SAN DIEGO — Jay Hook knows exactly what the 2024 Chicago White Sox are going through.
Hook pitched in the major leagues from 1957-64 and made a career-high 34 starts for the 1962 expansion New York Mets.
That team set the modern-day major-league record with 120 losses.
The Sox are nearing the mark. They lost their 118th game of the season Friday, falling 3-2 in 10 innings to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
Entering Saturday, the 36-118 Sox needed to win seven of their final eight games to avoid tying the ‘62 Mets.
Hook, who grew up in Grayslake, went to Northwestern and now lives in Michigan, sympathizes with the group.
“I feel sorry for the team, I feel sorry for the players,” Hook, 87, said in a phone interview with the Tribune last week. “The whole thing is too bad.”
Hook spent a portion of the conversation asking how the players and fans were holding up.
Hook noted that the roster included the likes of outfielder Richie Ashburn, who shortly thereafter began a lengthy broadcasting career with the Philadelphia Phillies, and pitcher Roger Craig, who later as a manager guided the San Francisco Giants to the National League pennant in 1989.
“Some of these guys went on to very nice lives even though we were part of the worst team in baseball,” Hook said with a chuckle. “It wasn’t a fun time at all, but they made it a lot of fun to be at the ballpark. You hated to go through it, but it always could have been worse.
“It’s not a defeat unless you give up.”
Hooks had those lessons instilled as an amateur. While at Northwestern, he was on the basketball team that played Kansas in Wilt Chamberlain’s first game. Chamberlain scored 52 points.
“Some days you’re just outclassed,” Hook said.
The Mets lost their first nine games.
Hook earned the victory in the franchise’s first win, 9-1 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing one run on five hits while going the distance.
“I think I got a hit and drove in two runs,” Hook added. He was right. His two-run single to center in the top of the second inning gave the Mets a 4-0 lead. Hook also scored twice.
The Mets suffered a season-high 17-game losing streak from May 21-June 6, falling to 12-36 — well on their way to baseball history.
He recalled how New York, starved for National League baseball after the Dodgers and Giants left for California following the 1957 season, embraced the expansion Mets through it all.
“The fans were terrific in New York,” Hook said. “They were disappointed with the performance of the team, I’m sure, but they just loved having a team back in New York. That was a big deal for that franchise.”
Despite the setbacks, Hook said he never felt like the team gave up.
“I always felt, ‘Well, it’s a new game tomorrow, let’s get them tomorrow,’” he said. “The whole team felt that way. It’s tough by the end of the season when you know you’re the worst team, but you’ve still got to say, it’s your life and you can’t give up.
“In life or in baseball, tomorrow’s a new day.”
The Sox have already “topped” the ‘62 Mets in terms of a longer losing streak, suffering a franchise-record 21 consecutive defeats from July 10-Aug. 5. It’s one of their three losing streaks of at least 10 games this season. They became just the fourth team since 1961 to accomplish that feat, according to MLB Network game-day notes, joining the 1961 Washington Senators, 1965 Mets and yes, the 1962 Mets.
Asked what advice he would offer to the Sox, Hook looked to the future.
“If you look at it, it’s a game, your life is not depending on it,” he said. “Just because the ‘62 Mets were the worst team in baseball, the lives of the players on those teams weren’t over. That was one year. And by 1969 they won the pennant.
“You’ve got to look to the future and say, ‘What do we have to do to get better, what do we have to do to improve?’ Each player has to think that, but so does the management.”
As the Sox have continued to lose, Hook’s phone has been ringing with calls from reporters from everywhere.
It reminded him of 2003, when the Detroit Tigers were closing in on 120 losses. Hook even wrote an editorial for the Los Angeles Times.
The 2003 Tigers finished 43-119 after winning five of their final six games.
Hook is hoping for the best for the ‘24 Sox.
“As I’ve said many times, it’s a new game tomorrow,” Hook said. “And I hope they do better. For their sake.”
