GoFigure: Taking a look at some numbers from Sox-Cubs rivalry
Can you imagine the White Sox and the Cubs playing in the same division?
Under a proposed realignment for a shortened 2020 season, it could happen. As fans hold out hope for this year, it's time for a "Go Figure" gander at moments from the interleague play between Windy City's two clubs.
Q1. On June 16, 1997, in the first Crosstown Classic, the Cubs won, 8-3. The only Cub to score twice in the game was Ryne Sandberg, one of four future MLB managers to see action that day. Of the other three, only one has never won a World Series title as a manager. Who is it?
(Scott Servais, Ozzie Guillen, Dave Martinez)
Q2. In that inaugural '97 game, the first home run in the series came from an outfielder who had been dealt to the Sox from the New York Yankees as part of a trade for former Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell. He finished his career with 22 career homers in 805 at bats. Who was it?
(John Cangelosi, Lyle Mouton, Dan Pasqua)
Q3. The first game of the '98 series, on June 5, ended with a walk-off home run from a Cub outfielder. In the 159th game of the season, he dropped a routine fly ball that would have clinched a win against the Milwaukee Brewers. The loss was instrumental in forcing the Cubs to play the San Francisco Giants in a one-game playoff before earning a wild-card playoff berth. Who was this lefty-hitting, lefty-throwing Cub?
(Doug Glanville, Don Young, Brant Brown)
Q4. On April 7, 1994, when the Cubs and White Sox played in an exhibition game at Wrigley Field, Michael Jordan, soon to embark on a Double A season with the Birmingham Barons, drove in 2 runs for the Sox with a pair of base hits. One was against a pitcher who, at 6-foot-7, was an inch taller than the basketball legend. Who was it?
(Jim Bullinger, Dave Otto, Dan Plesac)
Q5. In June 2010, a former Cy Young Award winner won two games, two weeks apart, for the White Sox against the Cubs. Can you name him?
(Bartolo Colon, Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy)
Q6. In July 2015, a White Sox infielder made his Major League debut in the three-game series at Wrigley Field. Last year, for the Milwaukee Brewers, he managed only 8 hits in 65 at bats, but he made two of them count: grand slams on back-to-back days that accounted for his only runs batted in for the season. Who is it?
(Tyler Saladino, J.B. Shuck, Trayce Thompson)
Q7. In the most recent Sox-Cubs contest, on July 7, 2019, Sox rookie outfielder Eloy Jimenez hit a 2-run home run to fuel the South Siders' 3-1 win. Three weeks earlier, his 2-run homer in the ninth inning was the difference in that 3-1 Sox win.
The dramatics were heightened by the fact that the Cubs, in acquiring pitcher Jose Quintana, traded Jimenez two years earlier. Who is the current Sox pitcher who was also part of that deal?
(Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Aaron Bummer)
Q8. Forty-two games into the 2014 season, this third baseman hit his ninth home run for the Cubs, sixth-most in the National League. One homer was a grand slam in a 12-5 drubbing of the White Sox on May 8.
He is also the first player ever to hit home runs for the Cubs and White Sox in the same season - a feat he performed in 2015. However, he whiffed in more than 40% of his at bats and after the '15 season, his MLB career was over. Who was it?
(Mike Olt, Kevin Orie, Luis Valbuena)
Q9. The teams have been evenly matched over the years: one has won 62 times, and the other 60 times. Who has the slight edge?
Answers
1. Scott Servais; 2. Lyle Mouton; 3. Brant Brown; 4. Dave Otto; 5. Jake Peavy; 6. Tyler Saladino; 7. Dylan Cease; 8. Mike Olt; 9. White Sox
• Matt Baron is an Oak Park-based freelance writer. He supplements his baseball brainpower with Retrosheet.org for much of this research.