Clark Griffith
September 21, 1901, 125 years ago: The Chicago White Stockings lose to the Philadelphia Athletics, 10-4 at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. Bill Bernhard outpitches Roy Patterson, who falls to 20-15.
However, the Boston Americans lose to the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. This means that Chicago clinch the Pennant of the American League, in its 1st season.
The White Stockings were owned by Charles A. Comiskey, a former 1st baseman for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association, who joined the National League and later became the Cardinals. Comiskey had founded the AL with sportswriter Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson, who served as the League's 1st President.
The White Stockings were managed by Clark Griffith, who was also their ace pitcher. He had previously pitched in the city for the National League team, formerly named the White Stockings. Their outfielders included Fielder Jones (his actual birth name), who would manage them to win the 1906 World Series; and William "Dummy" Hoy, a sensational fielder and baserunner, who was deaf, but not mute, or "dumb" in the parlance of the time, yet didn't mind, as many deaf men were, being called "Dummy." They finished 83-53, and won the Pennant by 4 games.
In 1903, Griffith became the 1st manager and the 1st pitcher of the New York Highlanders, forerunners of the Yankees. In 1904, the White Stockings officially shortened their name to the "White Sox," presaging the 1908 decision by Boston to become the "Red Sox," rather than adopt the former National League name of "Red Stockings."
In 1910, Comiskey built the ballpark that would bear his name, where the White Sox would play until 1990. In 1912, Griffith bought the Washington Senators, and named their ballpark for himself. In 1955, the Athletics moved to Kansas City; in 1968, to Oakland; and in 2025, to Sacramento, with the intent of, in 2028, to Las Vegas.
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