Did the White Sox Put A.J. Hinch's Signature in Their Tony La Russa Announcement?
The Chicago White Sox hired Tony La Russa as their manger on Thursday in a move that shocked the sports world. It appears to have shocked the White Sox media team as well, given the image they apparently sent out announcing the hiring.
If you look closely, the signature above La Russa's name appears to match that of A.J. Hinch in the PR email sent out to announce La Russa as manager. A number of Twitter users noticed the mistake:
@whitesox email announcement appears to have AJ Hinch Signature. Looks like it was corrected on Twitter. @SoxOn35th @SouthSideSox @SoxMach_pnoles pic.twitter.com/m64LcrshZG
— Gabe (@GabeNotDave) October 29, 2020
Buddy pointed out to me...is that AJ Hinch's signature? pic.twitter.com/EhlSBhu9xS
— Jason Goff (@Jason1Goff) October 29, 2020
That's definitely Hinch's signature, so there are some serious questions about what happened here.
When the White Sox fired Rick Renteria on October 12, many speculated that Hinch or Alex Cora could replace him. In fact, Hinch was still a possibility as late as Thursday.
White Sox are expected to make a managerial hire soon. Eyes are Tony La Russa who’s believed to be Jerry Reinsdorf’s first choice, but no confirm he’s accepted yet. AJ Hinch among others under consideration. Experience is what they seek.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 29, 2020
Both Hinch and Cora were fired from their respective teams for their roles in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, and faced one-year suspensions. With those suspensions ending, both guys were expected to be hot commodities given that they'd managed teams to World Series wins -- Hinch with Houston in 2017 and Cora with the Boston Red Sox in 2018.
It could be that Hinch's signature was inserted into a template for the eventual announcement and just never removed. But that's a pretty serious blunder for such a big announcement.