This Day In Sox History...July 11

[Lip Man 1]

July 11, 1950 - The All-Star Game returned to Comiskey Park for the second time and saw the National League win 4-3 in 14 innings on a home run by the Cardinals “Red” Schoendienst. 

The Sox representative on that day was pitcher Ray Scarborough who was acquired in late May from Washington. He’d wind up winning 10 games that year for the Sox but his ERA was over five!

This was the game where the Red Sox Ted Williams broke his elbow hitting the unpadded outfield wall.

    

July 11, 1985 - The Sox blew a game and lost to the Orioles in Baltimore 7-6. The loss would have long term consequences for the franchise because it eventually led to the firing of G.M. Roland Hemond. With two outs and the Sox leading 6-3, Bob James, the team closer, hurt his right knee. In came journeyman relief pitcher Mike Stanton who was picked up out of the minors a few weeks before. Stanton didn’t get a man out and gave up a three run, game winning home run to Fred Lynn.

Up in the broadcast booth, Sox TV announcers Don Drysdale and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson were openly questioning the organization if the best they could do was Stanton. It planted the seed in the mind of ownership that a change was needed.

That change turned out to be Harrelson... named the new G.M. that off season. The rest as they say is history as Harrelson lasted only one year in charge.

Hemond meanwhile would go on to become the G.M. of the Orioles and win another Executive of the Year Award.  

   

July 11, 1990 - During a series with the Brewers, the Sox had a promotion that actually worked. It was called “Turn Back the Clock" day.

The promotion recreated the scene as it would have been during the 1917 season. Sox players wore replicas of those uniforms, the scoreboard was turned off and operated by hand, vendors and stadium personnel were dressed in period clothes and photographers were allowed on the field. The promotion was copied by teams in all sports and an offshoot promotion came to pass in future years, it was called "Turn Ahead the Clock" with players wearing futuristically styled uniforms.  

 

July 11-12, 1994 - At the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, Sox slugger Frank Thomas slammed some of the longest home runs ever seen, reaching the upper, upper deck at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium during the home run hitting contest. As far as the actual game itself the next day, Sox hurler Jason Bere got tagged with the loss, as Moises Alou reached him for an RBI double to win the game in 10 innings 8-7. Pitcher Wilson Alvarez of the Sox was also on the A.L. squad along with Thomas (1B).

     

July 11, 2000 - Sox starting pitcher James Baldwin won the All-Star game for the American League in Atlanta. Baldwin threw the third inning in the A.L.’s 6-3 win. Joining him on the squad from the Sox were Ray Durham (2B) and Magglio Ordonez (OF).

 

July 11, 2006 - Coming off a season where the White Sox won their first World Series championship in 88 years, seven players and manager Ozzie Guillen made the trip to Pittsburgh for the All-Star Game.

The seven players were tied for the second most in team history equaling the number of Sox representatives in 1960.

The seven players were; Mark Buehrle (P), Jose Contreras (P), Jermaine Dye (OF), Bobby Jenks (P), Paul Konerko (1B), Jim Thome (INF/PH) and A.J. Pierzynski (C). None of the Sox players though were in the starting lineup.

The A.L. won the game in dramatic fashion 3-2.

 

July 11, 2010 - The Sox closed out the first half of the season crushing the Royals 15-5 at U.S. Cellular Field. The win capped an incredible 30 game stretch heading into the All-Star break that saw the club go 25-5 and vault into first place in the division.

The 25-5 sprint tied the Sox with the legendary 1975 Cincinnati Reds and the 1990 New York Mets for the best stretch of wins in baseball history heading into the second half.

Included in the run were winning streaks of 11 and eight games. They also won their first game back after the All-Star break.

 

July 11, 2021 – When the White Sox beat the Orioles 7-5 in 10 innings at Camden Yards it ran their record to 54-35, the best record in the league as Major League Baseball hit the All-Star break. The Sox wound up winning the game thanks to Adam Engel’s three-run home run.

But it also marked the first time in franchise history the Sox swept a season series from a club of at least seven games. Earlier in the year the Sox swept Baltimore at Guaranteed Rate Field four straight before doing it again in three games in Baltimore.