SAN FRANCISCO – New White Sox third-base coach Justin Jerschele was a 24-year-old minor-leaguer whose season was done when he sat in a luxury box at Kauffman Stadium for Game 7 of the 2014 World Series between the Royals and Giants.

He saw his dad, Kansas City third-base coach Mike Jirschele, make a ninth-inning decision that will be debated in perpetuity in that part of the Midwest. With the Royals down to the last out of their season in a 3-2 game, facing eventual World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner, Alex Gordon hit a single to center that bounced past Gregor Blanco then got kicked around the warning track by left fielder Juan Perez.

As Gordon chugged around the bases, Royals fans went nuts, assuming he would be sent home in a bid to tie the game. But Jirschele gave Gordon a stop sign at third rather than test one of the Majors’ strongest and most accurate arms as shortstop Brandon Crawford caught Perez’s relay from left field.

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Salvador Perez came to the plate with Gordon on third. A single would have tied the game. A homer would have given the Royals the World Series title. Instead, he fouled out to secure the Giants’ third championship in five seasons.

Long after the game, Jirschele emerged from the devastated Royals clubhouse and asked son Justin, “What did you think about the Gordon play there? Did I have a chance of sending him?”

Justin said no, he did not think Gordon had a shot to score.

Ten years later, the dialog between father and son continues, taking on further significance now that Justin has joined the family business, so to speak, as the third-base coach with the White Sox.

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They were on the phone late into the night Monday, after the Sox dropped the opener of their series against the Giants, analyzing some of Justin’s sends and holds at third base.

The younger Jirschele had a hand in the only positive moment of Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss, Chicago's 97th of the year. With two outs in the third inning, Lenyn Sosa banged a one-hopper off the wall in left-center for a double off Robbie Ray. Dominic Fletcher, flying around the bases from first, got an emphatic “go” from Jirschele despite Heliot Ramos’ strong throw from left.

Cutoff man Tyler Fitzgerald’s equally strong relay appeared to beat Fletcher to the plate, and Fletcher was called out. But the Sox got the run on replay review.

The Sox did not get another runner to second base.

Mike Jirschele, a baseball lifer who now manages the Royals’ Triple-A club in Omaha, has taught his son much about the technical art of coaching third base. But one of the more valuable lessons for Justin was seeing how his dad reacted to an avalanche of criticism and second-guessing from the media and fans on his decision to hold Gordon.

It was a long winter in Kansas City.

“He was good with it,” Justin said. “He felt convicted in his decision regardless of the way it ended. Obviously, you look back and, yeah, you can’t bank on a base hit [by Perez]. But if he sends [Gordon] and he gets thrown out by 15, 20 feet -- which I think he would have been -- you don’t give Salvy a chance there to drive in a run and tie the game.”

A year after the Gordon play, the Royals scored the winning run of the American League Championship Series against Toronto in the eighth inning of Game 6 thanks to the gutsiest call his dad made from the coaching box.

In a 3-3 game, Eric Hosmer singled to right with Lorenzo Cain at first base. Cain, who was much faster than Gordon, steamed toward third. When Jose Bautista aimed his throw to second base, Jirschele successfully windmilled Cain home. The Royals protected their 4-3 lead, celebrated a second straight pennant, then beat the New York Mets in the World Series.

Justin Jirschele, a former minor-league player like his dad, brings plenty of experience to the South Side. Justin was a minor-league manager for six seasons, most recently in Triple-A Charlotte, where he got the call last week to join the White Sox.

Minor-league managers usually double as third-base coaches.

“It’s something I’ve always liked to do,” he said. “For us coaches it’s probably the closest thing you can get to being in the game with the guys again. Obviously, I learned a lot through the years in the minor-leagues, and I continue to learn.”

If he has any questions, he is one speed-dial away from someone close who can answer them.