Today in White Sox History: July 20
Wilbur takes his lumps
1940
In a win that pushed them to .500 for the first time all season, the White Sox walloped Philadelphia, 19-7.
The visitors packed all 19 runs into just three frames, scoring eight in the first, seven in the fifth, and four in the ninth. It took the A’s three pitchers just to get through the first inning. Mike Kreevich went 4-for-5 with three runs and a double, homer and walk. Cleanup hitter Moose Solters drove in five with a 3-for-5, two-double day. Every White Sox starter had at least one hit, and all but Bob Kennedy drove in at least one run.
Eddie Smith actually had a better day at the plate (1-for-4, two RBIs, 2B) than pitching, giving up seven earned over seven innings but still earning the sloppy win.
At the time, the White Sox had only scored more than 19 runs four times in their history. Interestingly, the contest came nearly four years to the day since last scoring 19 — also against the A’s!
This game remains tied for 12th all-time among White Sox offensive outputs.
This win was part of a seven-game winning streak that would keep Chicago better than .500 for the rest of the season. The team finished 82-72-1, a wildly-successful campaign given that the 30 seasons between 1921 and 1950 sported just six winning teams on the South Side!
1951
The White Sox lost, 2-1, to the Washington Senators in 10 innings, remaining tied for first place in the American League, at 53-36. It would be the last day of the season, after 49 days total and a continuous run from May 28-July 1, the White Sox would be in first.
Why is this midseason factoid significant? Because it had been 31 years, dating back to 1920, since the White Sox had been in first place any later than June 9. In fact, from 1921-50, the White Sox spent even a single day in first place in only 13 seasons, and for a combined total of 103 days.
The 1951 White Sox would finish 81-73-1 and in fourth place in the American League. It was their first first-division (fourth place or better) finish since 1943, and the beginning of a record streak of 17 straight winning seasons.
1957
Dick Donovan one-hit the Red Sox at Comiskey Park and won, 4-0. Ted Williams got Boston’s only hit, on a single to right in the fourth inning. It was Donovan’s second one-hitter in two months; on May 25, he threw a one-hitter in Cleveland, winning by the same 4-0 score.
In this game, Jim Landis led off the White Sox half of the first with a triple, and scored what would become the deciding run; he finished with two hits in the game. Earl Torgeson joined him with two, one of them a homer.
Donovan finished with an 84 game score.
1973
Wilbur Wood started both regularly-scheduled games in New York. He became the first pitcher to do this since Cincinnati’s Fred Toney in 1918.
Unfortunately, Wood got knocked around twice, losing both decisions, 12-2 and 7-0. Earlier in the season, Wood started a suspended game and regularly-scheduled game in Chicago, beating Cleveland twice.
2008
Future Hall-of-Famer Jim Thome collected his 2,000th hit, as he doubled in the seventh inning at U.S. Cellular Field. The hit came off of Kansas City’s Ramon Ramirez.
Thome would finish his career with 2,328 hits — 469 of them as a member of the White Sox.
Also on this day, the statue of White Sox legend Harold Baines was unveiled in the right-field concourse at Sox Park.