Bill Veeck Returns to Buy the White Sox

On December 16, 1975, Bill Veeck led an investment group that purchased 80 percent of the Chicago White Sox from John Allyn, saving the franchise from a likely move to Seattle. It was the fourth major league club Veeck had owned and the second time he had controlled the White Sox.

Veeck had first bought the team in 1959 and promptly watched them win the pennant, their first in 40 years. He sold his stake in 1961 after health problems forced him to step back. Now, 14 years later, at 61 years old and missing parts of both legs from wartime injuries and subsequent surgeries, Veeck was back.

Allyn had been losing money for years and was negotiating to sell the team to a group that would relocate to Seattle. The American League had given preliminary approval for the move. Veeck's late bid stopped it. He scraped together financing from a patchwork of investors, operated the team on one of the smallest budgets in baseball, and compensated with showmanship. He installed the exploding scoreboard, hired Harry Caray to broadcast games, and dreamed up promotions that ranged from inspired to infamous, including the catastrophic Disco Demolition Night in 1979.

Veeck sold the White Sox again in January 1981 to Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn. He died five years later. The Hall of Fame inducted him in 1991, recognizing a career spent proving that a small-market owner with imagination could compete against deeper pockets, at least for a while.