Today in White Sox History: July 26
Eddie Cicotte falls two batters short of perfection
1916
Facing just 28 batters in the game, Eddie Cicotte fired a one-hitter in defeating the Yankees, 2-0, in front of 6,000 at Comiskey Park. Two batters plays kept the game from perfection:
- In the fourth, Cicotte walked Les Nunamaker, but he was erased when Ray Schalk caught him stealing to end the frame
- In the top of the fifth, Wally Pipp broke up the no-hitter with a single, then got caught off of first base for a pickoff — only Cicotte made an error on his throw and allowed Pipp to get to second base
Cicotte earned a 90 game score, tied for 76th-best in White Sox history. He was such an ace hurler, this 90 qualifies as just tied for the third-best game he ever pitched for the club.
The White Sox improved to 30-20 on the season. Eddie Collins had an RBI triple in the first inning, with Joe Jackson adding an RBI single in the fifth.
1931
The White Sox were crushed, 22-5, by the Yankees in a doubleheader nightcap. That’s the most runs ever allowed by the team in a game. Oddly, the White Sox led in the game, 1-0 and 5-3. Also, all the scoring was over by the bottom of the fourth inning — yes, not only were the 22 runs the most ever surrendered by the White Sox, but those runs came in just the first four innings of the game!
The unlucky starter forced to wear it in this one was Pat Carraway, who allowed 13 runs (10 earned) in two-plus innings. Reliever Biggs Wehde calmed things down, somewhat, taking the final six innings and holding the Yankees to nine runs, all earned — but none after the fourth inning!
Although 22 is the biggest run output for an opponent in White Sox history, it is not the most earned runs ever allowed; that distinction goes to the 1970 and 2022 White Sox, who surrendered 21 in games.
Ironically enough, the White Sox had won the opener at Yankee Stadium, 5-4. But this latest loss dropped the White Sox to 34-58. Though shuffling around the second division all of this miserable season, the Pale Hose would slip to last place in mid-September and remain there, at 56-97-3, by winning percentage the fifth-worst team in franchise history. That’s just one of five seasons the White Sox finished in eighth place, and one of nine times the White Sox have ever finished dead last in their league/division.
1936
With the White Sox in fifth place but en route to their first winning season in a decade, 50,000 ribald fans showed up at Comiskey Park for a doubleheader showdown with first-place New York. The first game was a runaway win for the Yankees, 12-3, and toward the end of the nightcap, Chicago trailing, 8-7, things were getting unruly.
After a close call against Rip Radcliff on a 1-3 ground ball to end the eighth inning, a fan threw a bottle at umpire Bill Summers, and it hit him in a ... sensitive area. Commissioner Judge Landis was in attendance, and offered a $5,000 reward if the assaulter is turned in, but his message over the P.A. was met with catcalls. It took White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes pleading with fans to stop the abuse — most likely under threat from Landis that the Yankees lead would be made a premature final — for normalcy to return
The White Sox rallied in the bottom of the ninth, tying the game, 8-8, with a Zeke Bonura solo home run. But the Yankees struck for three in the 11th to complete the sweep.
1942
Seventeen-year-old Chuck Comiskey was being groomed to take over the White Sox, and his passions boiled over on this afternoon. In the opener of a doubleheader against the Athletics at Comiskey Park, umpire John Quinn kicked out Sox manager Jimmy Dykes for arguing an interference call. (Don Kolloway was ruled to have run into a batted ball in fair territory in the eighth inning.) That brought the young Comiskey out on the field to continue the argument. Sox fans roared their approval over his pluck, as Comiskey was also ejected.
The Sox would win that game, 2-1, before losing the nightcap, 3-2, in 10 innings.
1987
White Sox starter Richard Dotson, who had already thrown a one-hitter and lost in Baltimore in 1983, had a perfect game and a 2-0 lead with one out in the eighth inning against the Yankees at Comiskey Park. However, that all went out the window when Mike Pagliarulo singled. Before the frame was over, Dotson got tagged with three runs and would eventually lose the game, 5-2. The key blow was struck by future Sox outfielder Dan Pasqua, who had a pinch-hit, three-run homer in that frame.