Today in White Sox History: June 25
A couple of day-off deals to try to save a season
1953
White Sox manager Paul Richards was regarded as one of the smartest people ever to lead a baseball team.
With the Sox going for a series sweep of New York and leading 4-2 in the ninth inning, Richards brought in pitcher Harry Dorish to relieve Billy Pierce. Only Richards didn’t remove Pierce from the game — he moved him to first base! After Dorish faced two hitters, Pierce was brought back to the mound to end the game — which he did, getting Johnny Mize to hit into a force out and then striking out pinch-hitter Bill Renna.
Richards pulled off this maneuver at least twice as the White Sox skipper, the first time on May 15, 1951 at Boston. In both cases, the pitchers involved were Dorish and Pierce.
Years later, baseball writer Rob Neyer began tracking these moves in a historical database, and one of his readers termed the maneuvers “Waxahachie Swaps.” Richards, who also made these swaps twice as Baltimore Orioles manager, was known as the Wizard of Waxahachie (Texas).
1961
Completing a doubleheader sweep and four-game series sweep of the Washington Senators at Comiskey Park, the White Sox ended a long homestand with a 15-1 record, one of two (1906) in team history. Normally such a run, during these White Sox glory years, would have ended with the White Sox well better than .500 and leading the AL, but the 1961 team had started slow; the homestand began with the Pale Hose 21-33, 14 1⁄2 games out and flirting with the basement of the AL. By the start of the next road trip, Chicago had re-set itself, at 36-34, 9 1⁄2 games out and in fifth place.
The White Sox could only make it to fourth place in 1961, where they finished the year, at 86-76. It was their worst finish in the standings in 10 years.
1962
With the team stuck at .500 in a season that aspired to a pennant, the White Sox made two off-day trades, picking up reliever Dean Stone and left fielder Charlie Maxwell.
Stone came over from the Houston Colt .45s for Russ Kemmerer and finished out the season well as the part-time closer for the club. Over 29 games he tallied nine saves along with a 3.26 ERA/3.38 FIP and 0.7 WAR. The White Sox sold Stone to Baltimore in the offseason, where he played his final season. Kemmerer, a similar relief pitcher as Stone, actually ended up providing the same 0.7 WAR value for Houston in 1962, so this was a win-win deal.
Maxwell cost the White Sox outfielder Bob Farley and gave the White Sox a nice punch in the outfield for the rest of 1962, tallying 1.4 WAR over 69 games. Maxwell played one more season with the White Sox and was released very early in the 1964 season, ending his career. Farley fared poorly for Detroit (-0.5 WAR) in 1962 and was out of baseball after that season.
Ultimately, the White Sox fell short of the 1962 pennant, finishing 85-77 and fifth in the AL. It was Chicago’s poorest placing since 1950.
1964
An overflow crowd of 52,712 jammed Comiskey Park to watch the White Sox hammer the Cubs, 11-1, in the annual “Boys Benefit Game.”
The Sox, who played as the “visiting” team that night, hit four home runs, including back-to-back-to-back shots in the third inning. The home runs were hit by Ron Hansen, Tommy McCraw and Jerry McNertney. Floyd Robinson also had a home run.
What was significant, however, was the fact that fans were allowed on the outfield grass behind ropes, because there wasn’t any room left in the park. It was the last time fans have ever been permitted to stand on the playing field for a game.
The game ranks No. 6 all-time in attendance at old Comiskey Park, which is by extension No. 6 all-time in White Sox and Chicago baseball annals.
1991
White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell fired the first shutout for the home team at new Comiskey Park, blanking the Mariners, 4-0. Jack was masterful on the day, and carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning. He’d end up with a three-hitter, and seven strikeouts.
2006
With the White Sox trailing the Houston Astros, 9-2, in the eighth inning at U.S. Cellular Field, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi hit a three-run home run to narrow the deficit to 9-5. In the ninth inning, Iguchi connected again, this time for a grand slam to tie the game.
The Sox lost the game in the 13th inning, but Iguchi set a franchise record, as the White Sox had hit grand slams in three consecutive days. Scott Podsednik hit a grand slam two days earlier, and Joe Crede did so the day before.
2016
The White Sox tied the franchise record, first set in a 29-6 blowout in 1955, by blasting seven home runs in a single game. It took place against the Blue Jays at U.S. Cellular Field.
But there was one problem … they lost the game, 10-8.
It was only the third time in baseball history a team hit that many home runs in a game and lost (Detroit, in 1995 and 2004). The Sox players to hit home runs were Brett Lawrie (two), Dioner Navarro, J.B. Shuck, Tim Anderson, Alex Avila and Adam Eaton.