This Day In Sox History...July 23

[Lip Man 1]

July 23, 1986 – It was one of, if not the worst, deal made by G.M. Ken “Hawk” Harrelson as he sent Bobby Bonilla to the Pirates for pitcher Jose DeLeon.

Bonilla, selected by the Sox in the Major League draft in December 1985, showed flashes of brilliance in his half season on the South Side. He’d eventually turn into a complete, dominating, five tool type player with the Pirates during their divisional title runs in the early 90’s, although he was a handful because of his attitude.  

 

July 23, 2009 - It had only happened 17 times before. On this date the Sox Mark Buehrle became the 18^th pitcher to ever throw a perfect game when he shut down Tampa 5-0. Buehrle was helped in the top of the ninth inning when Dewayne Wise, an otherwise mediocre player, made the catch of his career, leaping above the wall in left center to snare a ball hit by Gabe Kapler with one out. On the way down he started to lose the ball then snatched it out of the air with his other hand.

Buehrle completed the task in 2:03, the exact same amount of time as his no-hitter in 2007. He became only the fourth pitcher to ever throw a perfect game and a no-hitter joining Cy Young, Sandy Koufax and Randy Johnson. 

 

July 23, 2016 - It was certainly a strange and bizarre situation for the Sox. Chris Sale, arguably the best pitcher in the American League and one of the best in baseball went on a pregame rampage before his scheduled start against the Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field.

Sale was upset that he had to wear a throwback Sox pajama style jersey as part of a promotion for the game. Sale reportedly said it was uncomfortable. With the heat index over one hundred degrees wearing a dark blue/black jersey probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do either.

Sale decided to take matters into his own hands, as during batting practice, he destroyed all of the game jerseys the team was supposed to wear by cutting them up with scissors. He also said publicly the White Sox were more concerned with public relations and uniforms than winning games.

He would be suspended for five games for the incident.

 

[South Side Hit Men]

15 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

July 23, 1986 – It was one of, if not the worst, deal made by G.M. Ken “Hawk” Harrelson as he sent Bobby Bonilla to the Pirates for pitcher Jose DeLeon.

Bonilla, selected by the Sox in the Major League draft in December 1985, showed flashes of brilliance in his half season on the South Side. He’d eventually turn into a complete, dominating, five tool type player with the Pirates during their divisional title runs in the early 90’s, although he was a handful because of his attitude.  

He was a Rule 5 pick. Now this late into a meaningless season, and knowing how his career turned out, it’s easy to say he should have been rostered the final two months regardless, but De Leon was a solid 2 WAR pitcher for the Sox the two seasons he pitched here.

Meanwhile Bobby Bonilla went on to make 67 errors at third base across two seasons (32 and 35 in ‘88 and ‘89) before Jim Leyland said enough is enough and moved him to Right Field to salvage his bat.

Also, it’s highly unlikely the Jerry Reinsdorf would sign him once he became a Free Agent after 1991, though he could have been a difference maker in 1990.

Edited July 23, 2023 by South Side Hit Men

[The Kids Can Play]

41 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

July 23, 1986 – It was one of, if not the worst, deal made by G.M. Ken “Hawk” Harrelson as he sent Bobby Bonilla to the Pirates for pitcher Jose DeLeon.

Bonilla, selected by the Sox in the Major League draft in December 1985, showed flashes of brilliance in his half season on the South Side. He’d eventually turn into a complete, dominating, five tool type player with the Pirates during their divisional title runs in the early 90’s, although he was a handful because of his attitude.  

 

July 23, 2009 - It had only happened 17 times before. On this date the Sox Mark Buehrle became the 18^th pitcher to ever throw a perfect game when he shut down Tampa 5-0. Buehrle was helped in the top of the ninth inning when Dewayne Wise, an otherwise mediocre player, made the catch of his career, leaping above the wall in left center to snare a ball hit by Gabe Kapler with one out. On the way down he started to lose the ball then snatched it out of the air with his other hand.

Buehrle completed the task in 2:03, the exact same amount of time as his no-hitter in 2007. He became only the fourth pitcher to ever throw a perfect game and a no-hitter joining Cy Young, Sandy Koufax and Randy Johnson. 

 

July 23, 2016 - It was certainly a strange and bizarre situation for the Sox. Chris Sale, arguably the best pitcher in the American League and one of the best in baseball went on a pregame rampage before his scheduled start against the Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field.

Sale was upset that he had to wear a throwback Sox pajama style jersey as part of a promotion for the game. Sale reportedly said it was uncomfortable. With the heat index over one hundred degrees wearing a dark blue/black jersey probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do either.

Sale decided to take matters into his own hands, as during batting practice, he destroyed all of the game jerseys the team was supposed to wear by cutting them up with scissors. He also said publicly the White Sox were more concerned with public relations and uniforms than winning games.

He would be suspended for five games for the incident.

 

The Buehrle perfect game is still one of the all-time White Sox special moments in my time.