Today in White Sox History: September 29
Homer Hands!
1908
White Sox starting pitcher Ed Walsh fired two complete games in a doubleheader against the Red Sox. He won both, 5-1 and 2-0, allowing only seven total hits and one walk.
That season, Walsh would have arguably the greatest pitching year in baseball history, winning 40 games, with an ERA of 1.42. He appeared in 66 games and started 49, with 42 complete games, 11 shutouts, six saves and a mind-boggling 464 innings pitched. Every one of those totals led the major leagues.
1917
With a 3-1 win in the second game of a doubleheader in New York, the White Sox won their 100th game of the season. That remains the most wins in a single season in franchise history. Eddie Cicotte picked up the win — his 28th of the year.
1920
With the Sox trailing Cleveland by only a half-game with 10 days left in the season, and pitcher Eddie Cicotte and outfielder Joe Jackson confessing (without an attorney present) that they helped throw the 1919 World Series, Charles Comiskey suspended eight players. To no one’s surprise, the shorthanded White Sox collapsed down the stretch, losing two of their final three games to the St. Louis Browns and blowing a chance at back-to-back pennants. The White Sox finished two games behind Cleveland, ending up at 96-58.
1921
One of the “clean” White Sox in 1919, pitcher Dickey Kerr, was honored with a Day at Comiskey Park. Kerr then went out and fired one of his best games, blanking Cleveland on six hits and winning, 5-0, for his 19th win. The win was extra-special, as it spoiled Cleveland’s chances at a second straight pennant.
Kerr was gifted a 52-piece silverware set in a mahogany chest.
1967
The White Sox still had a chance for the pennant — before they lost 1-0 to the Senators. The only run was set up when first baseman Tommy McCraw wasn’t able to catch a pop-up off the bat of Washington’s Fred Valentine in the first inning. NBC-TV had erected a barrier for their field-level cameras in case the World Series came to Comiskey Park, and Valentine’s pop fell into that enclosed area near the visitor’s dugout. Valentine then singled, driving in the game’s only run. Two errors by the Sox in that first inning led to the unearned run.
That season marked the 17th straight year that the Sox finished better than .500, at 89-73.
1990
The last night game ever played at the original Comiskey Park was won by the White Sox, 5-2. Frank Thomas slapped a two-run single up the middle off of Mariners starter Matt Young to drive in the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.
2005
The White Sox beat the Tigers in Detroit, 4-2, clinching the Central Division title. Carl Everett’s two-run triple in the first inning gave the Sox a lead they never relinquished, and Paul Konerko hit his 40th home run later in the game.
The Sox would end up with 99 regular season wins, and led the division every day of the season — one of the few teams to go wire-to-wire in baseball history.
The Sox then blitzed through the postseason, going 11-1 on their way to the World Championship. They swept Houston in four games to get it.
2008
White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramírez set a major league rookie record and tied Albert Belle for team record when he hit his fourth grand slam of the season in an 8-2 win over the Tigers. The home run, which broke a 2-2 tie, would also set the franchise record for most grand slams (12) in a year.
The grand slam came in the middle game of a three-game, must-win set against Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota on consecutive days to win the AL Central. Gavin Floyd earned this win, pitching on three days’ rest, forcing a Game 163 for the first and only time in White Sox history.
larry looked back on this day in greater detail for South Side Sox, back in 2012.
2019
Despite going 0-for-2 in his final game of the season, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson won the American League batting title with a .335 average. That average not only was the best in the league, but best in all of baseball. Anderson joined Luke Appling and Frank Thomas as the only White Sox to win a batting crown.
In the same game, Sox first baseman/DH José Abreu took the American League RBI title, as he drove in 123 runs on the year. He also had a .284 batting average and 33 home runs. He joined Dick Allen as the only Sox players to lead the league in RBIs. Abreu would win the RBI title again in 2020, during the 60-game pandemic season.
2020
The White Sox played in their first postseason game since 2008, facing the Athletics in the Oakland Coliseum, and it was a memorable afternoon for Lucas Giolito. The All-Star righthander, who had thrown a no-hitter on August 25, was perfect for the first six innings, as the Sox won the first game of the Wild Card series, 4-1. Giolito allowed only two hits, striking out eight, in seven innings. He got support from three home runs (Adam Engel, José Abreu, Yasmani Grandal).
Unfortunately, this would be the highlight of the series for the White Sox, as the team lost the next two games, including a 3-0 lead in the deciding Game 3, to be knocked out by a team that had lost nine consecutive elimination games dating back to 1973.