July 23 has delivered some memorable White Sox moments over the years, and the date has swung from ugly losses to franchise-defining brilliance.
Back in 1931, the White Sox were getting buried by Boston at Fenway Park when Earl Webb lined into a triple play in the bottom of the sixth. Billy Sullivan handled the first part of it at third, catching Rabbit Warstler off the bag for the second out, then fired across the diamond to Lu Blue to triple Jack Rothrock off first.
It was a rare bright spot in a rough afternoon. Pat Caraway took the beating on the mound, allowing 11 earned runs on 13 hits without making it through the fifth inning, a brutal line for a team that finished 31-57.
Caraway’s own fall was just as severe: after a rookie season in 1930 worth 4.4 WAR, he cratered to -2.2 WAR in 1931 and led the majors with 24 losses.
Two decades later, the Sox made a move that would eventually pay off in a big way. On July 23, 1951, they signed Jim Rivera out of the Pacific Coast League after noticing the season he was putting together for the Seattle Rainers.
Rivera was already 29 and only two years into pro ball, but he was tearing it up, winning the PCL batting title and MVP while hitting .352/.420/.553 with 20 homers and 33 steals. He didn’t reach the White Sox until 1952, but he became a South Side fixture, playing 10 seasons and more than 1,000 games while piling up 6.0 WAR.
The 1986 entry on this date is one White Sox fans know well: GM Ken Harrelson sent Bobby Bonilla back to the Pirates for José DeLeón. It’s a trade that has been criticized for years, though the full picture is more complicated.
Bonilla had been selected from Pittsburgh by the Sox in the major league draft in December 1985, and Pittsburgh clearly wanted him back. He flashed promise in his half-season in Chicago but produced only 0.5 WAR.
He later went on to four excellent seasons with the Pirates, totaling 17.9 WAR before landing that famous and infamous Mets contract that still pays him. DeLeón gave the Sox solid work, posting 3.7 WAR over a season and a third before Larry Himes flipped him to the Cardinals in a deal that brought back Lance Johnson and Ricky Horton.
Johnson became a major South Side success, delivering 21.3 WAR over six-plus seasons in center field. Without the Bonilla trade, there is no One Dog.
And in a strange twist, Bonilla and Johnson finished their careers with the same total: 30.2 WAR.
Then there’s 2007, when Billy Pierce was honored with a statue at Sox Park and became the sixth White Sox legend to get that treatment. Pierce was more than a beloved figure and ambassador for the organization; he was one of the best pitchers in baseball in the 1950s.
His White Sox résumé speaks for itself: first in strikeouts with 1,796, third in shutouts with 35, fourth in wins with 186 and innings with 2,931, third in starts with 391, fifth in games pitched with 456, tied for fifth in complete games with 183, sixth in pitching WAR with 49.2 and second among left-handers, 10th in adjusted ERA+ at 123, 20th in hits per nine innings at 8.116, tied for 25th in FIP at 3.42 and 27th in ERA at 3.19. He was overlooked badly in Hall of Fame voting in the early 1970s, but there’s still hope a Veterans Committee can fix that.
Of course, July 23 is best remembered for 2009, when Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against Tampa in a 5-0 win. It was only the 18th perfect game in history at the time, and it was the second no-hitter at the new Sox Park - both by Buehrle.
The defining moment came in the ninth, when Dewayne Wise, inserted as a defensive replacement, made the catch of his life by leaping at the left-center wall to take away a Gabe Kapler hit. On the way down, Wise started to lose the ball, then grabbed it again with his other hand as he crashed to the ground.
Buehrle finished it in two hours and three minutes, the same time it took him to throw his no-hitter in 2007. He became just the fourth pitcher ever to throw both a perfect game and a no-hitter, joining Cy Young, Sandy Koufax and Randy Johnson, and he also joined Charlie Robertson as the only White Sox pitchers to throw a perfect game.
Afterward, he got a call from President Barack Obama, a huge White Sox fan.
And in 2016, the Sox found themselves in a bizarre spot when Chris Sale was scratched from his scheduled start against the Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field after a pregame meltdown over a 1976 throwback jersey tied to a promotion.
Sale thought the jersey was uncomfortable, and with the heat index above 100°, the dark blue and black look didn’t exactly help. During batting practice, he cut up most of the game jerseys with a knife and later said the White Sox cared more about public relations and uniforms than winning games.
The team, sitting near .500 and just 3 1/2 games out of second place in the AL Central, had to patch together a bullpen game behind Matt Albers, who worked two innings and allowed one run. Somehow, it still ended with a win: Adam Eaton, down to his last strike on a full count, lined a walk-off single in the ninth to bring home Avisaíl García, who had opened the inning with a single and a stolen base.
In Other News...
White Sox Prospect Rankings Just Took An Unexpected Turn
MLB Pipelines latest White Sox top-30 prospect update brought a few familiar names into sharper focus, but the most notable shift was Boston Smith cracking the list at No. 15 after entering unranked before. The refreshed rankings also reflect how much the system has changed in recent weeks, with Braden Montgomery, Noah Schultz and Sam Antonacci all having moved on to new levels, leaving the organizations prospect picture in a different place than it was not long ago.
The list is still a little unfinished, though, because it does not yet account for the White Soxs 2026 draft class while the signing deadline remains ahead. That means Caleb Bonemer is sitting atop the board for now, even as the next wave of talent looms, and he also had another rough moment in Birmingham when he was hit in the helmet again after striking out and had to be replaced. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Top Prospect Sparks Concern After Frightening Exit
Fridays minor league slate was a mixed bag for the White Sox system, which split its six games while a few bats kept the day from becoming a total wash. Korey Lee, Jason Matthews, Boston Smith and Anthony DePino all went deep for their affiliates, giving the organization some offense to point to on a day when several of the headlines were scattered across the farm.
The most jarring moment came when Caleb Bonemer was hit in the head by a pitch and left the game, a frightening scene for one of the clubs top prospects. Preliminary tests were encouraging, but he remains under evaluation, leaving the White Sox with a familiar minor league concern: the results on the scoreboard matter less than the health update that follows. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Could Finally Make A Future Shaping Deadline Swing
The White Sox are heading toward the trade deadline with a different kind of urgency than the one that usually comes with a rebuilding club. Rather than shopping only for short-term fixes, they are reportedly open to making a more aggressive move for players who come with contract control, the kind of deal that could matter well beyond this season. That approach fits a team still trying to shape its next competitive core, and it gives the front office a chance to chase upside instead of simply filling holes.
There are a few paths they could explore, including arms from the Angels and a potential impact bat from the Athletics, but the challenge is obvious: controllable talent rarely comes cheap. Even when a player looks attainable, the price tag and the odds of a deal actually getting done can be very different things. For a White Sox club trying to balance patience with progress, this deadline could be the first real test of how bold it wants to be. [Read more 🡒]