he is dead;the head coach of the chicago white sox have been..

he is dead;the head coach of the chicago white sox have been..

Sam Esposito, the North Carolina State baseball coach who played in the 1959 World Series for the Chicago White Sox, has died. He was 81.

The school says on its website he died Monday at a care home in Newland. A cause of was not given.

Esposito won 513 games for the Wolfpack and led them to four Atlantic Coast Conference baseball wins and third place in the 1968 College World Series.

He also was an assistant coach for 12 seasons on the men’s basketball team. He was on the team of coach Norm Sloan for the school’s first national title in 1974. After the 1977-78 basketball season, Esposito became a full-time baseball coach.

Esposito played 10 seasons in the major leagues, nine with the White Sox as a reserve infielder. He is a member of the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

Right in the middle of a 24-game homestand (!), the White Sox drew the biggest crowd in Chicago history at the time, 53,398, to a doubleheader split against the Yankees.

The White Sox, surprisingly playing better than .500 during the dark ages of 1920-50, dropped the first contest vs. New York, 6-4, with Ted Lyons getting the loss. But in the nightcap, the South Siders rewarded their fans with a 5-4, walk-off win to move to 30-27 and 5 1⁄2 back of first in the American League.

It was a wild finish for Chicago, who trailed all game but score one in the seventh and then a game-tying three in the bottom of the ninth. Evar Swanson tied the game, 4-4, with a two-run single with one out in the ninth.