It was on this day in 1948 that a trade took place between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. A trade which Bill James called "the most lopsided trade of the decade". This trade netted the Sox a pitcher who would ultimately anchor the rotation for years to come: one Billy Pierce. Pierce was traded for a catcher who was worth 2.9 WAR for the Tigers in 1949, but out of baseball two years after that. Not a bad swap for the Sox! While the trade was a surprise to Pierce, according to this SABR bio...
In November, I went over to my fiancée’s house. We turned on the radio and I learned from a disk jockey that I had been traded to the White Sox. I was traded for Aaron Robinson and 10 grand because the Tigers wanted a left-handed-hitting catcher who could take advantage of the short porch in right field. The Tigers wanted to give the Sox Ted Gray instead of me, but Chicago wouldn’t go for it. . . . It was a bad shock to be traded from Detroit.
...he would go on to win 211 games in his career, and 20 in a season twice with the White Sox. The number 20 is the focus of today's Sporcle: throughout White Sox history [edit: this goes back to 1908, as that's as far back as Baseball Reference's Play Index goes), there have been 50 instances where a player recorded at least 20 wins with the team. Of those 50, how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I've allotted 15 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I've provided the season and the number of wins.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse and/or confound your friends and family:
- Pitching to contact, or just a different era? Only six of these seasons saw the pitcher also record 200+ strikeouts that same season.
- The average triple-slash against: .246/.298/.331.
- The list's 1908 season saw 40 pitcher wins. That's second-most in a season in the modern era, behind only Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders (Yankees).
Direct link here
All data from baseballreference.com
