story of how great that 1917 team was – winning 100 games – a feat never repeated by any White Sox Team. People over the years have written about some of those players. The most famous is “Shoeless” Joe Jackson whose life has been written about in books and portrayed in movies. Hopefully, fans know that the 1917 White Sox team had three Hall of Fame players: Eddie Collins, Ray Schalk, and “Red” Faber. But what about third baseman Buck Weaver, center fielder Happy Felsch, knuckleballer Eddie Cicotte, as well as southpaw Claude “Lefty” Williams? Could Jackson and these four players been Hall of Famers, too? They all were members of the 1917 World Series champion team. These teammates also played for the 1919 American League White Sox pennant team and were driving towards the pennant again in 1920. The Black Sox scandal – that banned eight players for conspiring to throw the 1919 World Series – changed the fortunes of White Sox baseball forever. Could the fortunes of my Chicago White Sox team been different had these eight players not gone over to the dark side? It’s a question that has haunted me, as well as I believe many White Sox fans over the years. A potential dynasty on the South Side of Chicago never was allowed to take root. 2017 is an ideal time to recount the glory of the 1917 White Sox team – a team for the ages! Plus, the author gives his personal recollections of being a fan of the Pale Hose. Finally, he provides a brief look back on the one hundred years of White Sox baseball being celebrated in 2017. The players, specific games, and personal vignettes all combine for the reader to enjoy. Play Ball!! “The Greatest Franchise That Never Was” Mark Pienkos