This Day In Sox History 8/3...

EIGHT factoids today:

August 3, 1920 - During a robbery attempt at the Illinois Vinegar Manufacturing Company, three-armed bandits gunned down highly-respected Detective Sergeant Frank McGurk, a veteran of the Chicago Police Department. His fellow officers were able to start arresting the individuals who committed the crime after getting tips from individuals.

On August 26 thanks to another tip, police were able to stop another robbery attempt, this one was going to take the payroll of the Wilson & Company stockyard meat packers of around 40 thousand dollars.

One of those arrested, James Ryan, confessed to being part of the group that killed Detective Sergeant McGurk and then told police that he and his gang were planning on robbing the Comiskey Park box office in mid-September after “Babe” Ruth and the Yankees came to town. Further, Ryan said they were going to kill everyone in the box office including Sox owner Charles Comiskey! Ryan said he knew Comiskey would be there because he had been advised by his doctors not to actually watch the games for health reasons.

Thanks to the arrest of Ryan on that late August day, Comiskey’s life was spared as well as every other person who would be in the box office at that time.

August 3, 1940 - At Comiskey Park the White Sox held off the Senators 7-6 to record the franchises 3,000^th win. The Sox had a six run fourth inning which was the difference. Jack Knott picked up the win and helped his own cause as he doubled in two runs in the big inning.

August 3, 1956 - The White Sox set the franchise record for most runs ever scored in the first inning of a game when they picked up 11 in Chicago against the Orioles. Billy Pierce got the win as the Sox cruised 13-3. Billy’s record improved to 17-4. Catcher Les Moss drove in four RBI’s to lead the way for the Sox. 14 Sox batters came to the plate in the inning with seven hits, an error and four walks.

August 3, 1959 - At the second All-Star Game, this one played at the Los Angeles Coliseum; Nellie Fox of the White Sox had a splendid afternoon. Fox was on base when the Yankees Yogi Berra blasted a two-run home run giving the A.L. a lead they never relinquished in the 5-3 win. For the game Nellie had two hits and a walk and drove in a run with a seventh inning single scoring the Yankees Tony Kubek.

1959 was the first year two All-Star Games were played, an experiment that went from 1959-1962.

August 3, 1986 - Sox rookie Russ Morman collected three hits in his first three at bats in the big leagues. Morman also tied the record set by Billy Martin by getting two of them in the same inning in his debut game. That happened in the fourth inning of a 10-1 win at Comiskey Park against Detroit. Morman led off that inning with a home run then later in the same frame had an RBI single.

August 3, 1989 - Sox G.M. Larry Himes is best remembered for his drafting of future stars like Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas, Jack McDowell and Alex Fernandez but he’d pull off a good trade or two as well. Case in point, on this day, Himes shipped outfielder Mark Davis to the Angels for pitcher Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez would go on to save 134 games for the Sox with three seasons of 30 or more.

August 3, 1997 - Sox All-Star second baseman, Nellie Fox finally entered the baseball Hall of Fame. Fox, the 1959 American League M.V.P. was voted in by the veterans committee after missing regular election to the hall by the fewest votes in the history of the shrine. Technically he received the 75 per cent needed by rounding out his original vote total but the Hall had no provisions for that, so his total of 74.6 per cent stood and was deemed short of the 75 per cent needed. Fortunately, he was finally admitted in. Nellie was an 11-time All-Star who hit .368 in those games and was one of the most beloved players in Sox history.

August 3, 2001 - Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle threw a lot of big games both in the regular season and in the playoffs. This was one of his best as he beat Tampa Bay 4-0 at U.S. Cellular Field. Buehrle allowed only one hit, to Damian Rolls leading off the seventh inning. He was the only base runner on the day.