The White Sox have agreed to terms with Victor Done, a 16-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic. Done is 6-foot-3, 190 pounds with a solid delivery for his age and a fastball that has reached 91 mph. He has flashed a sharp 74-78 mph curveball that's ahead of his changeup right now. Done is from [...]
CHICAGO (AP) — Robin Ventura was easing his way back into baseball with the Chicago White Sox. Hired as an adviser to player development director Buddy Bell in June, it afforded him just the right mix of work and time with his family.
When Ozzie Guillen asked out of his contract near the end of the season and eventually ended up in Florida, Ventura was as surprised as anyone.
And when general manager Ken Williams and Bell talked to him and broached the possibility of succeeding Guillen, he was initially taken aback.
He mulled it over, discussed it with his wife and after a face-to-face meeting with Williams decided it was the right move, facing a challenge in a place where he was comfortable and well-liked for a decade. An offer, it turned out, he couldn’t and didn’t refuse.
“Not having managed before, I did have apprehension,” the former White Sox star third baseman said in a conference call Thursday. “(Williams) never tried to talk me into it. It was more of what was going to be there and be available. Ultimately it was going to be my decision.”
Ventura, known for his slick fielding, clutch hitting and left-handed power, has a good sense of humor and a well-rounded perspective on the game.
Fiery as Guillen? Nope. But he’s had his moments, too.
Who can forget the time he charged the mound after Nolan Ryan plunked him with a pitch in 1993? Once there, Ryan applied a quick headlock and administered several punches before players from both teams reached the confrontation.
And Ventura was tough as a player, too, surviving a grotesque injury in 1997 when he fractured and dislocated ankle in a spring training slide.
Now he’s the 39th White Sox manager overall, a list that includes 17 who played for the team.
“I think there is a challenge there, getting back into the game,” he said.
“I do have a passion for it. I do have a passion for this team and this city. I’m not one to really back away from a lot of things. … The passion is there to do it, I was asked to do it. I’m honored.”
Guillen was released from his contract with one year remaining after eight seasons with the White Sox and immediately was hired by the Florida Marlins as their manager.
“That whole thing surprised me as much as anybody. I figured he would be managing here a long time,” Ventura said of Guillen, his friend and former teammate.
The 44-year-old Ventura played for a host of managers who could influence his style – Jeff Torborg, Gene Lamont, Jerry Manuel, Bobby Valentine, Joe Torre and Jim Tracy.
“I run the gamut on different styles and smart baseball men and just different ways to communicate and get guys to play,” he said.
What kind of manger will he be? Yet to be determined. He said he wants players who care and are accountable.
Ventura was a first-round draft pick of the White Sox out of Oklahoma State in 1988 and spent the first 10 seasons of his 16-year career with Chicago.
After leaving the White Sox, Ventura also played for the New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was six-time Gold Glove winner and an All-Star in 1992 and 2002.
Ventura’s selection came as a big surprise. Most speculation had the White Sox’s top candidates as either Tampa Rays coach Dave Martinez or Cleveland Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. Both are former White Sox players.
But Ventura was always on Williams’ radar.
“Needless to say he was a little surprised and little apprehensive,” Williams said. “We had to explain to him exactly what the support system would be and exactly what are expectations were at the start. I was very clear with him that I do not expect him to be Tony La Russa on day one. In our estimation the fit is such that all of that will come together and we will ultimately be better off down the line that we could be if – in my opinion – we went in a different direction.”
Pitching coach Don Cooper and first base coach Harold Baines were already re-signed to multiyear contract extensions before the season ended. Hitting coach Greg Walker is not returning. Other staff additions will be announced by Tuesday when Ventura will have his first news conference at U.S. Cellular Field
Ventura batted hit .267 with 294 home runs and 1,182 RBIs over his career. His 18 career grand slams are tied for fifth in major league history.
He appeared in 1,254 games over 10 seasons with the White Sox, hitting .274 with 171 home runs and 741 RBI. He ranks among the White Sox career leaders in grand slams, walks, homers, RBIs, extra-base hits and runs scored.
Ventura led Oklahoma State to the College World Series and still holds the Division I record with a 58-game hitting streak.
Guillen left after he couldn’t get a contract extension from owner Jerry Reinsdorf. His relationship with Williams had become fractured over the last two seasons.
Now another White Sox player is back to try and get the team into another World Series. Guillen led them to the title in 2005, ending an 88-year drought.
Just like Guillen, Ventura is a big favorite of Reinsdorf.
“His ability to motivate and lead others will be a terrific attribute as manager,” Reinsdorf said in a statement. “I loved him as a player, from his baseball knowledge, to his professionalism, to how he went about his business in the clubhouse and on the diamond.”
Expected to be contenders this season, the White Sox finished 79-83 and third in the AL Central as several key players, most notably DH Adam Dunn and center fielder Alex Rios, struggled offensively.
Ventura said he’s familiar with what transpired last season, adding that once spring training gets under way in Glendale, Ariz., everything will be in the past and it will be a fresh start.
For him, too.
“I started to put my foot in the water with Buddy. I was easing my way back in,” Ventura said. “Not it seems I’ve jumped all the way back in. I jumped right in the deep end. I can swim, though.”
© 2011 The Associated Press.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Reds outfielder Chris Heisey wasn’t surprised to see the schoolgirl outfit hanging in his locker, his humbling attire for the start of a late-season road trip.
Welcome to the majors, rookie.
“I felt it would happen,” Heisey said. “As the season went on last year, I kind of heard talk that it would happen. All the rookies were talking about what we would be dressing up as.”
Making the rookies wear outlandish outfits for a road trip or fix a ham sandwich for a veteran is as much baseball tradition as batting practice and curtain calls, a time-honored way of reminding the newcomers where they rank in the clubhouse pecking order.
While other sports struggle with the question of when rookie hazing crosses the line, it remains part of baseball’s fabric – though not nearly as outlandish as some of the stunts in other sports.
“I think it’s worse in football,” said Colorado’s Todd Helton, who played quarterback as a two-sport star at Tennessee. “When I was in college football, they shaved me bald – the whole incoming freshman class. A bunch of big guys grabbed you and shaved your head.”
The Jacksonville Jaguars banned rookie hazing this year, saying it had gone too far. In recent years, rookies had been taped to goal posts, covered in baby powder, tossed in a cold tub and forced to accept ugly haircuts. The Jaguars can still hold their annual rookie talent competition and veterans are allowed to make the newcomers carry their equipment. But that’s the limit.
Last year, Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant created a stir when he refused to carry a veteran’s pads, challenging the rookie hazing tradition.
In professional baseball, rookies get a much milder treatment – no shaving, no forced haircuts, no taping to stationary objects.
“I don’t even know if hazing would be the proper term to use as far as baseball is concerned,” said Rockies manager Jim Tracy, whose rookie indoctrination involved wearing a gaudy suit.
Whatever it’s called in baseball, it’s changing, too.
With young players taking on more prominent roles, they’re getting treated more like equals in the clubhouse these days. Veterans say the latest rookie classes have been singled out far less than in the past.
“Because the game seems to be getting younger and younger, a lot of that stuff has totally changed,” said Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who was forced to fetch drinks for veterans during the middle of the night at team hotels when he was a Pirates rookie. “There’s a lot less going on.”
And most welcome it.
“It’s changed,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “In fact, I’m kind of glad it changed. I’ve never been a big fan of the whole thing.”
Marlins infielder Wes Helms had to carry veterans’ luggage onto team flights and serve them on the plane when he was a rookie.
“There’s definitely less than when I came up,” Helms said. “Now, you don’t really have anything as far as making them do anything stupid throughout the year to embarrass themselves.
“It definitely has calmed down over the years. Rookies are a little different nowadays. When I came up, you didn’t say a word until you had two or three years in the big leagues. Now guys come up and it’s like they’re already comfortable.”
How rookies are treated depends upon the veterans in charge. Most teams force rookies to dress in embarrassing costumes for a road trip late in the season. They might be ordered to sing or dance at the front of the team bus.
“The closest thing we have is the guy with the least service time in the bullpen has to carry the backpack of candy or drinks and find out what the bullpen guys want,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “We do some things at spring training just as bonding with guys, not really hazing. You give them projects or you ask them to do a report on something.”
Each clubhouse is different.
“I think it all comes down to the people that have the power,” Arroyo said. “If the older guys are reasonable and want the team to flourish, you’re only going to be able to push that so far without damaging (the chances) to be a winning team. So I think it depends on who’s king of the hill and whether those people are reasonable.”
Some if it depends upon how the rookies accept their special treatment.
“If you take it the right way, it doesn’t happen twice,” Helton said. “Usually when a guy fights back is when the problems arise. My rookie year, I was the only rookie. When they told me to, I’d make them ham sandwiches that year. I just kept my mouth shut and did what they said.”
Paul Konerko of the White Sox thinks rookie hazing shouldn’t make a newcomer feel uncomfortable.
“I remember when I was a rookie, people made me feel uncomfortable, maybe crossed the line,” said Konerko, who broke in with the Dodgers in 1997. “When that happens, when that player gets older, he says, ‘I’m not going to do that because I know how it felt.’ Or, ‘I can’t wait to do it to someone.’ It’s one of the two, and I think I’m the first one.”
A lot of players see baseball’s rookie treatment as something to be appreciated.
“There’s a deeper history in the game of baseball and things like that,” Twins reliever Matt Capps said. “You try to carry that history over.
“It’s a fine line. As long as you have fun and the guys that do get hazed know that it’s all in fun and in the right manner, I think it’s great.”
As soon as the rookies are done wearing those dresses, they think about sticking around long enough to see the next generation do the same.
“Hopefully that continues,” said Heisey, in his second season in Cincinnati. “Hopefully I can play long enough to do those fun things with the rookies at some point in time.”
© 2011 The Associated Press
1910 – A’s Jack Coombs & White Sox Ed Walsh pitch a 16 inn scoreless tie
1934 – NY Giants Mel Ott sets record of 6 runs in game & beats Phillies 21-4
1945 – Golfer Byron Nelson records most tournament wins (18) in a season
1949 – NBL & NBAA merge into National Basketball Association
1982 – NY Met Joel Youngblood singles in Chicago day game, he is traded, then singles for Expos in Philadelphia night game
1984 – Carl Lewis wins gold medal in 100-meter dash at LA Summer Olympics
1985 – White Sox Tom Seaver is 17th to win #300, beating Yankees
1986 – The United States Football League called off its 1986 season. This was after winning only token damages in its antitrust lawsuit against the National Football League.
1851 – 1st baseball uniforms worn, NY Knickerbockers wear straw hat, white shirt & blue long trousers
1925 – White Sox manager Eddie Collins gets 3,000 hit
1932 – Lou Gehrig is 1st to hit 4 consecutive HRs; Yanks beat A’s 20-13
1953 – Alexander Cartwright officially credited by U.S. Congress as founder of baseball
1955 – Stan Musial hits his 300th HR
1958 – Referendum allows city to sell Chavez Ravine to the Dodgers
1977 – Baltimore Orioles pull their 6th triple play (9-6-4-6-6 vs KC Royals)
1978 – Phillies Dave Johnson is 1st to hit 2 pinch hit grand slams in a year
1980 – ESPN begins televising college World Series games
1987 – Cubs & Astro tie Oriole & Ranger record of 3 grand slams in a game
1989 – Houston Astros beat LA Dodgers, 5-4, in 22 innings (7:14:09)
1904 – NL record of 5 stolen bases in a game (Dennis McGann, NY Giants)
1933 – Trailing 11-3, Yankees score 12 runs in 8th & beat White Sox 15-11
1948 – Hank Greenberg buys an interest in the Cleveland Indians
1963 – 3 NJ businessman purchase NHL Colorado Rockies, & get approval to move them to NJ Meadowlands (Devils)
1968 – NL awards Montreal & SD major league franchises
1997 – Major league revenue sharing begins, NY Yankees pay out most $28M
1900 – Eyre M Shaw, 78, becomes oldest gold medalist in Olympics
1906 – After 20 straight wins, Boston Pilgrims lose to Chicago White Sox 3-0
1919 – Casey Stengel releases a sparrow from under his baseball cap
1922 – Babe Ruth suspended 1 day & fined $200 for throwing dirt on an ump
1935 – Babe Ruth hits his last 3 home runs, Boston Braves vs Pirates
1939 – Carl Storck becomes 2nd NFL president
1941 – Ted Williams raises his batting avg over .400 for 1st time in 1941
1951 – NY Giants Willie Mays 1st major league game (goes 0 for 5)
1953 – Braves Max Surkont strikes out record 8 Reds in a row
1959 – Supreme ct rules La prohibiting black-white boxing unconstitutional
1963 – Early Wynn wins his 300th baseball game
1965 – Muhammad Ali KOs Sonny Liston in 1 for Heavyweight boxing title
1972 – Heavyweight Joe Frazier KOs Ron Stander
1981 – Bobby Unser becomes 1st Indy 500 winner to be disqualified
1981 – Carl Yastrzemski is 4th to get 3,000 hits (Cobb, Musial & Aaron)
1983 – Kirk Gibson (Tigers) & Jorge Orta (Blue Jays) hit inside park HRs
1984 – Det Tigers lose to Seattle 7-3 ends record tying 17 consecutive wins
1984 – Red Sox trade pitcher Dennis Eckersley to Cubs for Bill Buckner
1986 – KC Royal George Brett gets his 2,000th hit
1992 – NY Yankees score 9 runs before 1st out in 8th inn, beat Brewers 13-7
1997 – Minnesota Twins retire Kirby Puckett’s uniform #
1819 – 1st bicycles (swift walkers) in US introduced in NYC
1881 – US Nation Lawn Tennis Association forms
1891 – Boxers Peter Jackson & Jim Corbett fight to a draw in 61 rounds
1926 – White Sox Earl Sheely hits a record 6th consecutive double
1930 – NY Yankee Babe Ruth hits 3 consecutive homers
1943 – Fastest 9 inning AL baseball game (89 mins), White Sox beat Senators
1948 – NY Yankees Joe DiMaggio hits for cycle (single, double, triple, HR)
1952 – Brooklyn Dodgers score 15 runs in 1st inning & beat Cin Reds, 19-1
1966 – Muhammad Ali TKOs Henry Cooper in 6 for Heavyweight boxing title
1968 – Cubs Billy Williams sets outfielder record of 695 straight game
1969 – After 9,015 at bats Hank Aaron is lifted for a pinch hitter, Mike Lum, who doubled in a 15-3 victory over NY Mets
1977 – SD Padres beat Mont Expos, 11-8, in 21 innings
1994 – Reds bat out of order against Dodgers in 2nd inning
1996 – Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens beats Yankees for his 200th win
2006 – The Swedish ice hockey team Tre Kronor takes gold in the World Championship, becoming the first nation to hold both the World and Olympic titles separately in the same year.
1734 – 1st Jockey Club forms in SC
1900 – 2nd modern Olympic games opens in Paris (lasted 5 months)
1920 – Policemen raid the Cubs’ bleachers & arrest 24 fans for gambling
1922 – Babe Ruth & Bob Meusel, suspended on October 16, 1921, by Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, return to the NY lineup & go hitless
1941 – White Sox Taft Wright sets AL record of RBIs in 13 consecutive games
1946 – Cubs Claude Passeau makes his 1st error since September 21, 1941, ending pitcher’s fielding record of 273 consecutive errorless chances
1948 – Cleveland Indians tie AL record of 18 walks (beat Red Sox 13-4)
1960 – Baseball game in Milwaukee postponed due to dense fog
1964 – Buster Mathis defeats Joe Frazier to qualify for US Olympic team
1983 – Phillies Steve Carlton passes W Johnson with 2nd most strike outs
1984 – Boston’s Roger Clemens beats Twins, 5-4, for his 1st victory
1985 – Indians-Brewers game at Cleveland Stadium is 1st rain-out of 1985, ends record string of 458 ML games since Opening Day without a rain-out
1988 – Mike Schmidt hits his 535th HR, moving into 8th place
1991 – Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan, named NBA’s MVP
1997 – White Sox Frank Thomas reaches base safely for 15th straight time
1870 – Jem Mace & defends his Heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn, it lasts 1 hr & 17 minutes, & neither is struck by a punch
1946 – Red Sox win 15th straight beat Yanks 5-4, DiMaggio hits Grand Slam
1967 – Hank Aaron only inside the park HR (vs Jim Bunning)
1997 – Chic Cubs turn baseballs 68th triple play (vs SF Giants)
2002 – Anaheim Angels crush the Chicago White Sox 19-0. The Angels join the 1923 Indians, 1939 Yankees and 1950 Red Sox as the only teams to beat two opponents by 19 or more runs in the same season
1961 – Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.
1984 – The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 innings. The game took 8 hours and 6 minutes to complete.
1987 – Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) became the first player to switch hit homeruns in two consecutive games.
1993 – The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-104 in overtime to become the first NBA team to lose two playoff games at home and then come back to win three straight.
1995 – The Cleveland Indians tied a record when they recorded 8 runs before making an out. They beat the Minnesota Twins 10-0.
1999 – Marshall McDougall (Florida State) hit six consecutive home runs and knocked in 16 runs. Both records were set in the 25-2 victory over Maryland.
1878 – 1st unassisted triple play in organized baseball, by Paul Hines
1907 – Tommy Burns beats Jack O’Brien in 20 for Heavyweight boxing title
1909 – Albert Raines runs world record marathon (2:46:04.6)
1942 – 1st twilight game in 24 years, the Dodgers top Giants 7-6 raising $60,000 for Navy Relief Fund
1946 – Red Sox Johnny Pesky scores 6 runs in 1 game
1947 – A movement among Cardinals players to protest its 1st meeting with Jackie Robinson & the Dodgers is aborted by a talk from owner Sam Breadon
1954 – 1st shot-put over 60′ (18.29 m)-Parry O’Brien, Los Angeles, CA
1967 – Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in US Army
1971 – Joe Frazier beats Muhammad Ali at Madison Sq Garden
1973 – Ernie Banks fills in for Cubs mgr Whitey Lockman who is ejected during the game, thus technically becoming baseball’s 1st black manager
1984 – Chicago White Sox beat Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 inn (completed 5/9)
1984 – Minnesota Twins Kirby Puckett debuts with 4 singles
1984 – USSR announces it will not participate in LA Summer Olympics
1994 – Colorado Silver Bullets (all-female pro baseball team) 1st game
1996 – NY Yankee Dwight Gooden wins his 1st AL game beating Tigers 10-3
1733 – 1st international boxing match: Bob Whittaker beats Tito di Carni
1903 – Chicago White Sox commit 12 errors against Detroit Tigers
1915 – Red Sox Babe Ruth pitching debut & 1st HR, loses to Yanks 4-3 in 15
1921 – American Soccer League forms
1925 – Ty Cobb hits his 5th HR in 2 games tying Cap Ansons record of 1884
1934 – Red Sox score 12 runs in 4th inning including record 4 consecutive triples hit by Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell, & B Walters
1982 – Seattle Mariner Gaylord Perry becomes 15th pitcher to win 300 games
1984 – Baltmore Orioles Cal Ripken Jr hits for cycle
1992 – NY Met Anthony Young begins losing streak of at least 26 games
1994 – Lennox Lewis TKOs Phil Jackson in 8 for Heavyweight boxing title
1995 – Classic Sports Network begins on cable TV
1997 – Rick Pitino becomes coach of Boston Celtics
1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his 5th career start.
1871 – 1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Ft Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit, a double
1918 – Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices, beat Red Sox’s Babe Ruth 5-4
1919 – 1st legal Sunday baseball game in NYC (Phillies beat Giants 4-3)
1929 – Lou Gehrig hits 3 consecutive HRs, Yankees 11, Tigers 9
1965 – Willie Mays 512th HR breaks Mel Ott’s 511th NL record
1973 – Longest game in Veterans’ Stadium, Phillies beat Braves 5-4 in 20
1975 – Houston’s Bob Watson scores baseball’s one-millionth run of all time
1980 – White Sox 1st baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers, becoming 1st lefty to catch since Dale Long in 1958
2002 – Barry Bonds hits his 400th home run as a Giant, leading his team to a 3-0 win over Cincinnati. Bonds is the first player to hit 400 homers for one team and 100 with another
1901 – 1st soccer game between Belgium (8) & Netherlands (0)
1901 – Cleveland’s Bock Baker gives up a record 23 singles as White Sox beat Blues (Cleveland Blues!) 13-1
1930 – 1st night organized baseball game (Independence KS)
1931 – Program for woman athletes approved for 1932 Olympics track & field
1961 – Warren Spahn pitches 2nd no hitter at 41 beats SF Giants, 1-0
1967 – Muhammad Ali refuses induction into army & stripped of boxing title
1985 – Billy Martin named NY Yankee manager for 4th time
1987 – NBA announces expansion to Charlotte NC & Miami Fla in 1988 & Minneapolis Minn & Orlando Fla in 1989
1988 – Baltimore Orioles lose AL record 21 games in a row
1990 – NBA Boston Celtics score most points in a playoff, beat NY Knicks 157-128
1992 – Brewers beat Blue Jays 22-2 with AL record 31 hits in 9 innings
1941 – Joe Louis TKOs Tony Musto in 9 for Heavyweight boxing title
1963 – Tigers claim young pitcher Denny McLain from the White Sox for $25,000
1966 – AFL chooses 36 year old Al Davis as commissioner
1968 – Baseball’s Opening Day is postponed because of M L King assassination
1969 – 1st Baseball game in Canada – Mont Expos beats NY Mets 10-9
1969 – Expansion teams Royals, Expos, Padres & Pilots win their 1st games
1974 – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hits 715th HR, breaks Babe Ruth’s record
1975 – Frank Robinson debuts as 1st black baseball mgr (Cleve, beats NY 5-3)
1991 – Major league umpires & baseball reach a 4-year agreement
1994 – Atlanta Brave Kent Mercker no-hits Dodgers, 6-0
1994 – Darryl Strawberry enters Betty Ford clinic
1995 – Oliver McCall beats Larry Holmes in 12 for Heavyweight boxing title
1942 – 2 black players, Jackie Robinson & Nate Moreland, request a tryout with the Chicago White Sox, they are allowed to work out
1953 – 15th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Indiana beats Kansas 69-68
1953 – Boston Braves move to Milwaukee
1959 – Boston Celtic’s Bill Sharman begins record of 56 straight free-throws
1970 – NFL selects Wilson as official football & scoreboard as official time
1985 – Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Willie Mays & Mickey Mantle
1990 – 32-day lockout by baseball owners ends
1991 – Mike Tyson beats Razor Ruddock in the 7th round
1991 – Phila ’76ers retires Wilt Chamberlain’s #13 jersey
1991 – Reggie Miller (Indiana) ends NBA free throw streak of 52 games
1995 – Michael Jordan announces he is ending his 17 month NBA retirement
1907 – Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club 1st game, loses to Calgary City Rugby Foot-ball Club 26-5 at Edmonton Exhibition Grounds
1950 – White Sox release Luke Appling, who had been on the team since 1930
1953 – Supreme Court rules Major League baseball exempt from anti-trust laws
1961 – PGA eliminates caucasians only rule
1965 – 1st NY Knick game postponed (black-out) vs St Louis
1965 – Willie Mays named NL MVP
1982 – Brewers’ Robin Yount wins AL MVP, unanimously
1984 – Larry Holmes TKOs Bonecrusher Smith in 12 for Heavyweight boxing title