WSC Vintage: Joe Tipton

Card #23 - Joe Tipton

There may be no other player as important to the White Sox as Joe Tipton ultimately became. Joe hit a dismal .204 for the White Sox in his only season on the Southside, in 1949. The Tipton name has become synonymous with a baseball card in terrible shape, yet the man is instrumental to White Sox history for something that happened to him that was out of his control. Tipton was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics, in a move that cemented his name in Sox lore. While the unremarkable 1949 season was left behind in Chicago, the trade brought a future Hall of Fame player that became a fan favorite in Nellie Fox.

Joe's time with the White Sox proved to be mixed at best. Tipton's saving grace was his keen eye at the plate. He averaged a walk every seven at-bats. His on base percentage was usually high, with the career low of .306 being in 1949, as a member of the Chicago White Sox.