Today in White Sox History: February 27

The Mighty Mite is forced to wait for his immortality

1973

Coming off of his 1972 MVP season, Dick Allen signs a three-year, $750,000 contract with the White Sox, making him the highest-paid player in baseball. While contract details for early baseball are sketchy, this is believed to be the first time a White Sox player has been the highest-paid in the game.

Allen earned his deal by leading the AL in homers (37), RBIs (113), on-base percentage (.420), slugging percentage (.603) and OPS (1.023).

It would be 24 years before the White Sox would boast the highest-paid player in the game again, when Albert Belle signed a deal that paid him $11 million for the 1997 season.

1986

Former White Sox ace LaMarr Hoyt checks into drug rehab after having been arrested twice already in 1986 for drug possession.

Hoyt had excelled for the Padres in his first season in San Diego in 1985, going 16-8 with a 3.47 ERA and 2.5 WAR in his only All-Star season. While trade centerpiece Ozzie Guillén won the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year for the White Sox and would go on to amass the most defensive WAR in franchise history, Hoyt would see 1986 as his last season in the majors, as his ERA swelled to 5.15/71 ERA+ with a -1.0 WAR.

1990

After meeting for five hours and casting three votes in Tampa despite four of its 18 members (Birdie Tebbetts, Stan Musial, Red Barber and Roy Campanella) absent, the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee failed to elect a single person for the 1990 class to join BBWAA honorees Jim Palmer and Joe Morgan. It was the second time the group had refused to elect a player in three years.

The group started with 25 candidates and debated that list down to 11, including White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox. Fox, who would be elected by the Veterans Committee seven years later, was last considered for the Hall on his 15th ballot, in 1985 — when he infamously fell just two votes shy of enshrinement.

“All of them got heavy support,” committee member Ted Williams said. “It just shows how conscientious the members are about their voting, and the concern they have for putting someone in the Hall of Fame.”

2008

In their first game of Spring Training, the White Sox wear Northern Illinois University baseball caps, honoring the victims of the shooting rampage on the school’s campus earlier in February. The game-worn, autographed hats were later auctioned off to build a scholarship fund set up in memory of the five students who were killed.