Changing Sox

Player-manager Eddie Collins has the Chicago White Sox moving in the right direction, but finds himself out of a job 97 years ago today.

Seems the White Sox, coming off an 81-72 season in 1926, are not moving fast enough for owner Charles Comiskey.

So Comiskey fires the 39-year-old Collins after two-plus seasons as his manager and second baseman, and replaces him with his longtime catcher, Ray Schalk.

Ray Schalk

The 34-year-old Schalk then dramatically cuts back on his own playing time in 1927 to concentrate on managing, but that does not help as the White Sox dramatically cut back on the successes they have with Collins.

After their 81 victories with Collins in 1926, the White Sox regress to a 70-83 record in their first season with Schalk as their manager.

Schalk does not even make it through a second season as Lena Blackburne replaces him after Chicago’s 32-42 start in 1928.

Turns out the White Sox do not win for Blackburne, either. Nor do they do so for the managers who follow – Donie Bush and Lew Fonseca.

In fact, after firing Collins, the White Sox go 10 years without a winner until finishing 81-70 in 1936 with Jimmy Dykes as their manager.

Worry not for Collins, whose Hall of Fame career on the field continues through 1930 as a player-coach with the Philadelphia Athletics .

After that, Collins spends two more seasons as a full-time coach with the A’s before moving on to Boston, where he spends the next dozen-plus years as the Red Sox’s general manager. In that role, he is instrumental first in scouting and then in signing future Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr.

As an aside, Collins’ final two seasons as a player in 1929 and ’30 end with the Athletics winning the World Series – something the White Sox do not win again until 2005, some 54 years after Collins passes away.

Eddie Collins with Babe Ruth and Ted Williams in 1947