Aspiring to a second year of Rent-a-Player success, the White Sox signed Ron Blomberg to a four-year, $600,000 contract — an absolutely insane commitment to a one-dimensional slugger who had played in just 35 games over the prior three seasons due to injury. The three-sport prep star was a first round choice of the Yankees in 1967 but never played in more than 107 games in a single season of his career — and remember, these were uncharacteristically mediocre Yankees teams at the time.
Blomberg, mostly DHing, hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a raucous home opener win over Boston, but played in just 60 more games for the horrible 1978 White Sox with five homers, 22 RBIs, a .