Lip Man 1

Tuesday's game has been changed from 6:40 Chicago time to 2:10 Chicago time because of cold weather. Makes sense. Have no idea why ANY Sox April games are scheduled for night-time.

He'll probably be canning a boatload of folks from the baseball side if for no other reason new owners like to hire their own people who they feel will be loyal to them. Not that most if not all of the folks who will be let go deserve to be drawing unemployment.

April 6, 1993 - The Western Divisional Championship season began with a night game in Minnesota and a big 10-5 win over the Twins. Tim Raines would knock in three runs on the night with a three-run home run. He’d also score two runs. The Sox would wind up winning the division by eight games and compiling 94 victories. Jack McDowell picked up the first of his 22 wins on the year going six innings.

Sun-Times with the post game wrap, according to the story Venable wasn't happy after Miami and let the team know it: https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/2026/04/05/breaking-news-white-sox-after-sweeping-blue-jays-are-almost-mediocre

There have been a number of economic studies and reports that explicitly say governments investing in stadiums to the benefit of the owners do not provide the economic return that said owners like to thump their chests about.

Just got back inside from yard work and looked at the box score. You get pitching like that you can win some games, bullpen didn't cough it up and they didn't make an error today which to me was even more impressive.

April 5, 1974 - The Sox opened the season at home under freezing conditions versus the Angels and Nolan Ryan. The Sox started Wilbur Wood which caused broadcaster Harry Caray to comment that the game was “The tortoise against the hare.” This time the hare won as Ryan and the Angels got an easy 8-2 victory. The game did have its moments however. The streaking craze had hit college campuses and, on this day, a few young ladies in the upper deck decided to partially streak while a young man jumped the outfield fence and ran naked through left field before being hoisted back into the stands by his friends. Sox manager Chuck Tanner had one of the best lines anywhere when asked what he thought about the outfield streaker. “I wasn’t impressed by him.” (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...say no more!) April 5, 1977 - Literally a few hours before the team was to head north to open the season, owner Bill Veeck traded shortstop Russell “Bucky” Dent to the Yankees. Salary was the reasoning behind it and Veeck’s comment that “I’d trade Dent even up for any other starting shortstop in the American League” didn’t help matters. In return the Sox got outfielder Oscar Gamble, pitcher Bob Polinsky, minor league pitcher LaMarr Hoyt and 200,000 dollars. Gamble would be a big part of the 1977 hitting orgy, belting 31 home runs, while Hoyt would have some good seasons with the Sox culminating with the 1983 Cy Young Award when he won 24 games. Between 1980 and 1983 Hoyt won 61 games and saved 10 others. April 5, 2004 - New Manager Ozzie Guillen figured he had his debut game all wrapped up as the Sox took a 7-3 lead into the ninth inning at Kansas City. 20 minutes later the Royals scored six runs to take the game 9-7. The amazing rally set the modern record for the most runs scored in the ninth inning to win a game on opening day. Damaso Marte faced three batters, gave up three hits, two of them home runs to Mendy Lopez and Carlos Beltran, and allowed five runs to score in getting the loss. By the way that was Lopez’s only home run that season. April 5, 2010 – It was opening day and for Mark Buehrle, it was his eighth opening day start setting the franchise record and breaking the tie he had with Billy Pierce. Buehrle was brilliant in the 6-0 win over the Indians, but what everyone was talking about after the game was the play he made on a hard-hit ball off the bat of Lou Marson in the fifth inning. Both ESPN and the MLB Network called it the play of the year. Marson’s shot ricocheted off Buehrle’s leg and was hit so hard it was headed towards foul ground on the first base side of the field. Buehrle sprinted off the mound, fielded the ball with his glove and flipped it between his legs to Paul Konerko who made a barehanded catch nipping Marson. It was simply an incredible play as it beat Marson to the bag by a step and a half.

That was a separate incident which took place a few years earlier: September 6, 1981 – It was the beginning of the end for broadcaster Jimmy Piersall in connection with the Sox. Piersall and Harry Caray appeared on the “Mike Royko show” on WLS-TV. Royko asked the duo how they handle baseball wives who disliked the comments they made about their husbands. Caray said, “You know what Mike. I would love to call all the wives together someday and tell them what their husbands say about them across the ballfield.” Piersall’s answer was more controversial to say the least. “First of all, they were horny broads that wanted to get married, and they wanted a little money, a little security and a big strong ballplayer. I traveled; I played. I got a load of those broads too.” When I spoke with Mike Leiderman for my story on the history of SportsVision, he told me what went on in the studio during that opening night game in Texas: "Leiderman also was the last person to be on a TV set with Sox announcer Jimmy Piersall who was fired after his on-air comments after the Sox lost opening night in Texas back on April 4, 1983, by the score of 5-3. “Greg Walker started at first that night. He was a rookie then. Texas’ infield was as hard as concrete and he made a few errors and didn’t handle a few other balls that were generously scored as hits. Jimmy and I were back in the studio and we went live between innings. I was setting Jimmy up for his analysis and he was just merciless with his comments. He was ripping Walker, Jerry Reinsdorf, and the Sox organization. I actually went back to the control room and asked ‘what should I do? Should I challenge him? What?’ They said ‘just let him go.’ He was fired the next day.”

Sounds like they played pretty well today overall. Error didn't cost them and the bullpen did OK generally today.

The Sox used to have a franchise Hall of Fame exhibit/area behind home plate at the rate but that was removed a few years ago for renovations. I don't know where it is located now, if in fact it is still there.

The Washington Post editorial board has a column today (I don't have access to the story itself) with this headline: Never subsidize a sports stadium. And definitely not like this.The subheadline then says "Jacksonville fans are getting fleeced"

April 4, 1960 - Shortly before the season opened, the Sox ended their decimation of the young players on their roster, by shipping future All-Star and power hitting catcher Earl Battey along with future power hitting All-Star first baseman Don Mincher to the Senators for power hitting first baseman Roy Sievers. Sievers gave the Sox some good years, averaging 27 home runs, 92 RBI’s and a .295 batting average in two seasons. He had a 21-game hitting streak in 1960 and made the All-Star team in 1961. But Battey, who cried when he was told he was traded, may have won the Sox the pennant in 1964, 1967 or both just by himself (to say nothing of other players shipped out that off season like Johnny Romano, Norm Cash and Johnny Callison.) Battey would go on to make four All-Star appearances and win three Gold Gloves at catcher along with helping the Twins get to the World Series in 1965. Mincher would become a two-time All-Star and help the Twins get to the World Series in 1965 and the A’s in 1972. April 4, 1982 - One of the most highly anticipated opening days in franchise history got snowed out. The Sox were set to host Boston and the organization was expecting a crowd of around 50,000 much like they got for opening day 1981. That got torpedoed when a blizzard hammered the entire Midwest cancelling games for days. 10 inches of snow were recorded at Comiskey Park! The season didn’t begin until April 11 as the Sox took a double-header from the Yankees in New York. April 4, 1983 - The same night North Carolina State upset Houston in the men’s NCAA basketball championship; the Sox opened their Western Division Championship season dropping a 5-3 game at Texas. The Sox scored three times in the top of the first but were handcuffed after that. Errors by rookies Scott Fletcher and Greg Walker were costly to pitcher LaMarr Hoyt. The Sox would drop all three games to the Rangers but rebounded to win 99 games and take the division by a record 20 games. In addition to the game itself White Sox broadcaster and analyst Jimmy Piersall would be fired by the club the next day for his acerbic studio comments concerning the team’s performance on opening night. April 4, 1988 - It was a moment in the sun for Kenny Williams. On opening day, Williams belted a two run fifth inning home run off the Angels Mike Witt to help the Sox to an 8-5 win. Williams would drive in three RBI’s on the afternoon. His other hit that afternoon was a double. April 4, 1994 - The bittersweet shortened season started in Canada with a rematch of the 1993 A.L.C.S. It was Toronto winning this opening day 7-3 beating Jack McDowell, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, just as they did twice in the post season the year before. But by August 11 the Sox were rolling on all cylinders. That’s when the season came to a staggering end because of the labor impasse between the MLBPA and the owners. At the time of the shutdown, the Sox were leading the division and had the fourth best record in baseball at 67-46. April 4, 2005 - The World Championship season got off to a great start as a packed house saw Mark Buehrle and Shingo Takatsu shut out Cleveland 1-0 in a game that took less than two hours! That season the Sox would roar out of the gate at 26-9, the best 35 game start in franchise history. The only run came in the seventh inning when Paul Konerko scored on Aaron Rowand’s hard shot ground ball that was misplayed by the Indians Jhonny Peralta. Over 38 thousand fans were on hand for the game. The Indians only got two hits on the day and Sox pitchers only faced 28 batters, one over the minimum.

I don't think Dick Allen's #15 is retired and you can make a case for him given his impact on and off the field for the franchise.

From the Sun-Times game recap from Friday: "Reinsdorf has not done interviews in years, but he chatted briefly with an ink-stained acquaintance who said he last had spoken with him in a champagne-soaked clubhouse in 2005, when the Sox won the World Series, ‘‘A long time ago,’’ Reinsdorf said. ‘‘But it seems like yesterday. We need better pitching. The rest of the ballclub is OK, but we need pitching. And we need some wins.’’ And the South Side congregation said, ‘‘Amen.’’

That's probably part of it.

Ego and arrogance.

The White Sox know very, very well what "forearm soreness" usually evolves into.

Sox fans have hope and tell JR to "sell the team..." https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/04/03/white-sox-fans-optimistic-on-opening-day-despite-seasons-rocky-start-hope-never-dies

And Horton left in the second inning with forearm soreness.

Always nice to win the home opener. First game this year the Sox won when trailing in the 7th inning or later. Bullpen and fielding are still works in progress.

Can't blame the fans given the state of the franchise.

If I remember right this was being done in the early 90's and then those teams that were in warm weather and or dome sites started complaining about all these April home games while school was still in session so MLB stopped it. My response was "that's too bad" pay those teams x millions of dollars for the "inconvenience." It's better for the game, the athletes and most of all the fans who are paying the freight. Baseball shouldn't be played in 30-40 degree weather. That's insane.

I think JR actually does appreciate it. The problem is that appreciation is focused only on the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Awful AnnouncingJohn Schriffen reportedly in trouble with White Sox over...Embattled White Sox announcer John Schriffen did not please his bosses with his nickname for Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami.

April 3, 1991 – The White Sox signed former two-sport All-Star Vincent “Bo” Jackson to an incentive-loaded contract, with a 700,000-dollar base salary. Division rival Kansas City had released Jackson two weeks earlier, citing a hip injury suffered playing in the NFL with the Raiders that was likely to end his career in both sports. Jackson would have hip replacement surgery and not make a real impact until 1993, when he hit 16 home runs, but the move was a masterful stroke from a public relations standpoint. “Bo” was the first pro athlete to have the type of surgery he did and come back to play at the highest level. April 3, 2000 - The unexpected Central Divisional Championship season didn’t start off promising. The Sox were buried in Texas 10-4. They’d lose the next day as well 12-8. In the two games the Sox would allow 23 hits and commit five errors. But by the end of the month the Sox set the Major League record for the most runs ever scored in April and ‘‘The Kids Can Play,’’ were on their way to a league leading 95 wins and a post season appearance. April 3, 2021 - After going 5 for 5 in his first game of the year (April 2), Yermin Mercedes started his day against the Angels by going 3 for 3, including his first career homer. His eight straight hits to start a season set a modern record (dating back to at least 1900), besting Chris Stynes’ 7-7 start in 1997. Finally, in the eighth inning of the April 3 game, Mercedes was retired, snapping his incredible start. April 3, 2023 – It was the home opener and it turned into a disaster for the White Sox who were hammered by the Giants 12-3 on a cool afternoon before almost 35-thousand fans. San Francisco blasted seven home runs in the game, one short of the all-time record against the White Sox set by the Yankees on July 31, 2007. Michael Kopech became only the third Sox pitcher to ever allow five home runs in a game with four of them coming in the fifth inning. The other Sox pitchers to allow five home runs were Eddie Lopat at Detroit on April 23, 1947 and Reynaldo Lopez on July 27, 2018 against the Blue Jays.