Happy Chandler
October 25, 1947: Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends the Chicago White Sox from the American League, in a dust-up that started when the Sox inked 17-year-old star pitcher George Zoeterman, in violation of a ban on signing high school players.
Sox general manager Leslie O'Connor argued that Zoeterman was a private school student (at Chicago Christian High School, now defunct), and therefore not covered under the ban. This position earned O'Connor a $500 fine. O'Connor refused to pay, resulting in the suspension.
Ironically, O'Connor had been the chief assistant to the previous Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a former federal Judge for Chicago, who thus kept the Commissioner's office in the city. O'Connor was even Acting Commissioner between Landis' death on November 25, 1944 and Chandler's election on April 24, 1945.
On November 4‚ White Sox owner Lou Comiskey, son of team founding owner Charles Comiskey, paid the fine. In so doing, Lou allowed O'Connor to be seen as principled, but prevented his team from being harmed. A crisis was averted, and the AL was once again comprised of 8 teams.
What would have happened if Comiskey had backed his GM up? It could have meant a lawsuit. Chances are, before that case could reach court, the owners would have fired Chandler, and replaced him with a Commissioner more amenable to the Pale Hose's case.
It's highly unlikely that the AL would have played the 1948 season with a different ownership group getting the rights to play in Chicago, as they would have had to share Wrigley Field with the Cubs, because the aggrieved Sox surely wouldn't have let them use Comiskey Park, which they still owned. It was also very unlikely that a different team would have been invited to replace the White Sox (an early promotion to the AL for Baltimore or Kansas City, perhaps?), and even less likely that they would have gone with just 7 teams.
And what, you might ask, happened to the principals? O'Connor left the White Sox after the 1948 season, and later served 8 years as the president of the Pacific Coast League, including the difficult 1957-58 off-season in which the Dodgers and Giants came to California, and he had to replace the original Los Angeles Angels (with, as it turned out, the Spokane Indians), the Hollywood Stars (with the Salt Lake Bees) and the San Francisco Seals (with the Phoenix Giants). He died in 1966, at age 76. Because of the quick end to the situation, he is almost forgotten by baseball fans today.
What would have happened if Comiskey had backed his GM up? It could have meant a lawsuit. Chances are, before that case could reach court, the owners would have fired Chandler, and replaced him with a Commissioner more amenable to the Pale Hose's case.
It's highly unlikely that the AL would have played the 1948 season with a different ownership group getting the rights to play in Chicago, as they would have had to share Wrigley Field with the Cubs, because the aggrieved Sox surely wouldn't have let them use Comiskey Park, which they still owned. It was also very unlikely that a different team would have been invited to replace the White Sox (an early promotion to the AL for Baltimore or Kansas City, perhaps?), and even less likely that they would have gone with just 7 teams.
And what, you might ask, happened to the principals? O'Connor left the White Sox after the 1948 season, and later served 8 years as the president of the Pacific Coast League, including the difficult 1957-58 off-season in which the Dodgers and Giants came to California, and he had to replace the original Los Angeles Angels (with, as it turned out, the Spokane Indians), the Hollywood Stars (with the Salt Lake Bees) and the San Francisco Seals (with the Phoenix Giants). He died in 1966, at age 76. Because of the quick end to the situation, he is almost forgotten by baseball fans today.
And Zoeterman? A year later, he was signed -- by the crosstown Cubs. But he never reached the major leagues, not because he didn't have the talent, but because of his religious beliefs: He refused to play baseball on Sunday. And so, in 1951, after too many refusals of demands that he do so, the Cubs released him. He served in the Korean War, and, rather than return after his discharge, he quit baseball at age 23.
He went back to Chicago, and went into the glass business, working at, and then buying, the Beverly Glass Company on the South Side. After he died in 2001, at age 71, his son Timothy said he never spoke of what could have been in a major league career: "It wasn't worth it to him. I never once heard him say, 'I wish I'd stuck with it.'" He was survived by his wife, his son, 3 daughters, 12 grandchildren, and a sister.
*
October 25, 1947 was a Saturday. The baseball season had ended 19 days earlier, with the New York Yankees beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series.
But there was lots of college football action, including the following:
* Number 1 Michigan beat Minnesota, 13-6 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines won the Big Nine Conference title. (It was the Big Ten until the University of Chicago dropped football in 1940, and took that name again with the addition of Michigan State in 1953.)
* Number 2 Notre Dame beat Iowa, 21-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish did not accept a bowl invitation.
* Number 3 Texas beat Rice, 12-0 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
* Number 4 California lost to Number 10 USC, 39-14 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California. USC went on to win the Pacific Coast Conference title, but got crushed 49-0 by Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
* Number 6 Army were beaten by Columbia, 21-20 at Baker Field. It was Army's 1st loss in 4 years, and one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Although Baker Field is in Inwood, at the northern tip of Manhattan Island, the game is nicknamed "The Miracle at Morningside Heights," for the neighborhood that includes most of the Columbia campus. (I have a separate entry for this event.)
* Number 7 Georgia Tech beat The Citadel, 38-0 at Grant Field in Atlanta.
* Number 9 Penn State beat West Virginia, 21-14 at Beaver Field in State College, Pennsylvania. This was before Joe Paterno was involved with the program, and before Beaver Stadium was built.
* Number 12 Southern Methodist (SMU), led by running back Doak Walker, beat Number 16 UCLA, 7-0 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The following week, SMU welcomed Texas into the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas, and beat them to win the Southwest Conference title. SMU and Penn State played to a tie in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
* Alabama beat Georgia, 17-7 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Neither team was ranked at the time. Although 'Bama did not win the Southeastern Conference title, they were invited to play in the Sugar Bowl, where they lost to Texas.
* Arkansas, then in the Southwest Conference, beat Mississippi, 19-14 on neutral ground, in neither team's State, at Crump Stadium in Memphis. Despite the win, didn't come close to the SWC title. Despite the loss, Ole Miss did win the SEC, and went back to Crump Stadium, and beat Texas Christian (TCU) in the Delta Bowl.
* Kansas, then unranked, had the week off. They went on to win the Bix Six Conference (forerunner of the Big Eight/Twelve), and lost to Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
The baseball season had ended 19 days earlier, with the New York Yankees beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series. And the NBA (or, rather, BAA, Basketball Association of America) season wouldn't start for another 18 days.
But there were 2 NHL games played that day. The Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-2 at the Boston Garden. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
Also, Arsenal and Everton played to a 1-1 draw at Highbury in North London.
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