This Day In Sox History 9/18...

Four factoids today:

September 28, 1910 – The White Sox shut out Boston 6-0 in a game that took only 97 minutes but what was significant was, in it, the Sox recorded the first ever triple play at Comiskey Park.

A line drive was hit with runners in motion to second baseman Freddy Parent, who tossed to shortstop Rollie Zeider to catch a runner off of second, Zeider then threw to Arnold “Chick” Gandil to nab the runner off of first.

Ninety-six years to the day, in 2006, the White Sox also recorded a triple play!

September 18, 1940 - A game originally played on June 20 with the Sox beating New York 1-0 in 11 innings, was ordered replayed by the commissioner’s office after the Yankees protested an out call on a fly ball in the second inning.  A Sox win was literally taken away.

In the original game, umpire John Quinn ruled that Sox left fielder Julius “Moose” Solters hung on to a foul ball off the bat of Bill Dickey long enough for it to be considered an out. New York’s protest was upheld by A.L. president Will Harridge on July 2 and declared the contest a no decision.

The Sox found themselves in the middle of a pennant race and losing 9-8 in the eighth inning of the replayed game, which was the second game of a double header, when umpire Harry Geisel ordered the game ended, claiming it was too dark to finish. The decision meant a split for the two teams on the day after the Sox took the first game 6-3.

September 18, 1971 – Sox outfielder Carlos May pulled off one of the rarest baseball feats of all when he got an inside-the-park grand-slam against the Angels Tom Murphy.

May, a left-handed hitter, sliced a drive down the left field line at Comiskey Park in the first inning. California’s Ken Berry, the former Sox outfielder, slammed his head diving for the ball which rolled into the corner. By the time center fielder Mickey Rivers came over and threw it back home, Pat Kelly, Jay Johnstone and Bill Melton had crossed the plate ahead of May. The Sox behind pitcher Tom Bradley won the game 5-1.

Inside-the-park grand-slams are even rarer than no-hitters. There have been 225 inside-the-park grand-slam home runs dating back to 1881 in Major League Baseball. For comparison, there have been 327 no-hitters pitched in MLB games since 1876.

September 18, 2020 – Undoubtedly as a consequence of the pandemic-postponed season for the minor leagues and compressed nature of the MLB campaign, Garrett Crochet became the first player since Mike Leake in 2010 to make his professional debut in the big leagues. His only seasoning came in alternate-site (Schaumburg) appearances. He also was only the 22^nd player to go directly to the Major Leagues since the start of the common draft in 1965.

The top White Sox pick in the 2020 draft struck out two of the three Cincinnati Reds he faced in his debut, hitting 100+ on the radar gun multiple times. Despite pitching just one week of the regular season, Crochet ended up registering more 100+ MPH pitches than anyone in the majors in 2020.