Today in White Sox History: March 19

Mar 19, 2023 - 10:56 AM

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1979

White Sox shortstop prospect Harry Chappas appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline, “The Littlest Rookie.”

Chappas was all of 5´3´´, and his career was as short as his height. In three years, Chappas appeared in 72 games with 184 at-bats, one home run, two stolen bases and 15 walks. Despite a horrendous career slash of .245/.307/.283, Chappas was never a negative-WAR player and finished his career (all played with the White Sox) with 0.6 WAR.

Part of the reason for his struggles, from those who knew him, was because of his reluctance to take advice from coaches and teammates.

Chappas’ one career homer came in 1979 off of Milwaukee’s Bill Travers, who was otherwise enjoying a solid (2.4 WAR) season.

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1981

Maverick White Sox GM Frank “Trader” Lane dies in Dallas, at 86.

Lane, who took over the White Sox in 1948 at a time when the franchise was threadbare in both coffers and talent, built the Go-Go White Sox of the 1950s. It was under his oversight the South Siders started a record streak of winning seasons (1951-67). The GM brought in such talent as Nellie Fox, Minnie Miñoso, Chicago Carrasquel, Billy Pierce and Sherm Lollar, more often than not in transactions that were utter steals for the White Sox. Lane was also a metrics innovator.

His GM career extended beyond the White Sox, to more than 400 trades in his career. But he is best known for his White Sox tenure, during which he forged 241 total deals.

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2010

Oney Guillén, White Sox minor league employee, commentary contributor to franchise radio flagship WSCR-AM, and son of manager Ozzie Guillén, was forced to leave the team after continued negative tweets levied against his own club. Oney had been a 36th round pick by the White Sox in 2007.

As for telling Oney he had to quit the team, Ozzie said, “I think that’s the hardest thing I ever did in my life.”

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