1929
White Sox outfielder Art “The Great” Shires (Shires, by the way, gave himself that nickname) and manager Lena Blackburne got into a fistfight in the clubhouse over Shires choosing to wear a red felt hat during pregame warmups.
Blackburne knocked Shires out cold.
1941
In a game in New York, White Sox pitcher Eddie Smith allowed a hit to Yankee great Joe DiMaggio. It would be the first hit in DiMaggio’s record-setting, 56-game hitting streak.
Chicago won the game, 13-1.
1951 As a testament to the
managerial genius of Sox skipper Paul Richards, it had been 30 years since the league saw a move like this.
In the ninth inning of a game in Boston with the White Sox winning, 7-6, relief pitcher Harry Dorish was removed in favor of Billy Pierce to face the left-handed hitting Ted Williams — only Dorish wasn’t removed from the game, he was moved to third base! Pierce retired Williams on a pop-up, then was taken out of the game to return Dorish back to the mound. Boston eventually tied the game, but the White Sox would have the last laugh, winning 9-7 in 11 innings.
The victory marked the start of a 14-game win streak, with 11 of the wins coming on the road. By May 30, after sweeping the St. Louis Browns, the Sox record stood at 26-9.
Also on this day, pitcher Saul Rogovin came to the White Sox in a brilliant trade that helped the White Sox to their first first-division finish (fourth) in eight seasons and best record (81-73-1) in 31 years. Chicago sent Bob Cain to Detroit for Rogovin, who started 26 games, finished 17, had three shutouts and finished one, for an MLB-best 2.78 ERA and 5.0 WAR.
1954
With a 7-6, come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia Athletics at Comiskey Park, the White Sox secured the franchise’s 4,000th win. It was catcher Carl Sawatski’s single with two outs in the ninth inning that won the game. That year, the Sox went 94-60-1 … and still finished 17 games back of pennant-winning Cleveland!
1988
It is an obscure record, and one that probably will never be broken.
Outfielder Dave Gallagher was picked up over the winter by the White Sox after being released by the Mariners, and was called up to the club the day before. Playing in only his second game in a White Sox uniform, Gallagher hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to beat the Blue Jays, 6-5, at Comiskey Park. The blast came off of Toronto’s sidewinder, Mark Eichhorn. It wasn’t just Gallagher’s first MLB home run, it remains the White Sox record for fewest games played before hitting a walk-off home run.
1996
The White Sox easily handled the Brewers in Milwaukee, 20-8. The Sox scored 20 — which remains in a tie for the fifth-most runs in a single game in franchise history — yet only hit two home runs. Frank Thomas had one of them, and knocked in six runs on the night. Harold Baines and Robin Ventura both had three RBIs as well.
2006
This was not how the defending world champs were supposed to play their follow-up season, but a 7-3 win at Minnesota would mark the final day the White Sox would be alone and in first place in the AL Central.
Really, the entire 2006 season wasn’t as much about anything the White Sox did wrong — they ended up 90-72, and would have made the postseason as a wild card team under the current system — but what the Twins (96-66) and Tigers (95-67) did right. The White Sox were as many as 27 games better than .500 (56-29) as late as July 6, but the ALC was just too good in 2006.
On this day, the offense was driven by just four players who each had three hits: Scott Podsednik, Chris Widger, Joe Crede and Rob Mackowiak, providing all but one of the Chisox’s safeties on the day. Podsednik stole a base and also clocked his first home run since his walk-off in the 2005 World Series, and Widger and Crede joined him in the homer parade. Freddy García was the beneficiary of the onslaught, throwing 6 2/3 innings to improve to 6-1 on the season.
