September 22 has produced some memorable White Sox moments, and a few of them came with a little extra drama attached.
Back in 1916, Eddie Collins turned a routine infield single into a piece of franchise history. In the first inning of a 6-3 win over the Yankees, he beat out a ball to shortstop and became the first White Sox player ever to reach a 20-game hitting streak.
The streak ended the next day when Collins went hitless in five at-bats, but the numbers he put up over those 20 games still stand out: a .464 average, the best among the 20 different White Sox streaks of at least 20 games, plus a .543 on-base percentage that also tops the club’s 20-game streak list. Collins would later own the first three White Sox streaks of 19 or more games, including a 22-gamer in August-September 1920 that held as the team record for 16 years until Luke Appling passed it in 1936 with a 27-game run.
A little later, in 1929, Tommy Thomas delivered one of those odd statistical footnotes that feels almost too neat to be real. He took a complete-game loss in New York, an eight-inning defeat to the Yankees, 3-1.
That outing gave him his 24th complete game of the season, matching his total from both 1927 and 1928. The loss also dropped him to 14-18 on the year and left him exactly 50-50 across the 1927-29 seasons.
Thomas did have one more start left, and he was in line for a win after leaving with one out in the ninth and an 8-7 lead, but Ted Lyons blew the save and the game in 10 innings. Even so, Thomas would not need to finish that final start to end up leading the AL in complete games in 1929.
The 1959 pennant-clinching day in Cleveland came with plenty of tension before the celebration could start. The White Sox beat the Indians 4-2 to lock up the American League title, helped by back-to-back home runs from Al Smith and Jim Rivera.
Smith also threw out former Sox star Minnie Miñoso at home plate. In the ninth, Bob Shaw retired his first hitter but then gave up three straight singles to load the bases.
Gerry Staley stepped in, threw one pitch, and watched Vic Power tap it to shortstop Luis Aparicio for the game-ending double play. When the Sox got back home, a Chicago Sun-Times estimate put 125,000 people at Midway Airport to greet them.
The celebration even spilled into the city’s emergency system, as fire commissioner Robert Quinn ordered the air raid sirens turned on, frightening some non-baseball fans who thought the Russians were attacking. Chicago finished that season 94-60 and beat Cleveland by five games, leaning on pitching, defense and a 35-15 record in one-run games.
The club also had three Gold Glove winners in Nellie Fox, Aparicio and Sherm Lollar.
There was more late-inning power in 1961, when Floyd Robinson crushed a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth at Comiskey Park, pulling the White Sox within 8-6 against the Orioles. Jim Landis struck out to end it, but Robinson’s homer still mattered: it set a White Sox record with seven grand slams in a season. Baltimore had earlier broken things open with a grand slam of its own from Jim Gentile, his MLB record-tying fifth of the year.
In 1966, Joe Horlen and the White Sox handled the Yankees 4-1 at Yankee Stadium in front of just 413 fans. That’s believed to be the smallest home crowd ever for a Yankees game. Red Barber was so taken aback by the thin turnout that he had the broadcast cameras pan the stands, and that move led to his dismissal.
Then came 2007, when Jerry Owens made an early 11:11 a.m. start in Minnesota look easy. The rookie went 5-for-6 in an 8-3 White Sox win, scoring once, stealing a base and driving in three runs. It remains one of the 117 five-hit games in White Sox history, and one of only 24 in which every hit was a single.
Most recently, in 2018, Tim Anderson joined a rare club with a third-inning homer in an eventual 8-3 loss to the Cubs. The blast made him the first 20-20 shortstop in White Sox history.
By then he already had 26 steals, with his 20th coming back on July 5. Anderson finished that season with 20 homers and 26 steals, good for a 3.9 WAR in just his second full MLB season.
He would never again reach 20 in either category.
In Other News...
White Sox Make A Surprising Lineup Bet Against Kansas City
The White Sox head into a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium with an eye on a Kansas City pitching staff that is still settling into roles. Chicago announced a balanced lineup against a left-hander, with Miguel Vargas leading off and Randal Grichuk hitting third, a setup that gives the order a different look than usual while the club tries to find the right mix against the Royals.
Kansas Citys probable options add another layer to the matchup, with Anthony Kay coming in after a rough stretch and Daniel Lynch working as a starter since the trade deadline. For Chicago, the question is whether this lineup construction can give it an early edge in a series where the pitching matchup may be just as fluid as the batting order. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Face A Real Playoff Roster Debate Over Acuna
As the White Sox chase both the AL Central lead and a postseason berth, Luisangel Acuna has become one of the more interesting roster questions on the board. The young outfielder and shortstop has not given the club much at the plate this season, with a .227/.260/.261 slash line and a .522 OPS, but his profile still carries a skill set Chicago cannot ignore when games tighten up.
Acunas speed is the obvious counterweight to the offensive numbers, since he ranks in the 98th percentile for sprint speed and could offer value as a late-game baserunner in October-style situations. For a team trying to balance present production with roster versatility, the debate is less about whether he has tools and more about how much those tools matter if the White Sox get into a short series and every bench spot starts to count. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Still Have One Bullpen Trust Issue Before October
The White Sox brought in Huascar Brazoban at the trade deadline to give their bullpen a needed jolt heading into October, but the first month after the move did not exactly settle any nerves. Before the injury, he was fighting through control issues and had put up a 6.30 ERA with Chicago, making it hard to know what kind of late-inning help the club was actually getting from the former Met.
Brazoban has now returned from a left lat strain and logged a scoreless inning in his latest appearance, which at least gives the White Sox something to build on as the postseason nears. Still, the larger question remains the same: whether he can be trusted when the games tighten up and the margin for error gets thin. [Read more 🡒]