A bittersweet Minnie memory

It was September 22, 1959. This 14 year old Sox fanatic could barely breath watching the White Sox try to clinch their first pennant in 40 years, and bury the shame of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. With the Sox ahead 2-1 in the sixth, Al Smith, for whom the Sox traded Minoso to Cleveland before the '58 season, lofted a long fly to left. Minoso, drifted back and leaped at the wall to make an apparent catch. But the ball hit his glove and dropped into ...waiting bare hands for a home run and the clincher in the joyous 4-2 triumph. Minnie had played a literal hand in the Sox one and only pennant during his five decades in the Big Show. I recalled that game due to the tragic news of Minoso's passing, found dead in his car, returning from celebrating, appropriately enough, a friend's birthday. And every time I do, my mind's eye still sees Minnie, head down, talking to his glove, which unwittingly helped push his beloved Sox over the finish line.