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Nick Soulis · 05-06-2022, 11:19 AM

PRELIMINARY ROUND
Series #115
1919 Chicago White Sox (88-52) vs 1991 Boston Red Sox (84-78)

Maybe the most talked about and definitely the most controversial club in the history of the game gets to take the field again. The infamous 1919 Black Sox that had 8 of its players banned for life for throwing the 1919 World Series have been chronicled in books, movies, and lore for over 100 years. Shoeless Joe Jackson is the most sympathetic player of the group but also likely the best. Jackson hit .351 with 96 RBI and 261 bases while striking out only 10 times. Happy Felch was the right fielder who had 34 doubles and 19 steals and capping off the outfield was Nemo Leibold who hit .302 with 82 runs and a .756 OPS. Eddie Collins was the other star on the team but he was deemed 'clean;. Collins at 32 years old hit .319 with a .400 OBP and 33 steals while playing some of the best second base defense in the game. Buck Weaver lead the team with 89 runs and 33 doubles but wasn't as graceful at third base making some of his play suspect. Swede Risberg was only 24 years old and would also face a life ban, his play was not stellar with an 85 OPS+ and only 38 RBI. At first base was Chick Gandil who many thought was the ringleader of the fix as he hit .290 with 60 RBI and 10 steals. Ray Schalk was a very good catcher for his time hitting .282 with 11 steals and a very competent defensive mind. The Sox as a team stole 150 bases and struck out only 358 total times. Fred McMullin and Shano Collins were the most used reserve players and did well to add to the team's .287 combined average. The Sox lineup was a hard nosed bunch, prefect for the deadball era with great baserunners and line drive hitters. Eddie Cicotte has been blackmarked over the years for his terrible world series and apparent greed in the entire ordeal but his season numbers were very impressive. Cicotte of course was a genius of the spitter and went 29-7 with a 1.82 ERA just was unhittable in 1919. He logged over 200 innings and walked only 49 batters with a WHIP of 0.995. Lefty Williams threw 297 innings and won 23 games with a 2.64 and 5 shutouts. Williams struck out 195 batters with only 58 walks. The third man in the rotation was Red Faber who only made 20 starts winning 11 times but was hit much harder with a 3.47 FIP and 1.41 WHIP. Grover Lowdermilk at 34 years old was part of the mix going 5-5 while Dickey Kerr spent alot of time in relief but did make 17 starts with a nice 2.88 ERA. The Sox went the entire year with 6 pitchers doing 90 percent of the work. Could it be a storybook return for this disgraced team? If any team perfectly describes what the Field of Dreams is all about, it is indeed this one.

The 1991 Red Sox were a team with alot of volatile personalities but still an abundance of talent even if the end result was not what they were hoping for. At the heart of the volatility was the Red Sox ace, Roger Clemens who again in 1991 on the mound proved he is one of a kind. The Rocket went 18-10 with a 2.62 ERA and 241 strikeouts or 8 per nine. Clemens carried most all the load as the remainder of the rotation was poor and were a big reason the Sox ended up going nowhere. Greg Harris was 11-12 with a decent ERA but was needed later in the year to work out of the pen and but did play a vital role on the team throwing over 170 innings. Mike Gardiner was 9-10 with a 4.85 ERA barely hanging by a thread in many of his starts and left hander Tom Bolton was even worse in his 19 starts a 5.24 ERA. Many other arms tried to stick in the rotation including 35 year old Danny Darwin who allowed 15 home runs in 68 innings. Matt Young and Kevin Morton combined for 31 starts but the results were not good either. In the pen Jeff Reardon made 40 saves with a 3.03 ERA and at his advanced age still had the nerves to get the job done. Jeff Gray and Dennis Lamp were part of the inconsistent pen that didnt make a habit of holding down leads. The lineup was mature but still had some bats that could slug the baseball. Jack Clark was the fulltime DH and hit 28 home runs and a .374 OBP even if he struck out 133 times. Tom Brunansky was another slugger who hit 16 home runs and got on base much less then Clark with his .229 average while Ellis Burks was a much more rounded player with 33 doubles and 19 home runs. Mike Greenwell was still loved by the fans and managed to hit .300 while Jody Reed and Luis Rivera were your typical 1990's middle infielders. Carlos Quintana did his best to hold off 23 year old slugger Mo Vaughn for playing time. Quintana had a .375 OBP with 71 RBI but Vaughn had obvious power and bat speed that made its way into the lineup. Tony Pena did his very best to control a weak pitching staff and still had the arm to control the bases. Finally their was 33 year old Wade Boggs, who was slowly wearing out his welcome in Boston even with his .332 average and .881 OPS. Boggs hit 42 doubles and was a bat to ball skill talent that few players in the game could match. It is hard to predict how the 1919 White Sox will perform, but one thing is sure, their pitching staff outside of Clemens was just plain bad. Still Clemens will have three potential starts and the Rocket also knows a thing or two about controversy. A series as intriguing as one could produce, it should be fun to watch.

Game 1 At Comiskey Park
Clear 58
1991 Red Sox.......................1
1919 White Sox....................3
WP: E. Cicotte (1-0) LP: R. Clemens (0-1)
HR: None
POG: Eddie Cicotte
1919 White Sox lead series 1-0
If anyone was worried if Eddie Cicotte was fully invested in this series, put those thoughts to bed. The Chicago ace went 9 innings walking none and allowing only one run against Roger Clemens. Clemens was also strong in his 8 inning effort striking out five but the White Sox rallied late. Jody Reed gave Boston the lead in the 3rd inning but in the 6th Joe Jackson came through with an RBI triple and Cicotte himself added an RBI hit and it would end up being enough. A very well played game by both sides but the White Sox seemed like a very determined bunch.

Game 2 At Comiskey Park
Clear 70
1991 Red Sox....................1
1919 White Sox..................2
WP: L. Williams (1-0) LP: M. Gardiner (0-1)
HR: None
POG: Lefty Williams
1919 White Sox lead series 2-0
Lefty Williams and Mike Gardiner picked right up where game one left off with another good pitching duel. Gardiner did have to endure 3 errors by his defense that played a big role. Chicago lead 1-0 before Tony Pena in dramatic fashion tied the game in the 8th with an RBI single. In the bottom of the frame Luis Rivera made a big throwing error to set Chicago up and Chick Gandil came through with the go ahead hit that would hold up in the 9th. Chicago has played smart baseball and are no doubt giving this series everything they have. Series now heads to Fenway as the Red Sox need a win.

Game 3 At Fenway Park
Clear 60
1919 White Sox................3
1991 Red Sox..................11
WP: G. Harris (1-0) LP: D. Kerr (0-1)
HR: P. Plantier (1)
POG: Luis Rivera
1919 White Sox lead series 2-1
The Red Sox broke through in a big way with six runs in the first two innings and get back into the series with a shout. Greg Harris has all the support he needed and the Boston fans had quite a day in the 8 run win. Luis Rivera had three RBI as did Phil Plantier. Plantier was the one who started the party with his 3 run home run, the only home run in the series thus far, in the very first inning.

Game 4 At Fenway Park
Partly cloudy 55
1919 White Sox........................4
1991 Red Sox..........................3
WP: R. Faber (1-0) LP: M. Young (0-1)
HR: J. Reed (1)
POG: Red Faber
1919 White Sox lead series 3-1
Red Faber finished what he started and struck out Tony Pena with the tying run on second base to lift the White Sox to a 4-3 win and take a commanding three games to one lead over Boston. Faber struck out three and allowed three earned runs after throwing 152 pitches. Eddie Collins went 2-4 with an RBI triple and Joe Jackson drove in his third run of the series and is hitting .385. Boston now tries to fend off elimination behind Roger Clemens.

Game 5 At Fenway Park
53 Clear
1919 White Sox..................4
1991 Red Sox....................12
WP: R. Clemens (1-1) LP: E. Cicotte (1-1)
HR: P. Plantier (2)
POG: Luis Rivera
1919 White Sox lead series 3-2
The 1991 Red Sox sent the series back to Chicago after blasting the White Sox in game five behind their ace Roger Clemens who struck out six and went 9 innings for the win. Boston scored 5 runs in the 4th against Eddie Cicotte who was off his game to everyone's concern. Seventeen hits for the home team and a red hot Luis Rivera went 4-4 and Tony Pena 3-3 as 5 hitters had 2 RBI for the Red Sox.

Game 6 At Comiskey Park
Clear 53
1991 Red Sox......................2
1919 White Sox...................10
WP: E. Cicotte (2-1) LP: M. Gardiner (0-2)
HR: P. Plantier (3)
POG: Eddie Cicotte
To everyone's surprise, Kid Gleason started Eddie Cicotte on only one day's rest to try and close out the series in six games. Cicotte maybe was out to prove just how committed he is to winning and he proved it on the mound. The White Sox plated seven runs in the second inning and ran away with this one having 17 hits with Buck Weaver driving in three runs. Cicotte allowed 10 hits but struck out four walking two and allowing only 2 runs. Chicago makes its point by winning this series and Joe Jackson silences his critics as he hit .364 in the six games and was also playing with a sore knee. In contrast Wade Boggs hit .125.

1919 Chicago White Sox Win Series 4 Games To 2

Series MVP:
Name: 1 - 115 MVP.png
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Name: 1 - 115 MVP.png
Views: 838
Size: 92.8 KB

Nemo Leibold
(10/19, .654 OBP, 5 R, 1 SB, 6 BB)

05-06-2022, 11:19 AM	#8
Nick Soulis Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 4,293	Series #115 PRELIMINARY ROUND Series #115 1919 Chicago White Sox (88-52) vs 1991 Boston Red Sox (84-78) Maybe the most talked about and definitely the most controversial club in the history of the game gets to take the field again. The infamous 1919 Black Sox that had 8 of its players banned for life for throwing the 1919 World Series have been chronicled in books, movies, and lore for over 100 years. Shoeless Joe Jackson is the most sympathetic player of the group but also likely the best. Jackson hit .351 with 96 RBI and 261 bases while striking out only 10 times. Happy Felch was the right fielder who had 34 doubles and 19 steals and capping off the outfield was Nemo Leibold who hit .302 with 82 runs and a .756 OPS. Eddie Collins was the other star on the team but he was deemed 'clean;. Collins at 32 years old hit .319 with a .400 OBP and 33 steals while playing some of the best second base defense in the game. Buck Weaver lead the team with 89 runs and 33 doubles but wasn't as graceful at third base making some of his play suspect. Swede Risberg was only 24 years old and would also face a life ban, his play was not stellar with an 85 OPS+ and only 38 RBI. At first base was Chick Gandil who many thought was the ringleader of the fix as he hit .290 with 60 RBI and 10 steals. Ray Schalk was a very good catcher for his time hitting .282 with 11 steals and a very competent defensive mind. The Sox as a team stole 150 bases and struck out only 358 total times. Fred McMullin and Shano Collins were the most used reserve players and did well to add to the team's .287 combined average. The Sox lineup was a hard nosed bunch, prefect for the deadball era with great baserunners and line drive hitters. Eddie Cicotte has been blackmarked over the years for his terrible world series and apparent greed in the entire ordeal but his season numbers were very impressive. Cicotte of course was a genius of the spitter and went 29-7 with a 1.82 ERA just was unhittable in 1919. He logged over 200 innings and walked only 49 batters with a WHIP of 0.995. Lefty Williams threw 297 innings and won 23 games with a 2.64 and 5 shutouts. Williams struck out 195 batters with only 58 walks. The third man in the rotation was Red Faber who only made 20 starts winning 11 times but was hit much harder with a 3.47 FIP and 1.41 WHIP. Grover Lowdermilk at 34 years old was part of the mix going 5-5 while Dickey Kerr spent alot of time in relief but did make 17 starts with a nice 2.88 ERA. The Sox went the entire year with 6 pitchers doing 90 percent of the work. Could it be a storybook return for this disgraced team? If any team perfectly describes what the Field of Dreams is all about, it is indeed this one. The 1991 Red Sox were a team with alot of volatile personalities but still an abundance of talent even if the end result was not what they were hoping for. At the heart of the volatility was the Red Sox ace, Roger Clemens who again in 1991 on the mound proved he is one of a kind. The Rocket went 18-10 with a 2.62 ERA and 241 strikeouts or 8 per nine. Clemens carried most all the load as the remainder of the rotation was poor and were a big reason the Sox ended up going nowhere. Greg Harris was 11-12 with a decent ERA but was needed later in the year to work out of the pen and but did play a vital role on the team throwing over 170 innings. Mike Gardiner was 9-10 with a 4.85 ERA barely hanging by a thread in many of his starts and left hander Tom Bolton was even worse in his 19 starts a 5.24 ERA. Many other arms tried to stick in the rotation including 35 year old Danny Darwin who allowed 15 home runs in 68 innings. Matt Young and Kevin Morton combined for 31 starts but the results were not good either. In the pen Jeff Reardon made 40 saves with a 3.03 ERA and at his advanced age still had the nerves to get the job done. Jeff Gray and Dennis Lamp were part of the inconsistent pen that didnt make a habit of holding down leads. The lineup was mature but still had some bats that could slug the baseball. Jack Clark was the fulltime DH and hit 28 home runs and a .374 OBP even if he struck out 133 times. Tom Brunansky was another slugger who hit 16 home runs and got on base much less then Clark with his .229 average while Ellis Burks was a much more rounded player with 33 doubles and 19 home runs. Mike Greenwell was still loved by the fans and managed to hit .300 while Jody Reed and Luis Rivera were your typical 1990's middle infielders. Carlos Quintana did his best to hold off 23 year old slugger Mo Vaughn for playing time. Quintana had a .375 OBP with 71 RBI but Vaughn had obvious power and bat speed that made its way into the lineup. Tony Pena did his very best to control a weak pitching staff and still had the arm to control the bases. Finally their was 33 year old Wade Boggs, who was slowly wearing out his welcome in Boston even with his .332 average and .881 OPS. Boggs hit 42 doubles and was a bat to ball skill talent that few players in the game could match. It is hard to predict how the 1919 White Sox will perform, but one thing is sure, their pitching staff outside of Clemens was just plain bad. Still Clemens will have three potential starts and the Rocket also knows a thing or two about controversy. A series as intriguing as one could produce, it should be fun to watch. Game 1 At Comiskey Park Clear 58 1991 Red Sox.......................1 1919 White Sox....................3 WP: E. Cicotte (1-0) LP: R. Clemens (0-1) HR: None POG: Eddie Cicotte 1919 White Sox lead series 1-0 If anyone was worried if Eddie Cicotte was fully invested in this series, put those thoughts to bed. The Chicago ace went 9 innings walking none and allowing only one run against Roger Clemens. Clemens was also strong in his 8 inning effort striking out five but the White Sox rallied late. Jody Reed gave Boston the lead in the 3rd inning but in the 6th Joe Jackson came through with an RBI triple and Cicotte himself added an RBI hit and it would end up being enough. A very well played game by both sides but the White Sox seemed like a very determined bunch. Game 2 At Comiskey Park Clear 70 1991 Red Sox....................1 1919 White Sox..................2 WP: L. Williams (1-0) LP: M. Gardiner (0-1) HR: None POG: Lefty Williams 1919 White Sox lead series 2-0 Lefty Williams and Mike Gardiner picked right up where game one left off with another good pitching duel. Gardiner did have to endure 3 errors by his defense that played a big role. Chicago lead 1-0 before Tony Pena in dramatic fashion tied the game in the 8th with an RBI single. In the bottom of the frame Luis Rivera made a big throwing error to set Chicago up and Chick Gandil came through with the go ahead hit that would hold up in the 9th. Chicago has played smart baseball and are no doubt giving this series everything they have. Series now heads to Fenway as the Red Sox need a win. Game 3 At Fenway Park Clear 60 1919 White Sox................3 1991 Red Sox..................11 WP: G. Harris (1-0) LP: D. Kerr (0-1) HR: P. Plantier (1) POG: Luis Rivera 1919 White Sox lead series 2-1 The Red Sox broke through in a big way with six runs in the first two innings and get back into the series with a shout. Greg Harris has all the support he needed and the Boston fans had quite a day in the 8 run win. Luis Rivera had three RBI as did Phil Plantier. Plantier was the one who started the party with his 3 run home run, the only home run in the series thus far, in the very first inning. Game 4 At Fenway Park Partly cloudy 55 1919 White Sox........................4 1991 Red Sox..........................3 WP: R. Faber (1-0) LP: M. Young (0-1) HR: J. Reed (1) POG: Red Faber 1919 White Sox lead series 3-1 Red Faber finished what he started and struck out Tony Pena with the tying run on second base to lift the White Sox to a 4-3 win and take a commanding three games to one lead over Boston. Faber struck out three and allowed three earned runs after throwing 152 pitches. Eddie Collins went 2-4 with an RBI triple and Joe Jackson drove in his third run of the series and is hitting .385. Boston now tries to fend off elimination behind Roger Clemens. Game 5 At Fenway Park 53 Clear 1919 White Sox..................4 1991 Red Sox....................12 WP: R. Clemens (1-1) LP: E. Cicotte (1-1) HR: P. Plantier (2) POG: Luis Rivera 1919 White Sox lead series 3-2 The 1991 Red Sox sent the series back to Chicago after blasting the White Sox in game five behind their ace Roger Clemens who struck out six and went 9 innings for the win. Boston scored 5 runs in the 4th against Eddie Cicotte who was off his game to everyone's concern. Seventeen hits for the home team and a red hot Luis Rivera went 4-4 and Tony Pena 3-3 as 5 hitters had 2 RBI for the Red Sox. Game 6 At Comiskey Park Clear 53 1991 Red Sox......................2 1919 White Sox...................10 WP: E. Cicotte (2-1) LP: M. Gardiner (0-2) HR: P. Plantier (3) POG: Eddie Cicotte To everyone's surprise, Kid Gleason started Eddie Cicotte on only one day's rest to try and close out the series in six games. Cicotte maybe was out to prove just how committed he is to winning and he proved it on the mound. The White Sox plated seven runs in the second inning and ran away with this one having 17 hits with Buck Weaver driving in three runs. Cicotte allowed 10 hits but struck out four walking two and allowing only 2 runs. Chicago makes its point by winning this series and Joe Jackson silences his critics as he hit .364 in the six games and was also playing with a sore knee. In contrast Wade Boggs hit .125. 1919 Chicago White Sox Win Series 4 Games To 2 Series MVP: Nemo Leibold (10/19, .654 OBP, 5 R, 1 SB, 6 BB) Last edited by Nick Soulis; 05-08-2022 at 12:48 PM.