This Day In Sox History...April 17

[Lip Man 1]

April 17, 1906 - The World Championship season began in Detroit with the Sox beating the Tigers 5-3. Frank Owen, who’d win 22 games that year, picked up the victory. Just three days short of six months later, the Sox would close out the Cubs winning the only all-Chicago World Series four games to two. Frank Hemphill, who played all three outfield positions in the game, drove in two runs for the Sox.

 

April 17, 1951 - The “Golden Age” of White Sox baseball was born as on opening day the Sox destroyed the St. Louis Browns 17-3. Sox outfielders Al Zarilla and Gus Zernial both knocked in three RBI’s.

New manager Paul Richards emphasized pitching, defense and speed and for the next 17 seasons under two more managers the Sox would do it well enough to have 17 consecutive winning seasons, the fourth longest streak in MLB history.

 

April 17, 1956 - In front of newly elected Mayor Richard J. Daley, rookie Luis Aparicio collected his first Major League hit. It came off the Indians Bob Lemon and helped set up the winning run in the seventh inning in the Sox 2-1 opening day victory. Aparicio would be named Rookie of the Year and after an 18-year career would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. Lemon would become the Sox manager in 1977.

 

April 17, 1980 - Future Sox star and future Hall of Famer, Harold Baines collected his first Major League hit. It came off Yankee pitcher Jim Kaat, the former White Sox starter, in New York. Baines would have an outstanding career with 2,866 hits. His number #3 was first retired by the team in 1989 when he was traded to Texas.

 

April 17, 1990 - On a cold miserable night in Chicago, Ron Kittle would connect for a roof top home run off Boston’s Rob Murphy. It was Kittle’s seventh roof top shot, the most by any player in the history of the original Comiskey Park. It was also the last roof top home run in the park’s history. The Sox would win the game 2-1. Kittle’s blast came in the sixth inning, tying the game at one all.