Speaking of shaping up for spring, the Chicago Tribue is doing just that. A rundown of their goods:
Meanwhile, Joe Cowley
examines the Nick Masset-Ehren Wassermann battle.
I'm guessing Masset will get every chance to prove why Williams thought
he was desirable. I'm guessing he won't take advantage of the
opportunity.
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Former Sox player and scout Dario Lodigiani died at the age of 91. He
spent three years on the White Sox roster,
and 42 years in the scouting department.
His territory was Northern
California, and two of his most famous signees included Jack McDowell
and Williams himself (
Cowley has a statement from Williams on his blog). He could say more than most people that without him, the Sox still may be suffering their World Series drought.
Two fun stories Lodigiani recently told from his playing days with the Sox:
No. 1: Had an umpire given him the call, Lodigiani says
he could've ended Joe DiMaggio's streak at 24 games:
“It was when I was with the White Sox several years later and the Yanks
came into Comiskey Park. I was playing third base and the first time
Joe came up to bat, he hit a shot down to me and I fielded it on one
hop and threw him out at first. The next time he came up, the Yankees
had a guy on first, and Joe hit another hard shot to me at third and I
threw the runner out at second base for the fielder’s choice.
Then, he
came up again in the seventh inning, mad as hell, kicking the dirt
around home plate and cussing to himself, and he hit another rocket
down to me, which I knocked down with my body and threw to first, where
I beat him by a hair. But, the umpire called him safe. They did that a
lot with Joe – he was such a huge star that they gave him the benefit
of the doubt a lot, kind of like they did with Ted Williams on ball and
strikes, you know? Anyway, that kept his hitting streak alive at 25
games, that one call. And, of course he went on to hit in 31 straight
more games that season and set the record. Pissed me off like hell!”
No. 2:
Lodigiani was involved in the bizarre game in 1946 where 14 White Sox
were ejected due to excessive bench-jockeying. Initial
reports claimed the most voice tossing the most explosive insults at the umpire
didn't come from the third-base dugout in Comiskey Park,
but rather from a ventriliquist in the stands.
Lodigiani dismissed that story:
"After the bench had been cleared, Red heard one lone tenor voice
that still insisted he was a meathead," Schoenstein wrote. "He went to
the dugout and saw a big windbreaker hanging in the corner. Protruding
from it were two feet with spiked shoes. He grabbed the windbreaker
from the nail, uncovering Mule Haas, a White Sox coach."
Lodigiani was Chicago's third baseman, but he was in the dugout that
day because of an injury. He was among the first to be ejected from the
game. Lodigiani did not hesitate when asked who the culprit was.
"Mule Haas used to pull the raspberry like this" — Lodigiani blew a
mighty tongue-between-the-lips Bronx cheer into the phone — "and the
umpire didn't know who to blame, so he tossed the whole dugout."
He said Haas had a gift for making whoopee-cushion noises with his
mouth, usually by putting his hands to his lips. "He'd hide down on the
runway and come back and let the blast go," Lodigiani said.
No ventriloquist that day in Boston? No one in the stands?
"No, it was Mule Haas, the third-base coach, from the dugout," Lodigiani said.