Today in White Sox History: September 18
Some Comiskey Park firsts, weeks after opening!
1910
Chick Gandil clocked the first two-run homer in Comiskey Park history, a two-run shot in the seventh inning of a 6-0 whitewash of Boston. Gandil’s fourth-inning clout came off of former White Sox ace Frank Smith, who had been traded on August 8. As reported in the Chicago Tribune by the legendary Ring Lardner, Gandil’s blast was shot “between two iron bars in the gate at the right-field corner, the first time a ball had been hit there.”
The game also featured the first White Sox triple play in Comiskey Park history, a line drive hit with runners in motion to second baseman Freddy Parent, who tossed to shortstop Rollie Zeider to catch a runner off of second, Zeider throwing to Gandil to extinguish the runner off of first.
Ninety-six years to the day, in 2006, the White Sox also recorded a triple play.
Ed Walsh, despite being under the weather, threw a complete-game shutout to improve to 17-19 on the season, followed the next day by nearly an identical effort (both 80 game scores) by Fred Olmstead (1-0 over New York) and two days later by Frank Lange and a 93 game score masterpiece over the Highlanders, 3-0.
1940
A game originally played on June 20, with the Sox beating New York 1-0 in 11 innings, was ordered replayed by the commissioner’s office after the Yankees protested an out call on a fly ball in the second inning. Yes, a White Sox win was literally taken away.
In the original June 20 game, umpire John Quinn ruled that Sox left fielder Moose Solters hung on to a foul fly off the bat of Bill Dickey long enough for it to be considered an out. New York’s protest was upheld by AL president Will Harridge on July 2, declaring the game a no-decision.
Thus in the middle of a pennant race, the White Sox found themselves losing, 9-8, in the eighth inning of the replayed game (which was the second game of a doubleheader) when umpire Harry Geisel called the game, claiming it was too dark to finish. The decision meant a split for the two teams on the day, after the Sox had taken the opener, 6-3.
It’s not the first or only, but perhaps the most egregious, bias against the White Sox by Major League Baseball.
1971
White Sox outfielder Carlos May pulled off one of the rarest baseball feats of all, when he hit an inside-the-park grand slam against California’s Tom Murphy. May, a left-handed hitter, sliced a drive down the left-field line at Comiskey Park in the first inning. California’s Ken Berry, the former Sox outfielder, slammed his head diving for the ball, which rolled into the corner. By the time center fielder Mickey Rivers reached the ball to throw it back to the infield, Pat Kelly, Jay Johnstone and Bill Melton had crossed the plate ahead of May.
The Sox, behind pitcher Tom Bradley, won the game, 5-1.
Inside-the-park grand-slams are even rarer than no-hitters. As of July 2022, there have been 225 inside-the-park grand-slam home runs dating back to 1881 in Major League Baseball. For comparison, there have been 304 no-hitters pitched in MLB games since 1876.
1982
Doubleheader nightcaps often are a more rushed affair, as players, umps and even fans are prone to fatigue. Not so on this day, when the A’s beat the White Sox, 5-4 — taking an AL record-tying three hours, 56 minutes to do so. The nightcap began at 8:40 p.m., after lowly Oakland dispatched the rising White Sox, 2-1 meaning the final out of the day was recorded past 12:30 a.m. on September 19.
2020
Undoubtedly as a consequence of the pandemic-postponed season for the minor leagues and compressed nature of the MLB campaign, Garrett Crochet became the first player since Mike Leake in 2010 to make his professional debut in the big leagues. His only seasoning came in alternate-site (Schaumburg) appearances, along with the cream of Chicago’s minor league system.
The top White Sox pick in the 2020 draft struck out two of the three Cincinnati Reds he faced in his debut, hitting 100+ on the radar gun multiple times. Despite pitching just one week of the regular season, Crochet ended up registering more 100+ mph pitches than anyone in the majors in 2020.