This Day In Sox History 8/9...

Five factoids today:

August 9, 1972 - This comes under the heading of ‘who would have thought?’ In a matchup of two of the best pitchers in baseball, with completely different styles, Wilbur Wood hooked up in a pitcher’s duel with Nolan Ryan in a night game in Anaheim.

The game lived up to the billing as the Sox were able to get a 1-0 win.

They only had four hits on the night with Wood himself driving in the winning run in the seventh inning on a single to right scoring pinch runner Charles “Buddy” Bradford. Wood fired a complete game six-hitter with six strikeouts. 

August 9, 1977 - In a game at Comiskey Park, the Sox crushed Seattle 13-3. In the game the “South Side Hit Men” clouted six home runs, three in the third inning alone.

Third baseman Eric Soderholm had two of the long balls.  

August 9, 2000 - The Sox had one of their highest scoring games in history as they buried the Mariners 19-3 at Comiskey Park. Pitcher Mike Sirotka was the recipient of the onslaught and got the easy win. Frank Thomas went 3 for 4 on the night with two home runs and five RBI’s.

August 9, 2021 – One night after Sox outfielder/DH Eloy Jimenez homered twice and drove in five runs at Wrigley Field, he did it again at Target Field in Minnesota as part of the Sox 11-1 win. He became the first player in franchise history to have two home runs and five RBI’s in consecutive games. The pair of long balls also brought Jimenez to 50 in his career in just 187 games, which was the fastest in team history.

August 9, 2022 – The White Sox injury situation which had gutted the organization at all levels since around 2016 turned from the sublime to the ridiculous as between games of a double header in Kansas City, the Sox announced that All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson would miss six weeks, in the middle of a divisional race, after he suffered a sagittal band tear on the middle finger of his left (non-throwing) hand and would need surgery.

He suffered the injury on a checked swing in Texas a few days before, in his last at-bat, in an 8-0 blowout loss.

Anderson, who was one of the most talented players in the game, like many of the White Sox players, just hadn’t been able to escape injuries, going on the injured list every season he had been with the team, often times more than once in a season.