Of course, Veeck was going to have another stab at ownership, as soon as one presented itself. On the south side of Chicago, a family feud between Charles Comiskey’s heirs did exactly that. Comiskey’s widow had died in 1956, and ownership of the White Sox was split unevenly between her children. The eldest daughter, Dorothy Rigney, held the majority position; the son, Charles Comiskey II, owned the rest. He ran day-to-day operations and, of course, bitterly resented deferring to his sister.
Veeck assembled yet another consortium to buy an option on Mrs. Rigney’s share of the Sox. In February, 1959, they exercised that option, and Veeck once again had a controlling interest in a Major League ballclub.
Chuck Comiskey, understandably, went ballistic; he’d had control of the club ripped from
Strange bedfellows: Chuck Comiskey (left) and Veeck.
under him. He refused to sign any cheques written by Veeck. Veeck invited reporters in the press box to have 54% (his share) of a cup of coffee on him.
This time around, the one thing Veeck didn’t have to tinker much with was the team on the field. In the slugging American League, home to Kaline, Killebrew, Mantle and Maris, the Chicago White Sox were literally running circles around the opposition; speed-and-defense players like Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox and Minnie Minoso were confounding conventional wisdom and, not coincidentally, winning…a LOT. In the first year of Veeck ownership, the “Go-Go Sox” won the World Series, leading to this awkward photo of Veeck and Chuck Comiskey sharing a convertible in the victory parade.
Veeck was still up to his old promotional tricks, though. He invented the “exploding scoreboard” at Comiskey Park, with pinwheels, rockets and sound effects (a cavalry charge, gunfire, collisions) that went off any time the Sox did anything positive. He put player’s names on the backs of their jerseys, an innovation that persists to this day. And the giveaways just got more outrageous; live orchids on Mother’s Day. 1000 cans of beer. 1000 bottles of soda. 100 restaurant meals.
Despite setting team attendance records (1.6 million in 1960) failing health forced Veeck to sell his share to fellow consortium member Arthur Allyn, Jr. in 1961. Veeck retired, after a fashion; one of his first moves was to write an autobiography covering his years in baseball – “Veeck as in Wreck“, published in 1962. In it, he proffered such gems as “(Giants owner) Horace Stoneham is the dumbest man I ever met. He owns the most storied franchise in baseball. He has the best player in baseball (Willie Mays). He played in the #1 baseball city in the world (New York). So he has to move the team to San Francicso because he couldn’t make any money???” Veeck knew that, had he been given those kind of advantages, he’d be able to lap the field.
Curt Flood with attorney Arthur J. Goldberg, and MLB Player’s Assn. chief Marvin Miller.
Veeck’s sense of fair play was never far from the surface. In 1970, multiple-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner Curt Flood was rather unceremoniusly traded from the Cardinals, his home for twelve seasons, to Philadelphia, whose fans had a reputation for being unfairly hard on African-American players. Flood announced his retirement, then set about suing Major League Baseball and its teams, contending that no veteran player should be traded or sold against his wishes. Curt ultimately lost Flood v. Kuhn, but Veeck testified on the plaintiff’s behalf, which made him even more of a pariah with the other owners.
Ultimately, Veeck couldn’t stay away. Ownership of the White Sox passed to Arthur Allyn’s brother, John. When John was near bankruptcy in 1975, Veeck pounced, with a consortium of more than 40 investors. Though the Lords of Baseball weren’t thrilled to have him back (they had to take multiple votes to confirm his readmission to their ranks), he was, just in time for Bicentennial. The promotions continued apace, including dressing the players in Bermuda shorts for warm-weather games.
Veeck’s return happened to coincide with the first Major League players being granted free agency. In some small way, he was a catalyst for that change, having testified on Curt Flood’s behalf, but now that the money was coming out of his pocket, he wasn’t happy about paying top dollar to hold on to his players. A younger, healthier Veeck would have welcomed the opportunity to outsmart his fellow owners in the free-agent market the way he had when fleecing them in trades, but it was not to be.
Though no longer an active participant, Veeck remained part of the ownership group until 1981. Bill continued his smoking and drinking ways untill 1980 but, by then, it was too late. He ultimately succumbed to lung cancer in 1986. His fellow owners, who had been his implacable opponents in life, elected him to the Baseball Hall of Fame five years later.
His son, Mike (who, incidentally, was the architect of “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey in 1979) carries on the Veeck tradition with the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League, where he is part of an ownership group that includes Bill Murray .
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