Johnny Mostil

Johnny Mostil, the local kid who played the outfield for the White Sox in the 1920s, is the only major league center-fielder who ever caught a foul ball.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 31, 1935

Vern Kennedy hurls the first White Sox no-hitter at Comiskey Park since 1914. Chicago defeats the Cleveland Indians, 5-0.

This Day in Chicago Sports------August 30

August 30, 1981----John Henry, with Willie Shoemaker in the saddle, wins the Arlington Million, earning 600,000 in first-place money.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 29, 1965

Ron Hansen of the White`Sox establishes a major league record for shortstops by handling twenty-eight chances in a double-header. The Sox win both games by 3-2 scores.

This Date in Chicago Sports--August 28, 1950

Hank Sauer, the Cub's premier slugger immediately preceding the Ernie Banks era, belts three homers as the Northsiders edge the Phillies, 7-5, at a game played in the Friendly Confines.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 27, 1911

Ed Walsh of the White Sox pitches a no-hitter at Comiskey Park. The Red Sox go down to defeat, 5-0.

Jumps, Hops and Pointing to the Sky

I don't know about you, but I hate Soriano's affected hop right before he makes a catch. I find it as obnoxious as Ron Santo's victory jump and Sammy Sosa's pointing to the sky after hitting a steriod-enhanced homer.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 26, 1972

Ron Santo's 2,000th hit as a Cub is a three-run homer in the Wrigley's 10-9 victory over the Giants.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 25, 1922

The Cubs score ten runs in the second inning and fourteen runs in the fourth, defeating the Phillies in a football-like score of 26-23 at Wrigley Field.

Who Needs A Bullpen?

August 24, 1905-----Cub pitcher Ed Reulbach hurls twenty innings in Chicago's 2-1 victory over the Phillies at Philadelphia.

This Date in Chicago Sports- No Paradise Lost

August 23, 1953---- Jockey Eddie Arcaro rides Mr. Paradise to a first place finish to win the $107, 120 Washington Park Futurity.

No Whiff With This Fox

August 22, 1958---Nellie Fox establishes a major league record by playing ninety-eight consecutive games without striking out.

Anson was never a White Sox Player

I really liked Michael Coffey's book about baseball's perfect games, "27 Men Out." However Coffey made a major research boo-boo when he stated on page 43 that a game in 1922, two years after the Black Sox scandal broke, had been delayed "by the funeral of Cap Anson, the great White Sox player who had died two days earlier, making nearly complete the severance of the White Sox from a glorious past."

In fact, Anson never was a White Sox player. He was a stalwart of the Chicago National League franchise, the White Stockings, who later became the Orphans, and eventually the Cubs.

The Revenge of No-Neck------August 21, 1973

Former White Sox outfielder, Walt "N0-Neck" Williams, spoils Stan Bahnsen's no-hit bid, singling with two outs in the ninth inning in a game at Cleveland. The Sox beat the Tribe, 4-0.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 20, 1957

White Sox right-hander Bob Keegan tosses a no-hitter against the Washington Senators at Comiskey Park, as the South Siders win, 6-0.

This Date in Chicago Sports-----August 19, 1969

A standing room crowd of 41,033 watches Kenny Holtzman no-hit the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field. The Cubs win, 3-0.

This Date in Chicago Sports----August 18, 1972

The White Sox smack sixteen hits as they defeat the Boston Red Sox, 8-1, in front of 42,001 fans at Comiskey Park. Dick Allen's three-run homer is the highlight of the game.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 17, 1932

Frank Demaree's sacrifice fly drives in Billy Herman in the bottom of the 19th inning, as the Cubs-Braves marathon ends in a 3-2 victory for the Wrigleys.

This Date in Chicago Sports, August 16, 1956

Sam Jones whiffs thirteen Milwaukee Braves in a game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs post a 4-2 victory.

This Date in Chicago Sports--August 15, 1859

Charles Albert Comiskey is born in Chicago at the corner of Union and Maxwell Streets. He later attends Holy Family parochial school and St. Ignatius College.

This Date in Chicago Sports--August 14, 1939

Moon over Comiskey Park! The White Sox play their first home night game as they beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-2.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 13, 1948

Former Negro League great, Satchel Paige, a rookie pitcher in the American League at age forty-two, returns to Comiskey Park as a Cleveland Indian. A turnaway crowd of 51,103 jams the rafters, as Paige shutsout the White Sox, 5-0.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 12, 1931

The Cubs take two from the Phillies at Philadelphia, 7-3 and 12-1, behind complete game performances by Charlie Root and Bob Smith.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 11, 1991

In only his second Major League appearance, and his White Sox debut, 21 year old hurler, Wilson Alvarez, no-hits the Baltimore Orioles, as the Sox defeat the Birds 7-0 at Baltimore.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 10, 1938

Mike Kreevich goes 4 for 4 and Luke Appling goes 3 for 3, as the Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-7, at Comiskey Park.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 9, 1919

Hippo Vaughn, the legendary Cub pitcher, surprises the New York Giants by stealing home in the eighth inning. The Cubbies go on to win the game, 3-1.

Appling the Butcher

Yes Luke Appling, the White Sox shortstop from the team's dark era, is deservedly in the Hall of Fame with his offensive achievements of a .310 lifetime batting average, 2,749 hits and 1,116 RBIs. Hoewever the guy was a butcher in the field. He made 672 errors in 12,889 chances, a fielding percentage of .948. Compare that to another White Sox Hall of Fame shortstop, Luis Aparicio, who commited 366 errors in 12,930 chances, a .972 percentage. Appling made 55 errors during the 1933 season, and he holds the dubious distinction of the worst Major League fielding percentage of any player since 1910 who played in at least 1900 games.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 8, 1960

A Comiskey Park crowd of 48, 323 gleefully watched the White Sox bomb Whitey Ford and the Yankees, 9-1, behind a strong outing from Billy Pierce.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 7, 1964

The Chicago Bears trounce the College All-Stars, 28-17, before 65,000 fans at Soldier Field.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 6, 1979

Bob Elson, who announced radio games for both the White Sox and Cubs, in a career spanning more than four decades, received the cherished Ford C. Frick award from the Hall of Fame for "major contributions to baseball." The "Ol Commander" as he was fondly called, broadcast more than five thousand games over WGN, WJJD, WCFL and WMAQ. His signature phrase in the 50s and 60s was "there's a White Owl wallop and a box of White Owl cigars" for the White Sox player who just hit a homer.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 5, 1976

Artis Gilmore becomes a member of the Chicago Bulls as he is selected first in the American Basketball Association Dispersal Draft.

Long Names, Long Ball

Only four Major League players with ten or more letters in their last names have hit forty or more homers in a season. Who are they?

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 4, 1960

Billy Martin, the mercurial second baseman of the Cincinnati Redlegs (who changed their name from Reds during the Cold War era), fractures Cub's hurler Jim Brewer's cheekbone in a scuffle at Wrigley Field. Cubs win, 5-3.

Addie Joss

Most of us are familiar with four of the five other Major League pitchers who along with Mark Buehrle have the distinction of tossing a perfect game along with another no hitter------Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning and Randy Johnson. Addie Joss is the sixth pitcher in this exclusive club, and the least known by baseball fans.

Joss pitched for the Cleveland American League team from 1902 until 1910. The team was first known as the Bronchos, and they were known as the Naps when Joss had to retire due to a severe illness. The name Indians would come later.

Besides the perfect game and the other no-hitter, which were both against the White Sox, Addie Joss had a lifetime ERA of 1.89, second best in Major League history, only bettered by his contemporary, the White Sox hurler Ed Walsh. He had four 20 plus win seasons, accumulating a 160-97 won- loss record.

Joss died of tubercular meningitis at the age of 31. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 3, 1952

Sam Snead shoots a 65 at the Tam O'Shanter Country Club to claim the All-American tourney championship.

Hardly a Whiff

White Sox Hall of Famer Nellie Fox only struck out a total of 216 times in 9232 times of bat in his 19 year career. That's about how many times Mark Reynolds and Ryan Howard strike out each season! Yankee Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio, in his 13 year career struck out 369 times in 6821 at-bats. The Yankee Clipper hit 361 home runs. About a homer for every strike out. Wow!

Don Cardwell's No-hitter

Although I was not at the ballpark to see either of Buehrle's gems, I did attend Wrigley Field in 1957 to witness Don Cardwell's no-hitter. My friend Howie Katz and I had snuck into the boxes in the seventh inning, and once Walt Moryn made his shoestring catch end the game, we were strategically positioned to run onto the field with Cub security being extremely lax at that time.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 2, 1963

The College All-Stars, coached by Otto Graham, defeat Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers, 20-17, at Soldier Field.

This Date in Chicago Sports---August 1, 1927

Cub's outfielder Hack Wilson collects two hits, a single and a triple, to extend his hitting streak to twenty-six consecutive games. The Cubs defeat the Phillies, 6-5, at beautiful Wrigley Field.