Today in White Sox History: June 20
Two huge brawls scar the day
1926
In a game with the Yankees that the White Sox won 4-3, a record was set for the largest crowd to see a game at Comiskey Park before the upper deck was added: 43,000.
1945
In the eighth inning of a game in St. Louis, a brawl broke out between White Sox and Browns players. As pitcher George Caster was leaving the mound he fired the ball toward the Chicago dugout, but missed, hitting the adjacent wall. White Sox players charged onto the field, and several of the Browns charged the Chicago dugout where they attacked White Sox batting practice pitcher and ex-Marine Karl Scheel, whom they beat for several minutes, claiming he had been riding them in a personal way all game. When that confrontation was broken up, the game resumed with no one being ejected, although many fans came on the field and the game was delayed for several minutes.
Scheel was carried to the clubhouse for first aid, and several Browns ended up being fined by the league. The White Sox would win the game, 4-1.
1973
White Sox relief pitcher Cy Acosta became the first pitcher to actually hit for the team in the designated hitter era, when he struck out in the eighth inning of an 8-3 win over Nolan Ryan and the Angels at Comiskey Park.
Acosta came to bat because manager Chuck Tanner pulled Dick Allen after a six-run seventh inning and moved Tony Muser from DH to first base. That meant the Sox gave up the DH and Acosta took the spot in the batting order.
1980
Tigers outfielder Al Cowens attacked Sox relief pitcher Ed Farmer. In the 11th inning of a game at Comiskey Park, Cowens ran towards Farmer after hitting a ground ball instead of running towards first base, and the two initiated a melee on the mound.
One year earlier Farmer broke his jaw when he was pitching for Texas on an errant pitch. Chicago police went looking for Cowens after the game to press assault charges.
Farmer, who had polycystic kidney disease, ended up on the bottom of the pile, where his cysts burst and his kidneys weakened. He would be an All-Star the next month, amid his greatest season, but Farmer said from the moment after the brawl he felt weaker, and was never the same pitcher.
1986
In what he admitted was one of the biggest mistakes he’d ever made, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf approved the firing of manager Tony La Russa. La Russa and his staff simply didn’t get along with new GM Ken Harrelson and his unusual ideas, and with the team struggling on the field, the decision to let him go was made.
La Russa won more than 500 games for the White Sox as well as the 1983 Western Division championship, and was hired by the A’s just three weeks later. He eventually took both Oakland and St. Louis to the World Series, winning three titles, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014.
La Russa came back to manage the White Sox for the 2021 campaign.
Harrelson resigned his position after one season in charge of the White Sox. That year, the club went 72-90, ending up in fifth place in the Western Division.
2006
The White Sox set the team mark for the most runs ever scored in the third inning of a game, when 11 men crossed the plate against the Cardinals. Chicago-area native Mark Mulder was the victim of the onslaught, which saw the Sox win in Chicago, 20-6. The South Siders sent 16 men to the plate and had 11 hits in the inning.