White Sox vs. Cubs — the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful
May 1, 1939
CHICAGO — Let’s start with the Beautiful.
Tomorrow at Comiskey Park, the North Side and South Side rivals will come together to support one of their own. The Monty Stratton story has gripped the baseball world and the nation as a whole, but nowhere more than the Windy City.
The Cubs vs. White Sox exhibition game will be a fund-raising event for the Stratton family to help with medical bills, etc. All proceeds from ticket sales and parking revenues will be given to the family. All players, coaches, and umpires will be required to buy tickets.
The American League calendar shows a game scheduled May 1 with the St. Louis Browns at Chicago. Since the Cubs had an off day, Browns President Don Barnes agreed to postpone the May 1 game until September 7. The single game scheduled for that day will become a doubleheader. In addition, Barnes bought $50 worth of tickets for the exhibition and gave them to a Chicago orphanage.
Stratton, at 26-years-old, had the golden arm as far as White Sox coaches and fans were concerned. Stratton appeared in 1 game for the Sox in 1934. He gradually saw more mound action in 1935 and 1936 as he continued to impress and improve. The breakthrough came in 1937 when he made the all-star team in mid-summer. He finished the season leading the team with a 15–5 record and 2.40 ERA.
The 6–5 Stratton was an imposing figure on the mound. He matched his win total in 1938 with a 15–9 mark and a 4.01 ERA. It now seemed he would be the heir apparent to Ted Lyons and become the ace of the Pale Hose pitching staff for years to come.
It all came to a halt on the afternoon of November 27, 1938, in the woods near Wagner, Texas. While visiting his parents’ farm during the Thanksgiving holiday, Stratton went hunting for rabbits. The pistol he was using accidentally discharged a bullet into his right leg. An artery was severed, and he lost copious amounts of blood. He was rushed to the hospital, given blood transfusions and his life was spared.
While his overall condition improved through the night, gangrene had set in. Doctors agreed that amputation was necessary.
“Brutal. Absolutely brutal!”, exclaimed ChiSox manager Jimmie Dykes. “The young man had everything going for him. He was young, tall, and handsome. He has a beautiful wife and a baby boy. He was living every young boys’ dream of being a major league ballplayer. It’s tragic.”
Legendary pitcher Dizzy Dean is just one of many ballplayers from around the league heart struck by Stratton’s plight. Despite his own sore-arm ailments, Dean is insisting on starting tomorrow’s exhibition game for the Cubs. The former Redbird great has not pitched in a regular season game yet in 1939 and only pitched 2 innings in spring training. Considering Dean’s physical condition, this may be the last time White Sox fans will have a chance to see this legend on the mound.
While the reason for the game tomorrow provides a beautiful backdrop of unity, don’t think that these two teams won’t be trying to best one another on the field. The fans for each club will insist upon it.
Except for the late aughts, and especially the World Series of 1906, the two Chicago teams have rarely had to share the city’s spotlight for a pennant race in the same year. Szkoda, as my Polish friends from the old neighborhood would say.
Older Chicagoans, especially South-siders, speak with fondness of the 1906 “Windy City Classic.” The White Sox were called the “Hitless Wonders” and led by player/manager Fielder (not a nickname) Jones. This was a good group of players that finished 3rd in 1907 and 1908, but never more than 5.5 behind.
No one expected them to beat the Cubs the 1906 Series. This edition of the Little Bears won 116 games and lost just 36. It remains the MLB record for most wins and best winning percentage for a team. It was the best of player/manager Frank Chance’s 4 pennant winners in 5 years.
All Chicago baseball fans can take some pride in claiming pennant winners from 1917–1919. The Cubs took the NL crown in 1918 but lost to the Red Sox in the World Series. The White Sox won the Series over the New York Giants in 1917 but failed to win again in 1919 against the Cincinnati Reds. Ironically, neither the White Sox in 1918, nor the Cubs in 1917 or 1919 were able to come close to capturing their league’s flag those years.
Despite playing in different Leagues and despite the lack of pennant races shared, the rivalry between the North Side and the South Side is alive and well. The advertising and concessions dollars are always up for competition. Both sides want to claim as much ink as they can get in the city’s newspapers. Radio broadcasts of the games now compete over the airwaves. Both sides look for bragging rights in any area.
Of course, influence with local city officials cannot be underestimated. I may be naive as a sportswriter, but my colleagues in the newsroom at the State Street Tribune keep me informed of what happens in this city “under the table,” in back alleys and late-night in parking lots.
It’s been 7 1/2 years since Al Capone was locked up and a little more than 5 years since Prohibition ended, yet much of the city’s reputation remains the same.
The infamous “Black Sox Scandal” brought baseball gambling and Chicago corruption to the forefront of the public’s eyes in 1919 and 1920. South-side fans are sick of hearing about it, and North-siders certainly don’t need another reason to boast this decade.
On a positive note, for the South-Siders, the ChiSox are on 3-game winning streak. In his first start of the year April 27, Jake Knott (1–0) threw a full 9 innings to beat Detroit 7–2. The Friday game was washed out. Chicago then beat the St. Louis Browns 9–4 and 8–3 on Saturday and Sunday. RF Larry Rosenthal has carried the offense hitting 7–11 with 7 RBI for those 3 games. He’s now hitting .467.
