Game 148: Twins at White Sox

Time: 6:40 Central

Weather: Clear & calm, start temp 71°

Opponent’s SB site: South Side Sox

TV: BSN. Radio: Is there anybody alive out there

MLB team record for strikeouts: 1596. Twins’ current pace: 1665

Rookie starter Jesse Scholtens turned 29 this season; he'd been stuck in the Padres' minors for awhile. During those years, he played for both the El Paso Chihuahuas and Amarillo Sod Poodles, so he's got his small cute animal names experience. He throws a low-90s fastball, slider, and curve; that fastball's actually worked alright for him this year. Digits:

Team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who’s been around since Pac-Man, has really endeared himself to Chicago fans recently. First off, the team has stunk this year. That’s not strictly the owner’s fault, of course, but Reinsdorf has a record of hiring arrogant incompetents. In a fine article at SSS, Brian O’Neill laments this about Chicago’s front office… and the general tendency towards arrogant incompetence among American business executives in general. I certainly can think of a once-thriving sports blog network whose mistreatment of employees and disregard for readers has sent it hugely tumbling.

Reinsdorf recently did, in fact, fire the front office. But he replaced the ones he fired with an internal hire who hasn’t to date, shown much skill at his job. O’Neill is understandably not thrilled with this, either. Reinsdorf’s been all about the old-boys network for years, though. Leigh Allan’s article from last year nicely sums up the man’s self-serving and hypocrisy.

And, naturally, Reinsdorf has been dropping hints about how he wants a new stadium, because these crooks always do…

So, instead, we’re going to look at when Sox players wore short, tight shorts.

The year was 1976, and, more importantly, Bill Veeck was running the White Sox. Bill, of course, had been a promotional innovator for decades; his son Mike would go on to devise 1979’s Disco Demolition Night.

This fun article by Chris Creamer at a site called SportsLogos has the story. Veeck called the tighties “Hollywood Shorts” (why???), and the players were as amused/annoyed as you’d expect. Future Yankee Goose Gossage wanted to shave his legs; another player wanted to pair the shorts with a halter top. (But team organist Nancy Faust did say she found them sexy.)

And, by the way? The shorts were an attendance hit... briefly.

The Sox only wore them a few times during the season, probably due to the risk of fielders/runners skinning their knees. And no team has ever worn short shorts again (unless you count basically every NBA player before Jordan).

But for a few games in 1976, you, too, could celebrate America’s bicentennial by watching America’s pastime in good-ol’ patriotic bun snugglers.