Today in White Sox History: June 8

1947

Luke Appling Day was celebrated at Comiskey Park. The future Hall-of-Famer was among the all-time Sox leaders in numerous categories and won a batting title in 1936, hitting a remarkable .388, and repeated as batting champ in 1943 with a .328 average. He went 1-for-6 in the first game of a doubleheader against Washington, as the Sox lost, 1-0, in 18 innings. (The 18 innings is tied for the 10th-longest game in White Sox history.)

Appling sat out the nightcap, an 8-2 White Sox win.

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1951

Chicago-area native Marv Rotblatt became the first pitcher to enter a game while being driven in from the center-field bullpen. Rotblatt relieved starter Ken Holcombe in the eighth inning of Chicago’s 4-2 loss to the Yankees — who stood in their dugout and watched the pitching change in amazement.

And the White Sox picked a great time to unveil this innovation, as a franchise-record 53,940 fans packed Comiskey Park (the record was later broken, but this game remains the third-highest attendance ever in Chicago for a White Sox game). The crowd represented 4.1% of the entire season’s attendance (1,328,234), over 77 home dates. And in just two days, another 52,054 fans would watch a doubleheader against these same Yankees.

In the 1960s, Sox pitchers were brought into the game in golf carts, and in 1966, a converted snowmobile (sponsored by Nickey Chevrolet) that was fitted with special skis so as to not harm the grass, performed the task.

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1969

The White Sox proved to be polite guests, dropping a doubleheader (3-1 and 11-2) on Mickey Mantle Day. A crowd of 60,096 shows up to see Mantle’s No. 7 retired.

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1981

The new-look White Sox found themselves on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Slugger Greg Luzinski was featured with the headline, “The Sox’ New Sock.”

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2001

White Sox outfielder Carlos Lee became the first player to hit a walk-off, extra-inning grand slam in interleague play (including the World Series). His blast in the 10th inning came with two outs, and blew up the Cubs 7-3 at Comiskey Park, in front of a record-setting 45,936 fans. The shot was off of Courtney Duncan. Lee had five RBIs that evening.

It was the fifth walk-off grand slam in White Sox history.

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2008

The White Sox tied a major league record when they scored 10 or more runs with 15 or more hits in three consecutive games. The Sox powered past Minnesota three straight times, on their way to a four-game series sweep. The record-setting scores were 10-6, 11-2 and 12-2. The Sox hit eight home runs in the three games, with four coming off the bat of Joe Crede. He had two home runs in consecutive games, tying the team record.

It was just the 24th time in American League history that a club scored 10 or more runs with 15 or more hits in three consecutive games. The White Sox also accomplished the feat in 1920.

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