Today in White Sox History: January 25

1985

The first Australian ever to play for the White Sox, Shane Lindsay, was born in Melbourne.

Lindsay only had a four-game, 10-day major league career. He was called up as the season spiraled down the drain in 2011, with a solid debut in Detroit on September 4 (one scoreless inning, with a walk and a strikeout). His mother had made an arduous journey from Australia to see his debut — and succeeded, getting to Comerica Park in time after 20-odd hours of flights.

Lindsay’s encore, on September 6, was not so sweet, as he pitched the sixth inning of an 18-2 mauling, giving up seven earned on eight hits. That one outing swelled his ERA from 0.00 to 31.50.

Two much more “normal” outings that year nearly trimmed that ERA by a third, but he would never see the majors again. Not for lack of trying, though: Lindsay pitched in the White Sox, Cubs and Dodgers organizations in 2012 and got roughed up over our winter in 2012-13 pitching with a 10.05 ERA for the Melbourne Aces down in Australia.

Three years later, Lindsay made a comeback with Melbourne, pitching from 2015-17 over two seasons, to a 2.70 ERA over 10 games.