This Day In Sox History...August 6

[Lip Man 1]

August 6, 1949 - Luke Appling played his 2,154th game at shortstop, passing Walt “Rabbit” Maranville for most in MLB history. He would play another 42 games there in the 1949 season and 20 in 1950, at age 43, before retiring. Appling played all but one of his seasons (1948) as a primary shortstop, and 94 per cent of his career games there. Today, Appling sits at eighth all-time in games played at shortstop, his all-time record broken 20 years later by another White Sox shortstop, Luis Aparicio, on September 25, 1970, his last game played that season.

 

August 6, 1959 – It was the third and final marathon game of the 1959 season. The Sox battled the Orioles in Baltimore and played for 18 innings before curfew stopped the night game tied at one all. The game lasted only four hours. The most significant item to come out of it was the incredible performance by the Sox starter, Billy Pierce. Pierce pitched 16 innings! Let me repeat that...16 innings allowing one run. Billy faced 61 hitters, struck out seven and gave up 11 hits, 10 of them singles.