THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: APRIL 16TH

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THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: APRIL 16TH

 

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FELLER MAKES HISTORY AT SOX EXPENSE

1940: Cleveland’s Bob Feller opened the 1940 season in a dramatic fashion at ComiskeyPark. “Rapid Robert” threw the first and only Opening Day no-hitter in Major League history in beating the White Sox 1-0. The gem also provided the answer for one of baseball’s trickiest trivia questions. This was the only game where each batter ended the game with the same batting average with which he started.

 

YOU’RE ON THE AIR

1948: WGN televised a baseball game for the first time. With Jack Brickhouse doing the play-by-play, the White Sox defeated the Cubs 4-1 at Wrigley Field.

 

PIERCE FIRES A DANDY

1953: Billy Pierce allowed only one hit in the ComiskeyPark opener as the White Sox nipped the St. Louis Browns 1-0 before 13,354 fans. Thirteen years to the day after Bob Feller no-hit the Sox on Opening Day at ComiskeyPark, Pierce carried a no-no into the seventh before the Browns’ Bobby Young doubled. St. Louis pitcher Harry Brecheen allowed only two White Sox hits.

 

HITS HAPPEN BUT NOT NEEDED

1966: The White Sox put on a clinic on how to win a game with minimal offense in topping the Athletics 2-1 before 6,953 at ComiskeyPark. The Sox collected only three hits -- none of which they used in scoring any of their runs -- in winning in 11 innings before 6,953 at ComiskeyPark. The Sox scored an unearned run in the first off future Hall of Famer Jim “Catfish” Hunter behind an error, a steal by Tommie Agee and a sacrifice fly by Floyd Robinson. The Sox won the game in the 11th when Agee walked, stole second, took third on a grounder and scored on Ron Hansen’s bases loaded walk. The Sox pitching was superb as Gary Peters gave up five hits and one unearned run in 7.1 innings.

 

A LONG DAY ENDS HAPPILY

1967: Jerry Adair’s bases loaded walk in the 16th inning of Game 2 allowed the White Sox to a sweep a doubleheader from the Washington Senators. After winning the first game 7-3 with Joel Horlen pitching a complete game and Tommie Agee hitting a three-run homer, the Sox worked OT to get the second victory. The Senators tied the game in the seventh and the teams played nearly another game before the Sox pushed across a run. Adair, who would end the season playing second base for the “Impossible Dream” Red Sox in the World Series, coaxed a bases loaded walk out of Darold Knowles to end the 4 hour and 8 minute marathon and 6 hours and 33 minutes of baseball in total.

 

WHAT NEW? HAIRSTON COMES THROUGH

1977: Jerry Hairston’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth gave the White Sox a 3-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays before 7,467 at ComiskeyPark. The base on balls scored Oscar Gamble and was issued by former Sox pitcher and losing pitcher Pete Vuckovich. Steve Stone went the distance for his first victory of the season.

 

SHADES OF PUDGE: BURKS HOMERS IN RETURN TO BOSTON

1993: In his first plate appearance as a visitor to FenwayPark, Ellis Burks homered in the White Sox 9-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. Burks’ blast came in the second inning with two outs off Danny Darwin and gave the Sox a 1-0 lead. The Red Sox led 4-2 after three before the White Sox took over. The White Sox tied the game in the fourth on a two-run homer by Robin Ventura. Lance Johnson’s two-run double in the fifth put the Sox ahead to stay.

 

A VICTORY IN 99 MINUTES

2005: The first-place White Sox dispatched the Seattle Mariners 2-1 in just 1 hour and 39 minutes before 25,931 at US Cellular Field. Paul Konerko accounted for all of the Sox offense with a pair of homers while Mark Buehrle was brilliant, fanning a career-high 12 in the complete game effort. The 99 minute game was the fastest in the Majors since a San Diego at Atlanta game on Sept. 30, 1984 and the fastest Sox game since a 1:38 affair on July 7, 1975 at Detroit.

 

THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: APRIL 15TH

 

NOT THIS YEAR, BOB

1941: A year after being no-hit by Bob Feller on Opening Day, the Sox got their revenge. Before 46,064 at ComiskeyPark, the Sox beat Feller and the Indians 4-3 in the 1940 curtain-raiser. The Sox took the suspense out of Feller’s no-hit bid right away by scoring two in the first. The Indians tied the game with single runs in the fourth and fifth before the Sox pushed two across in the sixth to take the lead for good to make a winner out of starter Bill Dietrich.

 

SOX HELP INAUGURATE BASEBALL IN BALTIMORE

1954: The White Sox helped return Major League Baseball to Baltimore when they lost to the Orioles 3-1 before 46,354 at Memorial Stadium. Baltimore had been home to some big league teams in the late part of the 19th century but this was the first American League game in the city. In a bit of symmetry, the Orioles came to Baltimore from St. Louis where they were the Browns.

 

O CANADA! A SOX WIN

1977: The White Sox spoiled the Chicago debut of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays with a 7-5 win before 10,840 at ComiskeyPark. Toronto scored five in the second but the White Sox scored two in the third and five in the sixth to win the first regular-season game involving a foreign team at ComiskeyPark. Royle Stillman’s two-out single gave the Sox the lead for good and made a winner out of Francisco Barrios, who turned in one of the great relief performances in club history. Barrios tossed 7.2 shutout innings in relief of starter Chris Knapp to earn his first win of the season.

 

HAIRSTON RUINS WILCOX’S PERFECT GAME

1983: Jerry Hairston ruined Milt Wilcox’s bid for immortality in the White Sox 6-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers before 19,483 at ComiskeyPark. Wilcox retired 26 in a row before Hairston, pinch-hitting for Jerry Dybzinski, smoked a clean single marking just the third time in history a perfect game was broken up with two outs in the ninth inning. The history-ruining hit was met with some boos from the home crowd. Exactly two years later, Hairston became the White Sox all-time leader when he collected his 51st pinch-hit at Boston’s Fenway Park.