Today in White Sox History: April 15

 

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1954
The White Sox reintroduced major league baseball to Baltimore for the first time since 1902, as they played at the new Baltimore Orioles as their first home opponent. The Orioles had moved from St. Louis that offseason. Virgil “Fire” Trucks got the start for the White Sox, but the O’s beat them 3-1 on the afternoon, starting a run of numerous unfortunate, strange and bizarre happenings for the White Sox at Memorial Stadium over the next 37 seasons.

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1972
The first labor impasse to cause regularly scheduled games to be cancelled caused Opening Day of the 1972 season to be pushed back. In Kansas City, the Sox would lose to the Royals, 2-1, in 11 innings despite Dick Allen’s first White Sox home run. Allen blasted a shot in the ninth inning off Dick Drago to give the team a brief 1-0 lead. Kansas City would tie the game with two out in the ninth inning on a Bob Oliver home run off of Wilbur Wood, then go on to win the game. The Sox would drop three consecutive one-run games to the Royals to start the season, two in extra innings, but would end up with 87 wins in only 154 games.

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1983
Milt Wilcox had his perfect game ruined with two outs in the ninth inning, as White Sox pinch hitter Jerry Hairston ripped a clean single up the middle. It was the only hit of the night for the Sox, who lost to Detroit, 6-0.

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1985
In a game at Boston, White Sox pinch hitter Jerry Hairston collected his 51^st safety in that role, setting the franchise record. Jerry would lead the league in pinch hits from 1983 through 1985, and would retire with 87 in his career. Hairston also hit the last home run to set off Bill Veeck’s original exploding scoreboard in October 1981 — and he hit it off of future Sox pitching coach Don Cooper!

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2006
It was one of the most incredible defensive plays in White Sox history: In the ninth inning of a game at U.S. Cellular Field against Toronto, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi had to charge in on a slowly-hit ball by Bengie Molina. His momentum carried him forward, and because of it he left his feet and starting falling to the ground. Before he hit the field, though, Iguchi got a throw off, despite being parallel to the playing surface. His throw was strong enough to get Molina at first. The Sox would win the game, 4-2.

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Today in White Sox History: September 10

A pennant race rescued: Horlen’s no-hitter righted the ship in late 1967. (Chicago Tribune)

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Sept. 10, 1930 — Future Hall-of-Famer Luke Appling made his Chicago White Sox debut. It was the start of the legacy of great Sox shortstops, including Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio and Ozzie Guillén. Appling went 1-for-4 in a 6-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

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Sept. 10, 1954 — Paul Richards, one of the greatest managers in White Sox history, resigned to accept a duel position of general and field manager for the Baltimore Orioles. Richards was the man credited with turning around the fortunes of the franchise in 1951 with his aggressive running philosophy. Sox pitcher Billy Pierce called Richards the smartest manager he ever had. Richards was also credited with turning around Nellie Fox, helping make him into a very good hitter. Richards left because the White Sox were not willing to give him a multiyear contract extension or a raise, and because of personal disagreements he had with then-GM Frank “Trader” Lane.

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(Chicago Tribune)

Sept. 10, 1967 — Coming off of two straight losses to the Detroit Tigers and in danger of falling out of the pennant race, Joe Horlen threw a no-hitter. Almost 24,000 Sox fans saw Horlen win, 6-0. Sox second baseman Wayne Causey saved the no-hitter with a grab of a smash up the middle off of the bat of Jerry Lumpe in the ninth inning; Causey’s throw just nipped Lumpe at the bag.

Rookie Cisco Carlos then shut out Detroit, 4-0, in the second game, vaulting the Sox right back into pennant contention. It was the last time in franchise history the Sox would throw doubleheader shutouts.

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Sept. 10, 1977—- White Sox pitcher Wilbur Wood tied the American League record by hitting three California Angels hitters in a row in the first inning of the club’s 6-1 loss at Anaheim. With two out and a man on, “Woody” hit Dave Kingman, Don Baylor and Dave Chalk.

Today in White Sox History: September 7, 2019

Instant success: After knocking around as a bit pitcher for years, Donovan came to the White Sox and blossomed into a star.

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Sept. 7, 1954 — One of the linchpins of the famed Sox pitching staff of the late 1950s, Dick Donovan, was acquired from the Milwaukee Braves after spending nearly the entire season in the minor leagues for the Detroit Tigers. Dick would win become an All-Star in his first White Sox season (1955) and win 73 games in six seasons on the South Side, including a pair of one-hitters.

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Sept. 7, 1960 — In a game at Comiskey Park, infielder Sammy Esposito booted a cinch double play ball hit by future White Sox infielder Bill “Moose” Skowron, with Chicago leading in the eighth inning, 4-2. That lead quickly evaporated, as the New York Yankees rallied for four runs and a 6-4 win.

Willie Harris and his friend, Jesse James (I swear I’m not making the names up) had a wager on the game. When Esposito blew the ground ball Harris took matters into his own hands. He jumped over the box seat railing, ran on to the field, had words with the player then the two started throwing punches. It took several uniformed police officers and ushers to pull Harris off of Esposito. Harris left the field shouting that he was “a real Sox fan.”