The Cardinals take the NFL title at Comiskey Park
In what was a game played later in the year than any NFL contest ever, the Chicago Cardinals won the NFL title, 28-21, over the Philadelphia Eagles at Comiskey Park. The club went 9-3 on the season, one that saw them go an undefeated 5-0 at home (yeah, just five home games, seven road, including the final four weeks of the season). This powerhouse team, featuring the “Million Dollar Backfield” (Elmer Angsman, Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Charley Trippi) won those five home games at Comiskey by an impressive 141-65 aggregate score.
In the title game, both Angsman and Trippi scored two touchdowns apiece, all on big plays: Trippi had a 44-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Angsman a 70-yard scamper in the second, Trippi a 75-yard punt return in the third (falling down twice during the run on the slippery field) and Angsman another 70-yard TD in the fourth. The Cardinals never trailed in the game, in front of a small title crowd 30,759 at the sub-freezing ballpark.
It was the weather, and the lack of tarp over the field overnight, that helped the Cardinals with their game-breaking plays; the frozen field vexed the Eagles, who had sharpened their cleats illegally for better footing, and were penalized during the game for doing so. The Cardinals had custom-made cork-cleated sneakers to wear on the frozen field. During the game, Philadelphia was forced to resort to plain sneakers for better footing.
It was Chicago’s second NFL championship, although the 1925 title is controversial in that it was awarded after the Cardinals lost the “title game” at Comiskey Park.
As part of an effort to replace free agent Ellis Burks, the White Sox inked journeyman outfielder Darrin Jackson to a contract. D.J. would fill a role with the White Sox just fine, with 10 homers, 51 RBIs, seven stolen bases and a .312 average in the shortened 1994 season.
Jackson moved into the team’s broadcasting booth years later, first on TV, then radio, where he remains to this day.
Five years and five days after acquiring Tim Raines in one of his best trades as GM, Ron Schueler flopped in sending Rock to the Yankees for a player to be named later (pitcher Blaise Kozeniewski, shipped to the Sox in February).
Raines played another seven years (accruing 3.6 WAR over 402 games from ages 36-42) and won World Series in the Bronx in 1996 and 1998. Kozeniewski opted to retire at age 26 rather than report to the White Sox.
The White Sox extended starter Jon Garland with a three-year, $29 million deal. Already due at least an estimated $7 million in arbitration, Garland agreed to a team-friendly contract. It’s amazing what a World Series win can do for team camaraderie and overall attractiveness.
The 2005 season was Garland’s fourth as a regular starter for the White Sox and in the majors, and was to date (and into the future) his best, with an 18-10 record, 3.50 ERA, 4.6 WAR, an All-Star appearance and sixth-place finish in Cy Young voting. The righthander would be brilliant in the two final seasons he’d play on the South Side, totaling 28 wins and 7.6 WAR. He was dealt to the Angels for the final year of this extension, and never came close to his White Sox heights.
Garland’s 18.4 WAR places him 24th all-time among White Sox pitchers and 58th among all players.
