On This Date in Sports August 8, 1976: Who Wears Short Shorts
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The Chicago White Sox turn baseball fashion on its head as they take the field wearing short pants in the first game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals at Comiskey Park. The shorts are the idea of Bill Veeck, who assumed ownership of the White Sox for a second time before the season. The White Sox won the game 5-2. The shorts would return in two games two weeks later, before being retired permanently.
It was a dark time on the Southside. The White Sox, paying in a decaying stadium, had once flirted with relocating in 1975, as owner John Allyn who purchased the team from Bill Veeck in 1961, had put the team up for sale. Charles O. Finley, who owned the Oakland Athletics, considered selling his team and buying the team from his native Chicago but was blocked by the remaining American League owners. A group for Seattle also tried to lure the team to the Pacific Northwest. However, with expansion in the works, the move to Seattle was sidetracked as well. Veeck, who sold the team to Allyn a decade earlier, stepped forward and reclaimed the team.
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The White Sox began a new era in 1976, as they had new uniforms and a new manager as Paul Richards took over after Chuck Tanner was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirate for Manny Sanguillen. The White Sox were struggling most of the season, with Richards leading the way. The Royals won the nightcap 7-1 as Chicago won their traditional pants. The short pants brought some notoriety to the White Sox, as fans liked them as they beat the Royals 5-2.
The White Sox donned the shorts again on August 21st, as they stunned the Baltimore Orioles 11-10 in ten innings, Bill Stein driving in Jim Essian with a walk-off single. The shorts brought out a larger crowd. They wore the shorts again a day later in a 6-2 loss to Baltimore in the first game of a doubleheader. It was the last time they were worn, as the White Sox won two of three, and the shorts experiment ended.