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This Day In Sox History...July 4


Lip Man 1

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July 4, 1960 - Bill Veeck’s exploding scoreboard was featured in a night shot on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The caption read, “Fireworks at Comiskey Park.”

July 4, 1960 Table Of Contents - Sports Illustrated Vault ...

 

July 4-5, 1964 - During the 1960's the White Sox were synonymous with outstanding pitching...pitching that was the envy of most of Major League baseball excluding only perhaps, the Dodgers. The best example of this were these two days in Chicago over the Fourth of July holiday in 1964.

In a time span of roughly 28 hours, the White Sox threw three straight complete game shutouts against the Indians. On the Fourth of July itself, Gary Peters blanked the Tribe on three hits, winning 4-0. In the Sunday doubleheader it was Juan Pizarro in game one, tossing a seven hitter, winning 2-0. Then in the nightcap it was Joe Horlen with a 5-0 blanking on four hits.

In 27 innings, Cleveland managed no runs on 14 hits with seven walks. Now that’s pitching!!!

 

July 4, 1972 - Sox catcher Ed Herrmann was involved in three double plays which tied the record for most involving a catcher in a single game. He tied former teammate J.C. Martin for the honor.

The three included Herrmann in the middle of a pitcher-catcher-first base one, a strike out-throw out stealing twin killing and a thrown out at home, thrown out at second base one.

The Sox turned five double plays against Baltimore at Comiskey Park… but lost 2-1!

 

July 4, 1978 - At the urging of then manager Larry Doby, the White Sox brought up Tony LaRussa to become the club’s new first base coach. LaRussa cut his teeth managing with success in the minor leagues at Knoxville and was deemed ready by Doby and others to take the next step.

LaRussa would go on to lead the Sox to the 1983 Western Division title and then win numerous pennants and championships as a manager with the A’s and Cardinals. He’d be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014 with 2,728 wins over 33 seasons.

He’d come out of retirement in 2021 to lead the White Sox and move into second place all-time on the managerial wins list in addition to winning the division and making the playoffs.

 

July 4, 2000 - Ray Durham and Jose Valentin led off the Sox half of the first inning in Kansas City with back-to-back home runs. It was the second time in team history a game started that way and the first time since 1937. The game also marked the Major League debut for Jon Garland who only lasted three innings in the 10-7 loss.

It was the end of the Sox 12 game road winning streak. The last 10 of those 12 road wins came against teams with records of at least .500, making the Sox the only team since 1900 to accomplish that. 

 

July 4, 2022 – Fundamentals win (or lose) games and for years the White Sox have suffered because they don’t execute the things very well that often mean the difference between winning and losing.

On this night though what they did made the record book.

In the seventh inning of a tie game against the Twins A.J. Pollock hit a long drive to right center field that was caught on the warning track by Byron Buxton who immediately threw the ball back to the infield.

What happened next had never happened before in the history of baseball.

Pinch runner Adam Engel and Yoan Moncada both lost track of the ball and assumed it hit the wall and was in play. Engel was at third base but had never tagged up, Moncada was right behind him. As Buxton’s throw bounced in to the infield, Twins third baseman Gio Urshela was in perfect position to tag Moncada for the second out, then ran and touched second base which meant Engel was also out.

It was an 8-5 scored triple-play the first in baseball history. The White Sox would lose a key game 6-2 in 10 innings with the triple-play caused by errant baserunning probably costing them an important win.

 

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17 minutes ago, The Grinder said:

Lip when did Veeck walk out to the field with maybe 2 others at start of game impersonating the 3 patriots? Veeck was limping on his wooden leg. Was this an independence day thing or opening day stunt?

Opening Day 1976 at Comiskey Park:

April 9, 1976 – Owner Bill Veeck was back and 40,318 fans turned out to say welcome home Bill on opening day. They got their money’s worth, as in a tribute to the Bicentennial, Veeck, manager Paul Richards and front office executive Rudy Schaffer presented the colors dressed as the fife player, drummer and flag bearer of the Revolutionary War. The stunt was unannounced and came as a last-minute brainstorm by Veeck who along with G.M. Roland Hemond had to convince Richards to dress up. 

As far as the game itself Wilbur Wood tossed a complete game six-hitter and Jim Spencer had a two-run home run in the 4-0 win against Kansas City.

 

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