This Day In White Sox History...

[Lip Man 1]

Two very different items, one heartbreak, one just flat out bizarre:

June 27, 1958 - He came so close to perfection. Sox left hander Billy Pierce fired four one-hitters in his brilliant career, but he never came closer than on this night to baseball immortality.

With two out in the ninth inning, Pierce lost a perfect game as the Senators Ed Fitz Gerald, a pinch hitter, doubled down the first base line on the first pitch thrown. The hit was fair by a foot off a low outside breaking ball just past Ray Boone. The crowd at Comiskey Park stared in disbelief. The Sox won 3-0 but Pierce never came closer to pitching the ultimate masterpiece. On the night the Senators only hit six balls out of the infield. Pierce struck out nine and only went to a three-ball count on two hitters. The game took 1:46 to play and was Billy’s third straight shutout. He was looking to become the first left-handed pitcher to throw a perfect game in the modern era.

Another historical oddity… Fitz Gerald’s grandfather was an important businessman in Milwaukee, including the shipping industry. Years later a ship would be named after him. The name of the ship? The Edmund Fitz Gerald. (Cue the song from Gordon Lightfoot!)

 

June 27, 1967 - It was one of the most bizarre individual plays in White Sox history. The Sox were at Baltimore and in the last of the fourth inning of a scoreless game the O’s Frank Robinson slid hard into second baseman Al Weis trying to break up a potential double play on a ball hit by Brooks Robinson. Robinson’s head slammed into Weis’s knee briefly knocking him out. The next day he woke up with double vision and missed a month. Weis meanwhile had his knee torn up and his season ended because of the contact. While both players were lying on the ground Sox right fielder Ken Berry noticed that time had never been called and Frank wasn’t on the base! He ran in, picked up the baseball and tagged him with it. Second base umpire Nestor Chylak called Robinson out.

Officially it went into the books as a force out; third to second to first to right field. The Sox behind Joe Horlen would win the game 5-0.

[The Mighty Mite]

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Two very different items, one heartbreak, one just flat out bizarre:

June 27, 1958 - He came so close to perfection. Sox left hander Billy Pierce fired four one-hitters in his brilliant career, but he never came closer than on this night to baseball immortality.

With two out in the ninth inning, Pierce lost a perfect game as the Senators Ed Fitz Gerald, a pinch hitter, doubled down the first base line on the first pitch thrown. The hit was fair by a foot off a low outside breaking ball just past Ray Boone. The crowd at Comiskey Park stared in disbelief. The Sox won 3-0 but Pierce never came closer to pitching the ultimate masterpiece. On the night the Senators only hit six balls out of the infield. Pierce struck out nine and only went to a three-ball count on two hitters. The game took 1:46 to play and was Billy’s third straight shutout. He was looking to become the first left-handed pitcher to throw a perfect game in the modern era.

Another historical oddity… Fitz Gerald’s grandfather was an important businessman in Milwaukee, including the shipping industry. Years later a ship would be named after him. The name of the ship? The Edmund Fitz Gerald. (Cue the song from Gordon Lightfoot!)

 

June 27, 1967 - It was one of the most bizarre individual plays in White Sox history. The Sox were at Baltimore and in the last of the fourth inning of a scoreless game the O’s Frank Robinson slid hard into second baseman Al Weis trying to break up a potential double play on a ball hit by Brooks Robinson. Robinson’s head slammed into Weis’s knee briefly knocking him out. The next day he woke up with double vision and missed a month. Weis meanwhile had his knee torn up and his season ended because of the contact. While both players were lying on the ground Sox right fielder Ken Berry noticed that time had never been called and Frank wasn’t on the base! He ran in, picked up the baseball and tagged him with it. Second base umpire Nestor Chylak called Robinson out.

Officially it went into the books as a force out; third to second to first to right field. The Sox behind Joe Horlen would win the game 5-0.

I’ll never forget that Billy Pierce heartbreak game, listened to the game on the radio as the Sox didn’t televise home night games in those days, just day games.
Never knew that about the FitzGerald relation with that famous ship being named after Ed’s grandfather.

[Lip Man 1]

3 hours ago, The Mighty Mite said:

I’ll never forget that Billy Pierce heartbreak game, listened to the game on the radio as the Sox didn’t televise home night games in those days, just day games.
Never knew that about the FitzGerald relation with that famous ship being named after Ed’s grandfather.

Billy told me if he could have one pitch back in his career that would be it. He said Fitz Gerald was a first ball, fast ball hitter so Sherm Lollar suggested throwing the off speed pitch to him. 

[chitownsportsfan]

This day in WS history 2025 June 27th they lost a miserable game against a decent but not great Giants team on the way to 110+ losses once again. 

[kitekrazy]

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

This day in WS history 2025 June 27th they lost a miserable game against a decent but not great Giants team on the way to 110+ losses once again. 

now we can say this day in Sox shitory - wow have the same exact letter