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.

3 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

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.

Did Piersall also get fired for calling the players' wives a "bunch of horny broads"? I know he made that comment at some point and people (rightfully) were outraged by that.

Edited April 4Apr 4 by 77 Hitmen

1 hour ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Did Piersall also get fired for calling the players' wives a "bunch of horny broads"? I know he made that comment at some point and people (rightfully) were outraged by that comment.

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.”

Edited April 4Apr 4 by Lip Man 1