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Today in White Sox History: March 8

The WGN era gets set to begin on the South Side.

By Mark Liptak
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MLB: JUL 25 Twins at White Sox
A view of the WGN broadcast camera before the MLB regular season game between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox on July 25, 2019, at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

1942

Future White Sox MVP Dick Allen is born in Wampum, Pa. Allen set a franchise mark with 37 home runs in that 1972 MVP year, along with 113 RBIs. His 8.6 WAR in 1972 ranks second all-time among White Sox hitters (Eddie Collins, 9.4, 1915) and 14th all-time among all White Sox players.

Perhaps most importantly of all, Allen was credited by numerous sources as saving the White Sox in Chicago, his play driving attendance when a move to Milwaukee or other sites loomed as a true threat.

Allen died in 2020, still short of Hall of Fame election. In the most recent Veterans Committee vote in 2021, Allen was just one vote shy of immortality.

1948

WGN announced that it would televise Chicago White Sox games for the first time during the upcoming season.

Veteran radio broadcasters Jack Brickhouse and Harry Creighton would become the first White Sox TV announcers in history. The first game WGN aired was an exhibition game against the Cubs from Wrigley Field on April 16, 1948; the White Sox won, 4-1.

WGN televised White Sox games from 1948-67, 1981, and 1990-2019.

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