1970
The worst White Sox team in history began their forgettable season by getting pounded, 12-0, at home by the Twins before just 11,473 fans. Starting pitcher Tommy John only lasted into the fifth inning by giving up six runs (five earned). The Sox would go on to lose a franchise-record 106 games and before the season ended saw the GM, manager and a number of front office people fired by owner John Allyn.
Also on this day, future legend Nancy Faust made her debut as organist at Comiskey Park. She
would tickle the ivories for White Sox fans and become a cultural icon over 41 seasons on the South Side.
1971
A’s owner Charlie Finley managed to pull off the last regularly-scheduled Opening Day doubleheader in history, but was stunned when the White Sox swept Oakland at the Coliseum, 6-5 and 12-4.
Tommy John and Bart Johnson were the winning pitchers. The Sox clubbed five home runs on the day, including a grand slam by Bill Melton. It should have been six homers, but Carlos May somehow missed touching home plate on his blast. (A’s catcher Gene Tenace picked up on it, and tagged May out when he was sitting in the dugout. It went as a two-run triple in the scorebooks.)
This was also Harry Caray’s first regular-season game in the booth for the White Sox, although at the time not a whole lot of folks could hear him. Three straight awful seasons caused the Sox to lose their radio contract with any mainstream Chicago station. For the next two years, games were broadcast on WTAQ (LaGrange) and WEAW (Evanston), two low-powered stations, along with other smaller stations throughout the area.
1973
On Opening Day in Texas, Mike Andrews became the first White Sox DH, hitting sixth in the lineup. He went 1-for-3 in a 3-1 win behind Wilbur Wood. Andrews got off to such a blazing start that Sports Illustrated wound up doing a story on him in his role as DH. He was hitting better than .300 through mid-May, but then reality set in. Andrews was released by the team in August after refusing to sign a contract extension, and he’d wind up with the A’s for the remainder of the season. In the World Series that year, owner Charlie Finley tried to “fire” Andrews (after he’d made two costly errors) by claiming he was injured, but commissioner Bowie Kuhn blocked any in-Series personnel moves.
1975
After being released by the Pittsburgh Pirates three days earlier, the White Sox signed a journeyman infielder who had seen action in just 132 games over six seasons in the majors … Tony La Russa. La Russa was two years removed from his last MLB game, and in fact never saw action on the South Side. His Triple-A season in Denver in 1975 was pretty darn good (.280/.400/.415), but he fell off at Triple-A Iowa in 1976 and was traded to St. Louis after the season.
1977
The White Sox introduced American League baseball to Canada, as they played the first-ever game in Toronto Blue Jays history. The Jays outslugged the Sox in a snowstorm at Exhibition Stadium to win, 9-5.
But the White Sox would be on to something much bigger, in slugging out five runs in the snow: The South Side Hit Men were born. Richie Zisk hit the first Sox home run of the season, in the first inning. The club would blast 191 more of them in 1977, with nine players hitting at least 10.
In this game, Ken Brett became the first American League pitcher ever to suffer a loss in Canada, Zisk the first AL batter to hit a home run there, and Ralph Garr the first AL player to bat in Canada.
1978
An overflow crowd of 50,754 fans — the 18th-largest home attendance in White Sox history — see the White Sox defeat Boston, 6-5, in a thriller.
Trailing 5-4 heading into their last bats, big offseason acquisition Ron Blomberg drilled a one-out home run to deep right field, tying the game. After a single from Chet Lemon and a fly out, Wayne Nordhagen doubled home Lemon to complete the comeback win.
The White Sox would win four of their first five and hold first place for five days before the season came crashing down to finish 71-90. It was a reverse of 1977’s inspiring 90-win South Side Hit Men, and indicated to owner Bill Veeck he would not be able to compete in modern-era baseball.
1984
Detroit’s Jack Morris threw the last no-hitter at the original Comiskey Park and the 11th against the White Sox in team history when he shut down the White Sox, 4-0, on the NBC Saturday “Game of the Week.” The Sox had their chances — including loading the bases on walks in the fourth inning with nobody out — but Morris rallied to retired Greg Luzinski on a double play and then got Ron Kittle to strike out.
A weird footnote to the game was that there were only five games played between no-hit outings against the White Sox (Mike Warren the previous September 29, three games before the end of the season, and Morris’ no-hitter in the third game of 1984.
For the 1984 White Sox, they’d be on to something just as bad, following up a 99-win, division-winning season with a flat, under-.500 campaign.
1986
On Opening Day at Comiskey Park, Rob Deer opened the scoring in the second inning with a titanic blow, onto the roof, off of Tom Seaver. Seaver would lose the game, giving up five earned in 5 1⁄3 innings, with a 37 game score. The future Hall-of-Famer would have a rough (by his standards) final season in the majors, falling to a 4.38 ERA/4.87 FIP in 12 White Sox starts before a trade to Boston allowed him to play out the final 16 games of his career for the pennant-winning Red Sox.
1993
On his first swing of the season, future Hall-of-Famer Carlton Fisk blasted what would turn out to be the final home run of his career. It would come off of Minnesota’s Jim Deshaies in the third inning, the only run scored by the White Sox in a 6-1 loss. Fisk would be released by the Sox in June and finish with 376 home runs (214 in a White Sox uniform), at the time both the club and major league record for a catcher.
Also on this day, Warren Newson’s wife, Tina, was gravely injured in a car accident, and he left the team to be by her bedside; her first game back after rehab was in October in ALCS Game 6, in which Warren homered.
1994
In the annual “Crosstown Classic” charity game between the White Sox and Cubs, Michael Jordan wrote his name into Sox lore. His double in the late innings tied the game and prevented the Sox from losing for the first time in this series. Jordan had two hits and drove in two runs in the game, which ended in a 4-4 tie at Wrigley Field.
The Sox ended up going 10-0-2 in this series, which lasted from 1985-95. (Two games were played in 1995.)
