Sox Century: Aug. 6, 1917

Ping Bodie won’t go away.

The popular former White Sox who previously received roses upon his return to Comiskey Park, hit a decisive eighth-inning double, and started an Eddie Cicotte meltdown against his former team struck again. This time, the Philadelphia center fielder hit a game-tying two-run homer off Reb Russell in the eighth inning to send the game into extras. The A’s eventually won in 11 innings, 5-4.

Bodie’s homer successfully nullified what appeared to be a game-breaking blast from Happy Felsch two innings earlier. With two on and two outs, he took a Win Noyes pitch into the left-field bleachers for a three-run homer that gave the Sox a 4-2 lead through six.

But the A’s were persistent, before and after Bodie. They outhit the White Sox 11-7, and the Sox committed three errors, including a pair of them in the fifth that contributed to a key unearned run. As a result, Wally Schang was the one who made all that hard work pay off. From the Chicago Tribune:

Wallie Schang broke up a wild and woolly ball game, broke the Macks’ losing streak, smashed things up in general, and caused consternation in the ranks of the White Sox. Coming up in the eleventh inning, with Stuffy McInnis, who had singled, serenely loitering around first, Li Hung Schang whanged the pill to deep center, the elusive leather taking a bound over Felsh’s [sic] dome for a triple.

Li Hung Schang is a play on Li Hung-Chang, which seems like a stretch, even by blogging standards. The same goes for the Tribune headline: “We’d have won if Ping Bodie were with us.”

Record: 66-38 | Box score