Today in White Sox History: October 23

1911

News broke early, in the Chicago Tribune, that Nixey Callahan would be returning as White Sox manager in 1912, replacing Hugh Duffy. Owner Charles Comiskey emphasized having a manager in Chicago year-round, to help with spring training arrangements and offseason moves — Callahan was a Chicago resident.

A unique aspect of the switch was that Duffy was supposed to (and indicated interest in) move into more of a player development role, taking over Comiskey’s recently-purchased Des Moines Boosters; the Boosters would serve as a feeder team for the White Sox.

It was a solid enough plan — except Duffy changed his mind, instead taking a job managing the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association, and also claiming that he resigned his job as manager of the White Sox after getting a lowball offer from Comiskey. Duffy would end up quitting as Brewers manager before the 1912 season ended.

Ironically, Callahan — the second-ever manager of the White Sox, named player-manager for 1903 at age 29 — didn’t find much more success that Duffy did for those early 1910s White Sox. Duffy left with two years under his belt, with a 145-159-6 (.468) record, while Callahan’s three seasons in his second stint on the South Side landed him at 226-234-8 (.483).

2005

Game 2 of the World Series ended in unexpected and dramatic fashion, as outfielder Scott Podsednik blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. The shot, off of Houston’s Brad Lidge, ended the game in a 7-6 White Sox win after the Astros had rallied to tie in the top of the inning against Sox closer Bobby Jenks.

It was the second monumental home run of the game for the White Sox; in the seventh inning, down 4-2, Paul Konerko drilled the first pitch he saw for a grand slam to turn the game around.

Konerko had blasted 40 homers in the regular season and two in the ALCS. Podsednik hit zero home runs in the 2005 season, one in the ALDS, and now clocked the biggest of his career to put the White Sox up in the Series, 2-0.

2012

After a 2011 season that was one of the worst in a century of Major League Baseball, Adam Dunn was named the American League winner of The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year award.

Dunn bounced back to hit 41 home runs and drive in 96 runs for the Sox, who contended for the division crown until the final week of the season.

In 2011, Dunn only hit 11 home runs with 42 RBIs, and had a batting average of .159.

Also on this day, less than 13 months after leaving the White Sox with one year left on his contract, Ozzie Guillén was fired by the Miami Marlins. Guillén led the Marlins to a last-place finish at the end of a controversial year, and the club was so desperate to get rid of him he was fired with three years and $7.5 million remaining on his contract.