Today in White Sox History: June 12

1966

The White Sox traded relief pitcher Eddie Fisher to the Orioles for infielder Jerry Adair. Fisher was an All-Star in 1965 and the Fireman of the Year, but the Sox had incredible bullpen depth thanks to the anchor, Hoyt Wilhelm and up-and-coming pitcher Bob Locker, along with Dennis Higgins.

1967

The White Sox played the longest-ever losing game when they dropped a 6-5 decision to the Senators in Washington, in 22 innings. Both teams scored a run in the 10^th, then didn’t score again until Washington’s Paul Casanova drove home the winner in the last of the 22^nd. Johnny Buzhardt tossed eight innings in relief before giving up the run that cost him the game. Sox outfielder Walt Williams had 10 at-bats in the contest.

The night game took 6:38. Both teams went the entire game without an error, an AL record. The contest was played in temperatures around 90 degrees, which prompted angry Sox manager Eddie Stanky afterwards to demand implementation of a league curfew.

1972

White Sox slugger Dick Allen appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. (Teammate Tom Egan is in the background, putting on his shin guards.) It was one of the most unusual and unique covers in the history of the magazine. The cover read, “Season of Surprises. Chicago’s Dick Allen Juggles His Image.”

1981

A players strike began, which would eventually wipe out almost two months of the baseball season, after owners insisted on wanting player compensation for any free agent signed — in essence turning free agent signings into trades.

When both sides agreed to resume play, the owners came up with a bizarre “split season” format. White Sox manager Tony La Russa, who passed the Florida bar exam and was an exceptional thinker, quickly found a major flaw in the plan and suggested that if it would help the Sox get the second-best record and a spot in the postseason, they would throw a late-season series to the A’s to guarantee that Oakland would “win” both halves.

Later, Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog said he would do the same thing for his club. The owners then quickly changed the format to eliminate the potential for teams having to lose games to, in essence, win.

From today’s perspective, an ironic twist to the situation was that new White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf was one of a group of moderate owners who wanted the impasse settled and baseball played. He’d completely change his stance towards the union and the players when the labor impasse of 1994 took place.

2018

It’s happened less than the number of fingers on one hand for the franchise. On this night, the White Sox opened up their game at Guaranteed Rate Field with Yoán Moncada blasting a home run to center field. The next hitter, Yolmer Sánchez, then hit another home run …again to center field.

It was a great way to start a game, as the Sox went on to beat Cleveland, 5-1. Both home runs came off of starting pitcher Adam Plutko. It was the fourth time in franchise history the Sox led off a game with back-to-back home runs.

2021

Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, you just can’t lose.

For White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease, that meant facing the Detroit Tigers. Cease, backed by a 13-hit assault, handled Detroit, 15-2, at Comerica Park, and in doing so ran his career record against the Tigers to 8-0. In eight starts, he had 47 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.09.

He also became the first Sox pitcher ever to win his first eight starts against a single club, breaking the record of Mark Buehrle — who went 7-0 against the Texas Rangers in his first seven starts against them.