The History of the Chicago White Sox - Part 8

            Bill Veeck was the owner of the White Sox from 1959 to 1961, and again from 1975 to 1980. Veeck was one of the most insane people I have ever heard of. He was an absolute madman. Try as I might, I can’t talk about Bill Veeck just as it pertains to the White Sox. He’s just too interesting. 


Veeck was someone who truly understood that baseball was, at its core, an entertainment product. He had a lot of ideas and absolutely no filter. Anything that popped into his mind was going to happen, no matter what. Sometimes this led to truly innovative ideas that impact how baseball is played and watched to this day. Other times it led to baseball-themed riots. 


The Veeck era is best told as a series of short stories. If I gave the proper background for each story, we’d be here all day long. I’m sorry for how different this part is from the rest, I just couldn’t help myself. Please enjoy this series of out of context stories. 



  • In 1949, as owner of the Cleveland Indians, Bill Veeck took the team’s 1948 American League pennant and buried it after his team was unable to repeat as American League champions. 


  • Bill Veeck was owner of the Indians when they became the first American League team to integrate. Veeck reportedly introduced the team’s first black player, Larry Doby, to each member of the team’s roster himself. Three members of the Indians refused to shake hands with Doby. Veeck traded those three players away as quickly as he could. 


  • While Veeck was serving in World War II, he suffered an accident that resulted in his right leg being amputated. During trade negotiations, he would sometimes complain that opposing general managers were asking for “an arm and a leg” in exchange for a player before taking off his prosthetic leg and putting it on the table in front of them. 


  • Baseball Clowns used to be a thing. Specific fans would come to games dressed as clowns and serve as unofficial mascots and cheerleaders. For the White Sox, this was Andrew Rozdilsky Jr., better known as Andy the Clown. In the 1940s, Veeck hired one of these people, Max Patkin, “The Clown Prince of Baseball”, as a coach in Cleveland. 


  • In 1946, Bill Veeck implemented a wall on wheels at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. He would adjust the wall’s distance from home plate based on the team that was playing against them, making the wall further away in areas opposing hitters hit more home runs. The American League started requiring that all outfield walls be stationary in 1947. 


  • Bill Veeck only sold the Cleveland Indians because he was going through a divorce. Most of his net worth was in the team and he was forced to sell to meet the terms of the agreement. He sold the franchise in 1950. 


  • In 1951, as owner of the St. Louis Browns, Veeck signed Eddie Gaedel to a one day contract. Gaedel stood at 3 feet 7 inches tall, and Veeck instructed him to crouch down to make his strike zone as small as possible. Veeck was walked on four pitches and was immediately replaced by a pinch runner. That was the only plate appearance of his career. Gaedel is the shortest player in MLB history. 


  • Bill Veeck bought the Browns with the sole intent of driving the rival St. Louis Cardinals out of town. He failed at this and was driven out of town himself. He sold the Browns in 1953 and they were subsequently relocated to Baltimore and renamed the Orioles, where they exist to this day. 


  • Shortly after becoming owner of the White Sox, in 1959, Veeck introduced the exploding scoreboard. The idea was that after every White Sox home run, fireworks would be launched and lights that look like pinwheels would flash. The fireworks wouldn’t actually be shot out of the scoreboard, they’d be fired from well behind it, but to the fans in the stadium, it would look like the stadium scoreboard shot fireworks out of it. This was an incredible success. The Comiskey park scoreboard became an iconic part of White Sox culture. Every team in the league started shooting fireworks after home runs soon after, a pinwheel from one of the White Sox scoreboards is at the MLB Hall of Fame and Museum, and every iteration of the White Sox center field scoreboard since has had pinwheels on the top. 


  • You can find out more about the exploding scoreboard by watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdN6LLhRUwM


  • In 1960, Veeck’s White Sox became the first team in MLB history to wear their last names on the backs of their uniforms in addition to numbers. 


  • In 1975, MLB was planning to move the White Sox to Seattle and rename them. In exchange, the Oakland Athletics would move to Chicago and rename to the White Sox. This plan was stopped when Bill Veeck repurchased the team. He had previously sold the team in 1961 due to health issues, but by 1975 had recovered enough to enter ownership circles again. Seattle ended up getting an expansion team known as the Mariners, who still exist today. 


  • In 1975, Bill Veeck conducted negotiations for four trades in a hotel lobby in full view of the public. This was seen as extremely unprofessional by other MLB executives. 


  • In 1976, Bill Veeck had the White Sox wear shorts for a game. Baseball players usually do not wear shorts because baseball involves sliding on dry dirt. When asked about potential knee injuries, Veeck responded “I’ve got a worse looking knee than any of my players. It’s solid wood!”. The Sox wore shorts twice that season. No MLB team has worn shorts since. 


  • Also in 1976, Veeck appeared as a peg-legged soldier in an event celebrating America’s bicentennial. 


  • This one doesn’t have anything to do with Bill Veeck, but it belongs in this part of White Sox history. In 1977, White Sox organist Nancy Faust decided to play Steam’s 1969 hit single “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” over the stadium speakers. It quickly became a team anthem and is played regularly at White Sox games to this day. It is most often used to mock a pitcher when they are pulled from a game for a replacement. Every other MLB team adopted this practice since the White Sox first did it to the Texas Rangers. Use of the song has transcended baseball and even sports as a whole. 


  • Bill Veeck, as part of a publicity stunt, had Minnie Minoso, who had since become the White Sox’s first base coach, suit up for the team at age 52. He took eight at bats over three games and got one hit. 


  • Veeck did the same thing again in 1980, having Minoso suit up at 56. He took two at bats and did not reach base. Because of this, Minoso is the only player in MLB history to play in five different decades. 


  • In 1979, Veeck executed his last and greatest publicity stunt. Disco Demolition Night. Motivated by the rise of disco music in the seventies, and specifically by the domination of the 21st Grammy Awards by disco music, and by a fear that rock and roll would eventually die out, Veeck arranged for a promotion called “Disco Demolition Night”. In this event, the White Sox offered free admission for anyone who brought a disco record to the game. The records would be put in a big pile on the field between games of a doubleheader before being blown up. 


  • This one needs multiple bullet points. 


  • Veeck contacted local DJ Steve Dahl, who had been fired from the Chicago radio station WDAI after its transition from a rock station to a disco station, to help organize the event. Dahl had amassed a significant following, known as “Cohos”, by portraying himself as a martyr to the disco empire. The Cohos had obtained a reputation for violence after fights and near-riots occurred after several previous anti-disco events in and around Chicago that year. 


  • The day before the promotion, the White Sox drew a crowd of 15,520. Veeck was expecting roughly 20,000 fans to attend and hired enough security for 35,000. 


  • Comiskey Park had a maximum capacity of 44,492. 


  • The crowd at Comiskey Park that night was estimated to be between 50,000 and 55,000. 


  •  A crowd of roughly 20,000 was on the streets outside the stadium.


  • The official attendance was listed as 47,795, but thousands of people entered without a ticket by jumping fences and turnstiles or entering through open windows. This led Veeck to divert security away from the field and towards the gates. 


  • The first game of the doubleheader was interrupted multiple times by people throwing disco records, firecrackers, bottles, and other objects onto the field. There were multiple streakers.


  • After the conclusion of the first game, Dahl came onto the field dressed as a soldier. He rode in on a jeep, claiming to be leading an “anti-disco army”. There were very few security guards on the field, as the vast majority were still watching the gates. By now, many fans who came there for the actual baseball had left. After the records were demolished, a large crater was left in center field. The demolition of the records made the massive crowd grow so out of control that they charged the field. Between 5000 and 7000 people entered the playing area, climbing the foul poles, starting a bonfire in center field, destroying additional records, and looting equipment from both dugouts. Players from both the White Sox and Tigers had locked themselves in their respective clubhouses. All of the bases were stolen, and the batting cage was destroyed. 


  • My dad was one of those people.


  • The White Sox tried several measures to control the crowd, the funniest of which was when Faust began playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on the organ over the stadium speakers. This did not work. 


  • The riot was eventually stopped after 40 minutes by Chicago police. By then, the playing field was so badly damaged that the second game could not take place. It was determined that the White Sox would forfeit the second game due to failing to provide a venue. 


  • This is one of only five forfeits in MLB since 1960. 


  • You can find out more about Disco Demolition Night by watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqbPSKCwdnw


  • I didn’t say much of anything about actual baseball in this part. 


  • Bill Veeck sold the White Sox for the final time in 1981. He had been a heavy smoker all his life and died in 1986 of lung cancer.

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