Chick Gandil hits into double and triple plays, in a game he’d like to forget
1913
The White Sox struck a deal with the Yankees for mercurial (and shady) first baseman Hal Chase. Chase played his way out of favor in New York and was given away for first baseman Babe Borton and infielder Rollie Zeider. Chase didn’t do much with the White Sox, with subpar hitting and continued malfeasance, before jumping in 1914 to the Buffalo Buffeds of the upstart Federal League.
While Chase largely evaded his potential on the ballfield, he did score one great success: Defeating Charles Comiskey in court, when the outraged White Sox owner filed an injunction to force him back to Chicago based on the reserve clause. The courts sided with Chase, and in retaliation, Comiskey shadow-barred Chase for ever returning to the American League (after the Federal League disbanded, Chase finished out his career with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants).
1914
Talk about an impressive beginning to a baseball career: Future White Sox Hall-of-Famer Urban “Red” Faber started for the first time in the big leagues, going 12 1⁄3 innings in Detroit before losing, 2-1. Faber gave up 11 hits and walked seven Tigers, yet wiggled out of most jams. He didn’t give up his first run until the 11th inning.
1918
Chick Gandil stepped to the plate as the lead run with the bases full in the bottom of the eighth, with nobody out and trailing, 6-3, to the Yankees — and hit into a triple play! Gandil’s line drive was pocketed by third baseman Home Run Baker, who started a 5-4-3 triple play.
In his previous at-bat in the bottom of the sixth, Gandil had stepped to the plate with the sacks packed and hit into an inning-ending double play.
Those were the only two double and triple plays of the game, and the two highest-leverage plays in the contest as well — adding to -70% WPA for Gandil.
1937
White Sox pitcher Bill “Bullfrog” Dietrich hurled a no-hitter at the expense of the St. Louis Browns. He won the game, played in Comiskey Park, 8-0, with the game taking fewer than two hours to play. Dietrich got run support from both Mike Kreevich and Dixie Walker, who each knocked in three runs on the afternoon. Dietrich walked two and struck out five.
First baseman Zeke Bonura saved the no-hitter with two leaping catches of line drives in the game.
Back in 2012, larry wrote in detail about this improbable no-hitter.
1985
Carlton Fisk slammed his fifth home run in four games, hitting a two-run shot off of Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen in a game the White Sox won, 8-7. Fisk drove in 12 runs in that stretch, and served notice that 1985 was going to be his best year in a Chicago uniform. He’d finish the year with 37 homers and 107 RBIs — both career highs. He also was named to the All-Star team that year, for the third time in a White Sox uniform.
2010
With a stolen base in the sixth inning of a 9-6 loss to the Texas Rangers, Omar Vizquel became just the fourth player in MLB history to steal a base in four decades, joining Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines. Vizquel had singled to get on base, and finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a walk while starting at third base in the loss.
2016
It had been 50 years since a White Sox pitcher had this happen: In the top of the 13th inning in New York against the Mets, relief pitcher Matt Albers led off with a ringing double to left-center, the first extra-base hit of his career. He’d eventually come around to score the game-winning run, thanks to a sacrifice fly from José Abreu.
The Sox won the game, 2-1, with Albers throwing two innings to get the win. The last time a White Sox pitcher scored the game-winning run and got the win in extra innings was Bob Locker against the Angels on Aug. 7, 1966. The Sox won that game in 10 innings, 9-8.