An Old White Sox Fan

I’m not going to claim to be one now, but I used to be a Chicago White Sox fan. When I was a kid I bought this 1967 yearbook, on a trip to Cooperstown. That was just about when the Mets were getting good, and as New Yorker and the son of a National League fan (the New York Giants, in particular), we became Mets fans. In 1969, of course, the Mets won the World Series.

Three White Sox in the ’67 yearbook were on the ’69 Mets: Al Weis (“German ancestry”}, a good-field, no-hit infielder who nonetheless had an RBI single in the second game and a game-tying home run in the fifth (and final game); J.C. Martin (“English-German ancestry”), a catcher who, with the fourth game tied in extra innings, tried to sacrifice bunt and was hit with the throw as he ran to first, allowing the winning run to score; and Tommie Agee (“Negro ancestry”), who led off the game for the Mets with a home run and made two great catches in the outfield.

A former Yankee (Moose Skowron) and a future Yankee (Tommy John) were also on that Sox team.

The ancestry information, by the way, comes from the yearbook’s biographical profiles. Brent Musberger, the TV sports broadcaster, was covering the team for the Chicago American. And the Pepsi ad on the inside back cover asserts: “The girls girl-watchers watch drink Diet Pepsi.”