{"id":600470,"date":"2026-03-01T21:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/600470\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T21:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T21:25:13","slug":"today-in-chicago-white-sox-history-february-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/600470\/","title":{"rendered":"Today in Chicago White Sox History: February 28"},"content":{"rendered":"

1929
The White Sox<\/a> traded star left fielder Bibb Falk to Cleveland for catcher Martin Autry \u2014 the first direct trade ever between Chicago and Cleveland.<\/p>\n

The logic of the deal is somewhat confounding, because while Falk was at the tail end of his career, Autry was simply awful for the White Sox: -0.8 WAR in just 77 games over two seasons. The backstop nailed basestealers at a healthy rate, but beyond that, was dismal; cut loose after the 1930 season, Autry kicked around A- and B-ball for another eight seasons, but never saw the majors again.,<\/p>\n

Falk didn\u2019t do much for Cleveland, but was very solid (2.4 WAR) for the club in 1929 and then was a suitable part-timer in 1930-31 before, at age 32, dropping out of the majors for good.<\/p>\n

Falk, at 18.7 WAR for the White Sox, still ranks as their 33rd-best batter all-time, just a sneeze behind Bill Melton.<\/p>\n

1946
Alex Carrasquel, the majors\u2019 first Venezuelan player, and uncle of future White Sox<\/a> star Chico Carrasquel, became the first of more than a dozen major leaguers to desert MLB for the Mexican League.<\/p>\n

Carrasquel had been purchased by the White Sox from Washington on January 2 and was coming off of a very strong, 1.7 WAR season out of the Senators bullpen. He would never throw a pitch for Chicago, bolting for a three-year deal as the Mexican League attempted to raid the majors.<\/p>\n

Carrasquel was one of just a few of the contract-jumpers to return to the majors, but he pitched just three games (to a 14.73 ERA) for the 1949 White Sox.<\/p>\n

1966
White Sox<\/a> manager Eddie Stanky appeared on the cover for Sports Illustrated, along with Cubs<\/a> manager Leo Durocher. The headline read, \u201cThe Lip and The Brat Invade Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stanky, who played for Durocher in New York with both the Dodgers<\/a> and the Giants, would have solid years in his two complete seasons as White Sox manager, almost winning the pennant in 1967. He was considered a tactical genius when it came to the game.<\/p>\n

But his shortcomings as far as his temperament \u2014 particularly in his ability to deal with the media and some of his players \u2014 led to his undoing. He was fired 79 games into the 1968 season \u2014 replaced by the man he originally replaced, Al Lopez.<\/p>\n

1968
Former White Sox player and manager, Lena Blackburne, died in Riverside, N.J. at age 81. The second baseman saw just one of his six seasons on the South Side as a regular, and he acquitted himself well: 2.5 WAR, in his only season playing second base! A decade after his playing career ended, Blackburne took over for Ray Schalk as White Sox manager during the 1928 season and guided a 32-42 club to a 40-40 finish. The 1929 season was not as kind, and was his last piloting the White Sox.<\/p>\n

It was in retirement back home in New Jersey that Blackburne found his lasting fame and impact on the game: Lena Blackburne\u2019s Rubbing Mud, which he discovered on the banks of the Delaware River. The mud, which today sells for $25 per pound, has been used to rub off the slippery gloss of every new baseball in the majors for seven decades.<\/p>\n

1970
The White Sox sold Ron Hansen to the Yankees, ending the shortstop\u2019s two-stint and seven-season career on the South Side. In just a half-season of action in 1969, Hansen had taken a move to a second baseman\/pinch-hitter role poorly: -0.3 WAR and a complete loss of power with a .259\/.327.335 slash.<\/p>\n

New climes in the Bronx buoyed a huge bounce-back season for Hansen (1.6 WAR in just 113 PAs), but by early 1972 the veteran had played his last game in the majors.<\/p>\n

With 18.1 White Sox WAR, Hansen ranks as the 35th-best player in White Sox history, seventh-best shortstop, and 59th-best player overall.<\/p>\n

1995
Volatile relief pitcher Rob Dibble signed a $400,000 contract for the 1995 season after missing all of 1994 after arm surgery. Dibble had suffered a catastrophic 1993 season (-1.5 WAR), made no easier by having had surgery after a broken forearm in April of that season.<\/p>\n

However, his year of healing did not help the bottom line, as Dibble was miserable for the White Sox (6.28 ERA, 8.06 FIP, 2.372 WHIP, -0.2 WAR) over 16 games.<\/p>\n

He also played a major role in the ongoing White Sox-Brewers<\/a> rivalry, sending some chin music at Pat Listach in the ninth inning of a runaway win after Ron Karkovice was hit by the Brewers in the previous frame.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Dibble was signed by the Brewers two weeks after his July release by the White Sox, and his locker sat next to … Listach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1929The White Sox traded star left fielder Bibb Falk to Cleveland for catcher Martin Autry \u2014 the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2379],"tags":[11420,23151,17997,5136,16840,10411,66850,5,19069,138,49,56549,4726,31244,2561,16206,20403,11414,78243,4,15034,28074,16834,4727,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-600470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-11420","9":"tag-23151","10":"tag-17997","11":"tag-5136","12":"tag-16840","13":"tag-al-lopez","14":"tag-alex-carrasquel","15":"tag-baseball","16":"tag-bibb-falk","17":"tag-chicago","18":"tag-chicago-white-sox","19":"tag-chicago-white-sox-managers-and-coaches","20":"tag-chicago-white-sox-history","21":"tag-chicago-white-sox-roster","22":"tag-chicagowhitesox","23":"tag-chico-carrasquel","24":"tag-eddie-stanky","25":"tag-lena-blackburne","26":"tag-martin-autry","27":"tag-mlb","28":"tag-ray-schalk","29":"tag-rob-dibble","30":"tag-ron-karkovice","31":"tag-today-in-white-sox-history","32":"tag-white-sox","33":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116156034548329003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}