This Day In Sox History...July 27

[Lip Man 1]

July 27, 1951 - The Sox trailed the Yankees 3-2 at Yankee Stadium when the game was delayed 25 minutes by rain. When play resumed, the Sox scored twice more to lead 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning.

Yankee manager Casey Stengel and his players began stalling hoping for more rain. In fact, Yankee infielder Gil McDougald was ejected by umpire Bill McGowan because of those tactics. After a delay of slightly over an hour the game was called and reverted back to a 3-1 New York win.

Both teams protested the game in the ninth inning; the Yankees because of McDougald's ejection and the White Sox claimed that the field was not covered quickly enough at the start of last delay; in essence the Yankee grounds crew was also stalling.

On August 29, American League President Will Harridge announced that the Chicago protest was disallowed and he criticized manager Paul Richards for negative remarks about the Yankees, the umpires and the league office.

It was umpire Hank Soar in charge of the game that day who made the final decision to call the contest.

 

July 27, 1964 – He was the first of the great White Sox shortstops playing his entire 20-year career on the South Side and on this day Luke Appling was inducted into the Hall of Fame receiving a little over 70 per cent of the vote.

Appling made four All-Star teams with four hits in nine at-bats, won batting titles in 1936 and 1943 and in 1936 drove in 128 RBI’s, twice he also had over 100 walks in a season. He finished with 2,749 hits, 1,116 RBI’s and a lifetime batting average of .310 

 

July 27, 1964 – The same day Sox shortstop Luke Appling entered the Hall of Fame former Sox pitcher Urban “Red” Faber also gained admission. Faber spent his entire 20-year career with the White Sox winning 254 games with a career ERA of 3.15. He also won three games for the Sox in the 1917 World Series triumph over the New York Giants. In 14 of those 20 seasons he won in double figures with four of those years topping the 20-win mark. He also threw 4,086 innings!   

 

July 27, 1973 - Sox vice president Stu Holcomb ‘retired’ under pressure after his hard-line approach on salaries destroyed the 1973 White Sox.

When players wouldn’t come to terms with his initial offer, Holcomb ordered, then player personnel director Roland Hemond, to release them. Not try to compromise with them or try to trade them to get something back... but release them.

The Sox gave away Jay Johnstone, Ed Spiezio, Mike Andrews and Rick Reichardt. When Holcomb ordered Hemond to release 21-game winner Stan Bahnsen, Hemond and manager Chuck Tanner went to owner John Allyn. Hemond and Tanner threatened to quit if something wasn’t done. Allyn sided with the duo and Holcomb was history bringing some stability to the front office although the damage was already done.

When the Sox suffered injury after injury that year, using the disabled list 38 times, there was little depth to try to fill the gaping holes. They’d end the season in fifth place at 77-85 after leading the division in late May.

 

July 27, 2008 – It all began with the White Sox in 1972 and it ended on this day as Rich “Goose” Gossage was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gossage was 20 years old when he started his career with the Sox going 7-1 in his rookie season. He was mentored by then manager Chuck Tanner and pitching coach Johnny Sain, who taught him a breaking ball and changeup. Sox first baseman Dick Allen taught him how a hitter thinks and how to set them up and by 1975 Gossage was the A.L. Fireman of the Year with 26 saves, nine wins and an ERA of 1.84. He’d pitch for 22 years, five with the White Sox and end up with 324 saves and 124 wins. He had 30 saves and 29 wins in his time on the South Side.

 

July 27, 2014 - He is one of only two skippers to work over five thousand games in American professional sports history and he started at a very young age with the White Sox in August 1979.

Tony LaRussa was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on this day.

LaRussa is also one of only a handful of managers with a law degree. He led the White Sox from that August 1979 day through June 1986 recording four winning seasons and the 1983 Western Division title. After leading the A’s and Cardinals to multiple World Series crowns he came back out of retirement to take over the White Sox in 2021, again winning a division title with 93 victories before things went south in 2022 in part because of health issues.

 

July 27, 2014 - Former White Sox star Frank Thomas, the “Big Hurt” was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Thomas played 16 years with the Sox and holds every major hitting record in team history.

He was the American League M.V.P. in back-to-back years, 1993 and 1994 and finished in the top ten in that voting nine other times. He was the Comeback Player of the Year in 2000 and helped the Sox on their way to winning the 2005 World Series before getting injured in mid-season. 

He received almost 84 per cent of the vote becoming the first White Sox player ever inducted on the first ballot. And he did it cleanly, never being accused at any time of enhancing his performance with steroids.