REGIONAL #52:  Here's my next regional, featuring six good teams and two mediocrities--and the mediocrities seem to take these regionals quite often! Most interesting matchup in round 1 looks to be the World Champion '38 Yanks against the '20 White Sox, a 96-win team starring the Black Sox scandal players in their last appearances before they were banned from baseball forever.

The most anticipated matchup of round 1 lives up to its billing. The 1920 White Sox remnants jump out to a 3-0 lead, but starter Eddie Cicotte gets injured in the 5th (allegedly) and scrub reliever Hodge eventually gets rocked in the 8th, with Joe Gordon collecting a TR 1-6 FlyB 7-20 and rolls a 6 to put the 1938 Yankees in the lead 5-3. However, Eddie Collins drives in 2 with a double to tie it in the bottom of the 9th and sends the game to extra innings. In the top of the 11th, the Yanks load the bases with 2 out but Dickie Kerr gets Dimaggio to lineout to end the threat. In the bottom of the 11th, pinch hitter Bibb Falk triples with 2 out, and an exhausted Lefty Gomez once again surrenders a double to Eddie Collins, giving the Sox the 6-5 extra innings win. Of interest, none of the players banned in the scandal made any significant contribution to the Sox win.

In semifinal action, the 1954 White Sox down the 1951 Cardinals 8-3, with Billy Pierce allowing a HR to Musial in the 1st but settling down for the CG win. However, in the other semi, a crosstown showdown between the 1920 White Sox and the 1983 Cubs (Manager Lee Elia to disgruntled Cubs fans:  "get a job") doesn't go well for the Sox, with the Cubs and Ferguson Jenkins winning 7-4, Carmelo Martinez with a big blow for the Cubs. As a longtime Sox fan, it seems that the Cubs always win these Sox-Cubs matchups just to taunt me, with the Cubs getting every split roll. Of course, the finals are yet another such matchup, so Minnie Minoso and friends should be worried. The regional finals features the Revenge of the Sox, as the 1954 White Sox eliminate the 1983 Cubs 5-0, with Jack Harshman tossing a 5 hit shutout. Cubs starter Dick Ruthven was chased in the 5th, and the excellent Cub bullpen (Brusstar, Lefferts, Lee Smith, Bill Campbell) shackle the Sox, but it was too little, too late, as the terrible Cubs defense gave the unemployed Cubs fans plenty to boo about.