This Day In Sox History...May 28

[Lip Man 1]

May 28, 1956 - The Sox purchased pitcher Gerry Staley from the Yankees. Staley would become one of the top relief pitchers in the league by 1959 helping the Sox win the pennant.

That season he went 8-5 with a 2.24 ERA and a league leading 15 saves.

He came into a bases loaded one out situation in the ninth inning at Cleveland on September 22 with the Sox clinging to a 4-2 lead. He threw one pitch to Vic Power who rapped into a double play and the Sox won the pennant for the first time in 40 years.  His teammate Omar “Turk” Lown also had 15 saves. In 1960 Staley would make the All-Star team.

 

May 28, 1973 – It was a night Wilbur Wood did something that rarely happens in baseball.

Two days earlier the game between Cleveland and the White Sox was suspended by curfew at Comiskey Park, tied at two after 16 innings. Rain washed out action on May 27 so when the suspended game was resumed the next day, it was Wood’s turn to pitch. He went out and threw five innings before the Sox would win it 6-3 in 21 innings. 30 minutes later Wood went out and started the regularly scheduled game. He would toss a complete game, four-hitter, winning 4-0. Two wins in one evening! His line for the night, 14 innings pitched, one run, six hits, nine strikeouts, two wins. Wilbur was now 13-3 on the season and it wasn’t even June.

 

May 28, 1986 - In a game against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Sox pitcher Joe Cowley struck out the first seven men he faced which set an American League record. He fanned Oddibe McDowell, former Sox infielder Scott Fletcher, Pete O’Brien, Pete Incaviglia, Gary Ward, George Wright and Steve Buechele in order. However, Cowley wound up pitching only four plus innings giving up six runs, five earned, and took the loss in a 6-3 defeat.

 

May 28, 1995 - At Tiger Stadium, Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning and 7-1 after two, but the White Sox rallied to win, 14-12. The game set an MLB record with 12 combined home runs, seven by the Tigers and five by the White Sox. Frank Thomas, Ray Durham, Craig Grebeck, and Ron Karkovice (twice) hit home runs for the Sox with Durham, Karkovice and Grebeck going back-to-back-to-back jacks in the fourth inning.

For all the home runs, it was a Mike Devereaux ground out in the eighth inning that provided the eventual game-winner, giving the White Sox a 12-11 lead.

 

May 28, 1999 - Sox infielder Greg Norton hit two home runs in a game for the second consecutive game. He was the first Sox player to pull that off since Zeke Bonura did it in 1935. All four of his home runs came in Detroit against the Tigers. The home runs accounted for six RBI’s.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Lip Man 1