Today in White Sox History: May 23
One pop-up, two outs, and more misery for the South Siders
1928
One day after White Sox center fielder Johnny Mostil tied an AL record with 12 chances in a 4-3 win over Cleveland at Comiskey Park, the White Sox won again, 4-3. And in this game, there were more defensive heroics — but this time, by Cleveland.
The end of the game was positively crazy. In the bottom of the ninth, the White Sox rallied with an error, single and walk to load the bases, whereupon Mostil walked to tie the game, 3-3. But with the bases full and nobody out, first baseman Bud Clancy popped out to left field, and Cleveland’s Charlie Jamieson threw out Johnny Mann at home plate for a double play. Cleveland catcher Luke Sewell then threw to second base and caught Ray Schalk in a pickle, to be thrown out at third for a triple play.
Schalk was benched for the boner, and White Sox ace Ted Lyons came on to pitch the 10th inning. He ended up vulturing a win, as the White Sox rallied in the 10th: Bill Hunnefield walked, beat the throw to second base on Bill Barrett’s sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a walk to Alex Metzler, and scored on a Willie Kamm single.
Just two weeks later, on June 9, Jamieson initiated another triple play, against the Yankees.
1954
The White Sox quest to find a competent third baseman appeared to be at an end, as GM Frank Lane sent infielder Grady Hatton and $100,000 to Boston for All-Star George Kell. It was the first time the Red Sox had sold a player outright since the Babe Ruth transaction more than 25 years earlier.
Kell’s best year for the White Sox was 1955, when he hit .312 with 81 RBIs. However, he had a bad back, which limited his playing time, and he was traded to the Orioles early in 1956 as part of a six-player deal.
2003
The Kannapolis Intimidators, in just their third season as a White Sox Low-A affiliate, are witness to a bizarre ejection during a road game against the Lakewood BlueClaws. With the BlueClaws up, 3-0, in the seventh, a huge storm begins and Lakewood groundskeeper Bill Butler rushed onto the field to prep it for the tarp. However, umpires Brandon Cooney and Steve Cummings hadn’t actually announced a game delay yet, and ejected Butler from the contest. It was believed to be the first-ever baseball ejection of a groundskeeper.
The game was unable to resume, and Kannapolis lost, 3-0. Among the future White Sox on the Intimidators roster in 2003 was pitcher Ehren Wasserman.
2024
Over the decades when the White Sox faced the Orioles you could almost count on something strange, bizarre or unusual taking place at some point, with the result usually costing the Sox an opportunity to win.
On this night at Guaranteed Rate Field, the Sox had scored four runs in the ninth inning and had the tying runs on base, trailing 8-6 ... when the game ended in one of the strangest ways possible.
Andrew Benintendi hit a pop-up in the infield. As Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson drifted over to make the play base runner Andrew Vaughn was called for interference, even though Henderson had plenty of time to make the catch.
That ended the game, as Henderson was credited with an unassisted double play!