Today in White Sox History: June 28

1941

White Sox infielder Don Kolloway became the second White Sox player to steal second, third and home in the same inning. Kolloway pulled this off in Cleveland as part of a 6-4 Sox win. His base-stealing feat took place in the ninth inning.

He also homered twice — his first two career major league home runs — and is the only major-leaguer in history to have two homers and four steals in a game. He also added a single and scored four times in the afternoon contest.

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1973

The ill fortunes of the 1973 White Sox really came into focus, as by the time the summer ended, a team that was in first place for two months wound up placing 38 names on the injured list. Among the key injuries were Ken Henderson tearing up his knee sliding into home plate, Bill Melton suffering a groin injury, Carlos May with a bad hamstring, Brian Downing wrenching his knee on his first major league play, and Pat Kelly having a bad back.

But the most damming injury occurred in Anaheim on this day: Dick Allen suffered a broken leg when Mike Epstein crashed into him on a play at first. Allen was stretching to grab a wild throw from third baseman Melton in the sixth inning of a game the Sox won, 2-0. He would come to the plate only five more times in 1973. The White Sox, in first at the time of the injury, would fall to fifth by the end of the year.

Here’s where it really gets strange ... the injury took place just a little more than 10 years after White Sox first baseman Joe Cunningham suffered a broken collarbone against the same team on the same type of play (a wild throw) — with the Sox in first place!

Also on this day, outfielder Rick Reichardt was released. He was a fairly mediocre addition to the early-1970s squad, amassing 1.6 WAR and a .745 OPS (111 OPS+) over 285 career White Sox games. He would catch on with Kansas City, to little fanfare, then end his career with the Royals in 1974, with a single in his only and final major-league at-bat.

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1993

In the first of what would become a series of major public relations disasters, the White Sox released Carlton Fisk, on the road, in Cleveland. Fisk accompanied the team to Ohio, only to be told of his release before the game.

No question, Fisk was finished as a player, but the fans and media were outraged at the way the Sox handled the situation. In fact, the White Sox sent faxes to the media announcing the move, not even having the courtesy to hold a press conference. Fisk, the future Hall-of-Famer, had to say his goodbyes to his former teammates from the stands at Municipal Stadium during that evening’s game, before returning to Chicago.

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2018

Cal sophomore first baseman Andrew Vaughn won the Golden Spikes Award as the best college baseball player in the country. Vaughn hit .402, with 23 home runs and 63 RBIs. Nearly one year later, the White Sox drafted him with the No. 3 overall pick.

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