THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: MAY 20TH/Good Sox vs Cubs stuff

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THIS DATE IN WHITE SOX HISTORY: MAY 20TH

 

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A RECORD 16TH

1920: Thanks to an eight-run outburst in the 16th inning, future Hall of Famer Red Faber notched his fourth victory of the year in the White Sox 13-5 win at Washington. The Sox are the only team in big league history to score that many times in a 16th inning. The victory improved the defending American League champions to 14-11.

 

NIPPING THE YANKEES

1921: The White Sox held off the Yankees 6-5 at Comiskey Park. Dickie Kerr got the win as the Sox survived a two-run outburst by Babe and the boys in the ninth.

 

BIG WIN OVER BOSTON

1925: The White Sox scored nine times in the first four innings in support of starter and winner Charlie Robertson – the owner of the only perfect game in club annals – in a 10-7 win over the Red Sox at Comiskey Park. Robertson earned the fifth of his eight victories in 1925.

 

EXTRA BASE EARL

1926: Earl Sheely began a record-tying streak of seven consecutive extra-base hits in a 13-4 win at Boston. Sheely would finish with six doubles and a home run in the streak which tied the record first set by Cleveland’s Elmer Smith on Sept. 4-6, 1921.

 

MINI-SKID ENDS

1936: The White Sox halted a four-game losing streak by beating the Philadelphia Athletics 4-0 at Comiskey Park. The Sox scored two in the fifth and two in the eighth in support of starter and winner Sugar Cain. The game also marked the franchise’s first win on a May 20th since 1926.

 

HOT SOX SWEEP

1945: The first-place White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox at Comiskey Park to improve to 15-7 for their best 22-game start in a decade. The White Sox took the first game 4-2 behind starter and winner Thornton Lee and won the nightcap 8-2 with Orval Grove getting the victory. The sweep improved the Sox to 15-7 for their best 22-game start in a decade.

 

A CYCLE FOR JOE D

1948: In front of only 5,001 fans at Comiskey Park, Joe DiMaggio hit for the cycle and drove in six runs in a 13-2 rout of the White Sox. The Yankee Clipper paced the “Bronx Bomber’s” 22-hit attack with two home runs, a triple, a double and a single.

 

GOOD START CONTINUES

1951: The surprising White Sox, in the early stages of their “Go Go” era won their third straight game with a 5-4 decision at Washington. The win pushed the Sox to 16-9 for their best 25-game start since the 1935 Sox began 17-8. Starter Ken Holcombe, in the midst of the best season of his seven-year career, picked up his third win of the season.

 

FOUR HITS FOR LOOIE

1959: Luis Aparicio went 4-for-5 with two runs and Dick Donovan went the distance as the future American League champion White Sox bested the Orioles 5-2 in Baltimore. The Sox took the lead for good in the fifth on a sac fly by Sherm Lollar. Donovan gave up four hits and fanned five in improving to 2-2.

 

KLU THRILLS BIG CROWD

1960: Ted Kluszewski launched a two-run homer off Whitey Ford and finished with four RBIs as the first-place White Sox entertained 40,970 at Comiskey Park with a 5-3 win over the Yankees. Kluszewski’s homer in the third gave the Sox the lead for good and he padded the lead with a two-run single as partof a three-run eighth.

 

PRODUCTIVE DOUBLE DIP FOR SMITH

1962: Al Smith went 5-for-8 with two home runs and five RBIs in leading the White Sox to a doubleheader sweep – both wins by 8-3 scores -- of the Baltimore Orioles before 22,122 at Comiskey Park. Smith clubbed two homers the first game. In the nightcap, Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and got help from Bob Sadowski as the White Sox crept to within two games of first place.

 

SOX KEEP THE LEAD

1963: The White Sox stayed in a tie for first place by beating the Senators 5-4 in Washington. The Sox took the lead in the sixth on a Dave Nicholson sacrifice fly. Jim Brosnan secured Eddie Fisher’s third win with 2.1 innings of shutout relief for his fifth save.

 

HOPKINS, CHRISTIAN COME THROUGH

1970: Gail Hopkins sacrifice fly in the ninth enabled the White Sox to walk-off with a 3-2 win over the Angels before 3,712 at Comiskey Park. The Sox tied the game when Chicago native Bob Christian hit a pinch-homer with Bill Melton on base. After a hit-by-pitch, a single and walk, Hopkins came through with the game-winner.

 

ALLEN, BAHNSEN OVERWHELM ANGELS

1972: Dick Allen homered and drove in four and Stan Bahnsen fired a two-hitter in the White Sox 8-0 win over the Angels at 21,190 at Comiskey Park. Allen, who would win the 1972 A.L. MVP Award, hit a two-run homer in the first while Bahnsen fanned six and walked none for his fifth win as the Sox pulled to within a half game of first place in the American League West.

 

55,555 WATCH SOX SPLIT

1973: The White Sox set a Comiskey Park and city baseball attendance record by drawing 55,555 fans for bat day Sunday doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins. The Sox won the first game 9-3 behind a combined seven RBIs from Bill Melton and Carlos May. The Twins won the nightcap 3-0.

 

GOOSE: SUCCESS AS A STARTER

1976: Rich Gossage continued to show tremendous durability as a starter in going in the distance in a 3-2 win over the Twins before 6,999 at Comiskey Park. Gossage gave up seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in logging his second straight complete game effort and fourth in seven starts.

 

NORDHAGEN THE HERO

1980: Wayne Nordhagen’s sixth inning single fronted the first-place White Sox for good in a 4-2 win over the Twins before 12,864 at Comiskey Park. Chet Lemon added an insurance run with a homer in the eighth as the Sox won for the fourth straight time.

 

FOUR HITS FOR FISK

1981: Carlton Fisk went 4-for-5 and drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the eighth in a 6-5 win at Toronto.

 

SOX LEAVE ROYALS BLUE

1983: Tom Paciorek and Greg Luzinski homered off Vida Blue in the White Sox 9-6 win at Kansas City. Rookie Ron Kittle launched his seventh homer in the seventh inning as the Sox stopped a five-game skid.

 

SOX ‘DOT’ JAYS

1984: Bound for the All-Star Game, Richard Dotson tossed a six-hitter in the White Sox 3-0 win at Toronto. Dotson bested long-time Sox killer Dave Stieb while striking out six in upping his record to 6-2 and dropping his ERA to 2.45.

 

JOEL DAVIS: GO THE DISTANCE

1986: Joel Davis went the distance as the White Sox extended their winning streak to six with a 2-1 win over the Blue Jays before 12,837 at Comiskey Park. Davis yielded eight hits and three walks with six strikeouts in improving to 2-1. Davis limited Toronto to one hit through seven innings but got some help from his defense in the eighth when the Sox executed an 8-6-2 putout at the plate. In the ninth, Davis struck out Fred McGriff with the tying run on base to end it.

 

THE JACKSON AND JOHNSON SHOW

1994: Darrin Jackson went 4-for-5 with a home run in the first-place White Sox 13-6 win at Oakland. An eight-run second, spurred by Lance Johnson’s three-run homer, keyed the victory. Jackson hit his home run, a three-run shot, in the sixth.

 

BIG BLAST FOR THE BIG HURT

1995: Frank Thomas launched a 461-foot home run, the third-longest in New Comiskey Park history, in the Sox 7-5 loss to the Angels before 28,470 on the South side. … Lance Johnson swiped the 193rd base of his career to move past Shano Collins into fifth place in Sox history.

 

FRANK KEEPS GETTING ON

1997: Frank Thomas extended his streak of reaching base to 15 consecutive plate appearances in the White Sox 10-1 win over the Boston Red Sox before 16,563 at Comiskey Park. Thomas, whose 10 consecutive hits during the streak tied a club record, collected an RBI double and two walks before flying out to center to end the streak one shy of Ted Williams’ big league record. Harold Baines drove in three runs to move him past Johnny Bench into 52nd on the all-time list with 1,377 RBI.

 

AN INSIDE JOB

2000: The White Sox sent David Wells to the showers early and James Baldwin improved to 14-1 in domes in a 6-2 victory at Toronto. The Sox scored five runs in the first three innings off Wells in support of Baldwin, who went the distance to improve to 7-0 on the season which was the best start by a Sox starter since Wilson Alvarez began 1994 8-0.

 

BART BEATS JAYS

2003: Bartolo Colon went the distance for his fifth in the White Sox 4-1 win over the Blue Jays before 12,857 at U.S. Cellular Field. Colon made four unearned runs stand up as the Sox halted a four-game skid.

 

FRANK, PAULIE POWER SOX

2004: Frank Thomas hit a three-run homer as part of a six-run second as the White Sox obliterated the Twins 10-3 in the Metrodome. Thomas’ blast was part of a four-hit game, which was matched by Paul Konerko, who hit two homers.

 

INTERLEAGUE OPENER: A WRIGLEY WIN

2005: The first-place White Sox opened the ninth season of interleague play with the sweetest triumph of all – a win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Sox prevailed 5-1 behind seven strong innings from Freddy Garcia and home runs from Joe Crede and Jermaine Dye. Garcia gave up five hits, a walk and an unearned run while striking out three.

 

TAD SLAMS CUBS IN FIGHT GAME

2006: Tadahito hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in six in the first-place White Sox 7-0 win over the Cubs before 39,387 at U.S. Cellular Field. This game featured the brawl prompted by Cub catcher Michael Barrett’s sucker punch of A.J. Pierzynski in the second inning. Pierzynski scored on a sacrifice fly and collided with Barrett. When the two got up, Barrett grabbed Pierzynski and delivered a right to the side of Pierzynski’s face. After the benches cleared, the Sox Pierzynski and Brian Anderson and the Cubs Barrett and John Mabry were ejected. Iguchi hit a grand slam in the second and added a solo shot in the sixth. Freddy Garcia went eight innings and allowed eight hits with no walks and three strikeouts to improve to 7-1.

 

ANOTHER SLAM OF THE CUBS

2007: A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam and Nick Masset turned in a solid effort in the White Sox 10-6 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Pierzynski’s slam came in the seventh off ex-Sox lefty Neal Cotts and put the game out of the reach. Juan Uribe’s two-run single in the second gave the Sox the lead for good. Masset pitched into the sixth inning to earn his first big league victory in his first big league start.

 

 

 

Editor's Note: Information for these entries is gleaned from the author's files, retrosheet.org, various Internet sources, press reports of the day, White Sox media guides and the many White Sox books written by the great Rich Lindberg.