Here’s a look at the White Sox and the Fourth of July … @SoxNerd style!
*The White Sox are 102-80 on Independence Day, per the team’s game notes. … Today will be the first time the Sox will play the Toronto Blue Jays on America’s birthday.
*The Sox have played on every July 4th since 1901 except 1981 (strike) and 2020 (CoVid).
*George Washington, who played for the Sox in 1935 and 1936, was 2-for-5 with two runs and a double in the Sox 11-6 win at St. Louis in the first game of a July 4th doubleheader in 1935.
Nicknamed George with a given name of Sloan Vernon Washington, the Texan was also 0-for-4 in the nightcap of the sweep.
He was not on the team for the 1936 July 4th doubleheader.
*Claudell Washington homered for the Sox on July 4th, 1979 as part of the team’s biggest output on the holiday – a 16-4 win at Cleveland. … Jesse Jefferson did not pitch for the Sox on July 4th in the two years he was with the club in 1975 and 1976.
*Oscar Gamble hit the Sox first indoor home run on July 4, 1977 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The blast came in the White Sox inaugural game and win inside in a 6-2 triumph of Seattle.
*The Sox first Fourth of July game was an 8-2 loss in the first game of a doubleheader at Cleveland in their inaugural season of 1901. The Sox lost the nightcap, 6-5.
*The Sox first Independence Day win was a 10-2 win over Cleveland at South Side Park in the first game of a doubleheader in 1902. The Sox took the second game 3-2 thanks to Sandow Mertes’ walkoff triple.
*Other July 4th White Sox walkoff hits were by Eddie Collins in 1916 (single) and 1919 (double), Chick Gandil in 1918 (single), Bill Barrett (single) in 1924, Jorge Orta (single) in 1976, Paco Martin (double) in 1994, Sandy Alomar (double) in 2001, Kevin Youkilis (single) in 2012 and Adam Dunn (homer) in 2013.
The Sox won July 4th walkoffs in 1997 when Ozzie Guillen scored on a wild pitch and in 2011 when A.J. Pierzynski scored on a balk.
*The Sox have lost their last five games on July 4th, including a 6-3 setback to the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field last season.
*The Sox last win on the Fourth of July was an 8-2 triumph of the New York Yankees at Guaranteed Rate Field in 2016. James Shields got the win while Tim Anderson and Dioner Navarro went deep in the Sox seventh consecutive Independence Day win.
*Chris Sale fashioned the Sox last Independence Day complete game. In 2014, the lefty went the distance with a Sox July 4th-record 12 strikeouts in a 7-1 win vs. Seattle in Chicago.
*The last Fourth of July doubleheader was a 1976 split with the Texas Rangers at Comiskey Park.
*The Sox played doubleheaders the first eight times they were scheduled to play on July 4th (1901 to 1908).
After a single game in 1909, the Sox played July 4th twinbills in each year from 1911 to 1914, from 1916 to 1919, from 1921 to 1925, from 1927 to 1963 and in 1966, 1969, 1973 and 1976.
*The Sox won 14 consecutive Independence Day games from 1934 (second game) to 1941 (first game). Included in that run were six straight doubleheader sweeps.
*Jose Abreu is the White Sox all-time leader with four July 4th home runs (2014, 2017, 2021, 2022).
*Hall-of-Famer Ed Walsh hit the White Sox first Fourth of July homer in an 8-4 win over St. Louis in Chicago in the first game of a doubleheader.
*Britt Burns fired the White Sox last complete game shutout on Independence Day in a 5-0 win at Cleveland in 1985.
*Paul Konerko hit the last home run of his career in the White Sox 7-1 win over Seattle on the Fourth of July 2014 at U.S. Cellular Field. The blast off Charlie Furbush was the 439th of his career and 432nd with the White Sox.
*It is hard to imagine a player having a better Fourth of July than the one Wayne Nordhagen fashioned in 1979.
Celebrating his 31st birthday, the native of Thief River Falls, Minn., clubbed the Sox first Fourth of July grand slam and doubled in the White Sox 16-4 win at Cleveland in 1979.
*The only other White Sox player with a grand slam on the Fourth of July was Jermaine Dye in a 10-8 win over Tampa Bay in 2005 at U.S. Cellular Field.
*The first player to set off the fireworks with a homer on July 4th at Comiskey Park was Roy Sievers in 1960. Bill Veeck installed the “exploding scoreboard” at Comiskey Park in 1960.
The last Sox player to give the Comiskey faithful an in-game fireworks show with a dinger was Kittle, who launched two in a 10-7 loss to Detroit in the stadium’s final year of 1990.
*Kittle and Ollie Bejma (1939) are the only Sox players with a two-homer game on July 4th.