Today in White Sox History: March 25

Mar 25, 2023 - 3:26 PM

1951

White Sox legend Eddie Collins dies at age 63, in Boston.

Unquestionably the best second baseman in White Sox history (67.0 WAR), Collins also managed the team for two full seasons in the aftermath of the Black Sox scandal. Despite a gutted roster, Collins consistently maintained a record better than .500.

He won a World Series as a member of the 1917 White Sox, the best South Side team ever. In 1919, he was one of the unabashedly “clean” players in the lineup — but nonetheless had a lousy performance in the Series loss.

Many years after his player-manager stint with the White Sox, Collins moved into the Boston Red Sox front office, putting in a very pockmarked performance there. Still, he remains on the short list of greatest second basemen ever.

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2021

Injuries can happen at any time, but needless injuries, in Spring Training to boot, can take the heart right out of a club and fan base, and completely change the fortunes of a season.

On this day the White Sox announced that Eloy Jiménez, one of the best young sluggers in baseball, would be lost for most of the season because of a ruptured left pectoral tendon. He suffered the injury when getting hung up on the top of the fence trying to catch a ball hit by the A’s Sean Murphy the day before — a ball that wasn’t catchable. White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone was particularly critical of Jiménez even attempting to try to catch a meaningless home run in a Spring Training game, and putting himself at risk.

Since getting called up in 2019, Jiménez had been injured multiple times while trying to play left field. His injury was more common in football, and most likely happened on impact when his left arm hit the top of the fence.

After an intensive rehab lasting four months, Eloy returned to the team on July 26, but injury issues continued to dog him.