This Day In Sox History...May 1

[Lip Man 1]

May 1, 1909 - In a game at South Side Park, the White Sox buried the Tigers 19-9 banging out 16 hits. Detroit made 10 errors in the game. Their starting pitcher, Joe Yeager, allowed 12 runs but only five were earned in three innings of work. There was one other notable incident in the game, the Sox Herm McFarland hit the first grand slam in American League history when he connected off Yeager in the second inning. 

 

May 1, 1924 - In a game at Cleveland, Sox outfielder Bill Barrett banged out four hits and stole home twice in a 13-7 win. Barrett went 4 for 5 with three runs scored and two RBI’s for the afternoon. His steals of home came in the first and ninth innings.

 

May 1, 1936 - The Sox purchased the contract of Fred “Dixie” Walker from the Yankees. Alas this was a big one who eventually got away as the Sox traded him in a deal with the Tigers after only one season.

In 1937, with the Sox, Walker drove in 95 RBI’s while hitting .302. Walker would achieve stardom in Brooklyn winning a batting title and playing in four All-Star games.

 

May 1, 1951 - Recently acquired outfielder Orestes “Minnie” Minoso made his White Sox debut. The “Cuban Comet” became the first black player in team history. In his first at bat as a member of the Sox he hit a home run into the center field bull pen at Comiskey Park off Vic Raschi. The drive went an estimated 425 feet and drove in a pair of runs. Later in the same game, won by the Yankees 8-3, Mickey Mantle would hit the first of his 536 home runs.

 

May 1, 1954 - Sox pitcher Virgil “Fire” Trucks tossed a one-hitter in beating the Red Sox 3-0. The only hit he allowed came in the sixth inning, a single by future White Sox player Billy Goodman. He struck out eight Boston batters in the game. It was the first of his pair of one-hitters for the 1954 season. He’d end the year going 19-12 with a 2.79 ERA making the All-Star team and saving the win for the American League.  

 

May 1, 1959 - Early Wynn had one of the greatest days ever by a pitcher when he did it all in the 1-0 Sox win over Boston. Wynn tossed a one-hit complete game striking out 14. In addition, he slammed a home run in the last of the eighth inning to account for the game’s only run. His drive bounced off the glove of Boston’s Bill Renna into the first row of seats at Comiskey Park.

The only hit he allowed came to Pete Runnels in the first inning. It was a single to center field just to the left of shortstop Luis Aparicio.

Ironically seconds before the hit Wynn moved Aparicio over a few steps to his right and he wasn’t able to reach the ball. Wynn’s control wasn’t the best as he walked seven batters but he was always able to get out of trouble.

 

May 1, 1960 - Al Smith connected on a Jim Bunning pitch and set off owner Bill Veeck’s new exploding scoreboard for the first time. The blast came in the third inning with Jim Landis on base.

The Sox would win the game 6-3, and then swept the Tigers taking game two by the score of 5-2.

The scoreboard was 130 feet wide and cost $300,000. There was a firing platform in back that went into action when a White Sox player hit a home run. There were noises of varying tones and intensities. Among the noises were the sounds of horses running, thunder and the collision of locomotives. The eight small ladders atop the scoreboard flashed into electrical patterns. Strobe lights were atop the two higher ladders. Bombs and fireworks also were exploded from the firing platform.

 

May 1, 1973 - Dick Allen hit a lot of long home runs in his time with the White Sox but this may have been his longest. On a cool, damp night at Comiskey Park, Allen deposited a pitch from the Orioles Mike Cuellar on to the roof in left center field. The pitch was unusual as it approached home plate and many speculated that what Allen hit was a ‘Cuban Forkball’ (i.e. spitball) that failed to break downwards. Allen would hit two home runs on the night in the Sox 6-5 win. For many years afterwards the Sox hung a sign on the roof in left center field indicating where his ball passed over.

 

May 1, 1991 - The Sox lost one of the longest games in their history 10-9 to the Brewers in Milwaukee. The Sox blew leads of 5-0 and 9-6 in this one. The game went 19 innings and ran 6:05. The game went so long that WGN-TV sports director Dan Roan, who was covering the game, had to do his evening sportscast from a parking lot at a bar just inside the state line on Route 41. He couldn’t get back to the studio in downtown Chicago in time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Roan

[South Side Hit Men]

Add this for future year updates.

May 1, 2023 - Lance Lynn eats a salad.