THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: APRIL 14TH/Fisk, Sammy

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THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: APRIL 14TH

 

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A NO-NO FOR CICOTTE

1917: Ed Cicotte no-hit St. Louis in an 11-0 Sox win at St. Louis. It was the fifth no-hitter in club history. Cicotte gave up three walks, hit a batter and struck out five in the only no-no of his career. The Sox gave Cicotte a lead right away with one in the first and added seven more in the second inning.

 

CHAMPS START WITH A WIN

1920: The White Sox opened defense of their American League title by defeating the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Opening Day at Comiskey Park. Lefty Williams got the win, which was the first in a six-game winning streak.

 

WELCOME A’S

1955: The White Sox and Sandy Consuegra defeated the Kansas City Athletics 7-1 in the Comiskey Park opener. The game was the first ever between the Sox and the Athletics since the A’s’ move from Philadelphia to Kansas City.

 

4-0 IN 1959

1959: The eventual American League champion White Sox improved to 4-0 by defeating Kansas City 2-0 before 19,303 in the Comiskey Park opener where all in attendance received a free beer and a soda. Billy Pierce was brilliant, firing a six-hitter in a contest that took just 1 hour and 55 minutes. The classy lefty struck out three and did not walk a batter in notching his first win of the season in his second start of the season. The Sox scored both of their runs in the fifth when Luis Aparicio’s single scored Johnny Callison and Bubba Phillips.

 

A FRUITFUL FIRST

1970: The White Sox did all of their damage in the first inning in beating the Angels 3-1 in Anaheim. The Sox scored their first run when Ken Berry scored on a passed ball. The Sox padded their lead on a Bill Melton double and a Duane Josephson single. Joel Horlen pitched into the eighth for his first win while Wilbur Wood tossed 1.1 perfect frames for his second save as the Sox halted a three-game losing streak.

 

FISK SLAMS BREWERS

1981: Carlton Fisk’s grand slam in his home debut with the White Sox powered the team to a 9-3 win over Milwaukee in front of 51,560 delirious fans in the Comiskey Park Opener. The blast came off Milwaukee’s Pete Vuckovich in the fourth inning and helped the Sox to a 9-3 win. Hometown hero Greg Luzinski drove in two runs in his Comiskey Park debut. The home crowd of 51,560 was the largest at Comiskey Park for any Opening Day.

 

MERULLO LEAVES HIS MARK

1989: Matt Merullo hit the last Opening Day homer at Old Comiskey Park in the White Sox 7-4 loss to Oakland in the home opener before 37,950 fans. Merullo homered off Rick Honeycutt during an Old Comiskey Park power outage so there were no fireworks to celebrate the milestone. Merullo collected his first Major League hit off Dave Stewart earlier in the game.

 

SOSA TRIPLES HIS PLEASURE

1990: Sammy Sosa tied a team record by banging out two triples in the White Sox 9-4 win vs. Cleveland before 12,125 at Comiskey Park. The Sox took the lead for good with two in the first thanks to a sac fly by Ivan Calderon and a single by Carlton Fisk. The win improved the surprising Sox to 3-1.

 

NEW MILLENIUM OPENER AT COMISKEY

2000: The White Sox opened the 21st Century at Comiskey Park with a stirring 9-4 win over the Anaheim Angels before 38,912 on the Southside. Ray Durham treated the sellout crowd to a spectacular catch in the first to keep the Angels off the board. In the bottom of the frame, Frank Thomas launched the 69th first-inning homer of his career that gave the Sox the lead for good. Paul Konerko later homered to help Mike Sirotka improve to 2-1.