Black Jack deals another complete hand
1951
In front of 34,856 fans packing Comiskey Park for a Wednesday doubleheader, the White Sox swept the St. Louis Browns, 5-2 and 8-1, to win their 13th and 14th consecutive games. It’s the second longest winning streak in franchise history. To commemorate the streak — which ran the team’s record to 26-9 and put it in first place in the AL by two games — Chicago mayor Martin Kennelly presented vice president Chuck Comiskey, manager Paul Richards and the White Sox the keys to the city in a ceremony.
The Sox would go from “Rags to Richards” in 1951, ending their string of desultory seasons and pointing the way to the “Go-Go” 1950’s. The White Sox would end the year 81-73-1, good for fourth place and their first winning season since 1943.
1960
Outfielder Jimmy Piersall, who would later broadcast White Sox games and coach the club’s outfielders in the late 1970s and early 1980s, went on a rampage against the scoreboard and Comiskey Park during a doubleheader.
In the opener, Piersall was on second base and felt home-plate umpire Cal Drummond made a bad strike call on a Cleveland hitter at the plate. Drummond tossed him — so Piersall tossed the contents of the Cleveland dugout on to the field. He then went into the Sox dugout, grabbed a bucket of groundskeeper Gene Bossard’s sand and dumped that on the field.
In the nightcap, Piersall didn’t move when a ball hit by Minnie Miñoso came right at him. It went over his head for a double, and adding insult to injury the White Sox stadium operations thought it was a home run and set off the scoreboard! As a result, when Piersall caught the final out of the game, he took the ball and threw it at the scoreboard (which he hated).
All in a day’s work, as Cleveland took the twin bill, 4-1 and 9-4.
1966
White Sox pitcher Jack Lamabe fired a one-hitter at Comiskey Park, beating the Red Sox, 11-0. Lamabe didn’t allow a hit until Joe Foy singled leading off the eighth inning — after Lamabe shook off catcher J.C. Martin. Lamabe faced 30 batters, striking out six and walking two.
It was a sweep on the night for the White Sox, who shut out Boston in both games of a doubleheader. Chicago had won the opener, 1-0, behind pitcher Johnny Buzhardt’s five-hitter.
In addition, this was the club’s third consecutive shutout, as the day before, Tommy John blanked the Yankees, 2-0.
1985
In a night game at Comiskey Park, Carlton Fisk belted a rooftop home run off of Kansas City’s Charlie Leibrandt. It helped Tom Seaver and the White Sox win, 4-3. It was the start of a four-game sweep of the Royals, and a week in which Fisk would hit five home runs and drive in 12. That season, Carlton would set career highs with 37 home runs and 107 RBIs.
1989
Exactly four years later, Dan Pasqua drove a ball 495 feet the other way against southpaw Frank Tanana, landing it on the left-field roof. It was the only roof shot of Pasqua’s career, and the 21st-ever by a White Sox player.
The blast, with the White Sox down, 6-2, in the bottom of the seventh, failed to turn the fortunes of the game — an eventual 10-3 loss dropped them to 18-32. Chicago was in the midst of losing 15 of 17 games, a stretch that would lock them in the AL West basement for the rest of 1989.
1993
In an era where complete games were becoming more and more rare, Jack McDowell thumbed his nose at the trend and completed his fourth straight game for Chicago, a 6-3 loss at Yankee Stadium. Despite a 2.83 ERA in the stretch, McDowell went 1-3 during his streak, losing its last three games by giving up 11 runs in those losses. He “couldn’t” really lose the first complete game of the streak, back on May 14 at Texas, having thrown a 4-0 shutout.
Despite the anomaly of losing these complete games in May, McDowell was the ace of the AL West-winning 1993 White Sox and won the Cy Young at season’s end.