THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: MAY 9TH

[StatManDu]

THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: MAY 9TH

(For more, see www.whitesoxalmanac.com or keep an eye on the scoreboard at US Cellular Field!)

IN THE EIGHTH HOUR AND SIXTH MINUTE AND 753RD PITCH, A WIN

1984:

Harold Baines ended the longest by-the-clock game in American League history with a home run on the 753rd pitch of the 8 hour and 6 minute affair which lasted 25 innings over two days. The historic blast powered the Sox to a 7-6 win and the bat that created it was sent to the Hall of Fame. Tom Seaver got the win and then started and won the regularly scheduled game, which the Sox won 5-4. The marathon game provided some interesting stats and bizarre plays. For example, Rudy Law, Carlton Fisk and Julio Cruz all had 11 at bats. … Tom Paciorek had a five-hit game after entering the game as a pinch-hitter! … Pitchers Ron Reed and Floyd Bannister both batted (0-for-1) while Richard Dotson was used as a pinch-runner and scored. … Juan Agosto fired seven scoreless innings of relief. Seaver became the first Sox pitcher to record two wins in one day since Wilbur Wood turned the trick on May 28, 1973 versus Cleveland.

 

WOOD KO’D

1976:

Wilbur Wood got the win but suffered a season-ending injury in a 4-2 win at Detroit. Wood was knocked out of the game in the sixth when a Ron LeFlore liner shattered his kneecap. The knuckleballing left-hander was off to a solid start in 1976. He went to the disabled list with a 4-3 record, a 2.24 ERA and five complete games in his first six starts. Wood wouldn’t pitch again until April 30, 1977 and wouldn’t make another start until May 22, 1977. Sadly, the popular Wood was never the same after the injury, going 17-18 with a 5.11 ERA before retiring after the 1978 season.

 

BALDWIN BLANKS BOSOX

2000:

James Baldwin fired the first complete game shutout by a White Sox pitcher at Fenway Park in 27 years and the first by a White Sox pitcher against the Red Sox since 1994 in a 6-0 victory. Baldwin’s whitewashing was the first by a Sox pitcher in Boston since Stan Bahnsen tossed a four-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader July 17, 1973. Prior to Baldwin’s gem, Alex Fernandez was the last Sox pitcher to zero the Red Sox. Fernandez accomplished the feat April 10, 1994 in Chicago. Baldwin entered the game with a 16.36 ERA at Fenway but limited the Red Sox to three singles and one walk as the Sox increased their lead to 1.5 games in the American League Central. Baldwin fanned eight while facing just 31 batters. The shutout made him 6-0 for the best start by a Sox starter since Wilson Alvarez began 1994 at 8-0. Edited May 9, 2007 by StatManDu