Here’s a look at some of the more memorable White Sox events that occurred on this date (April 8th):
*1983, THE FIRST OF 99: Jerry Koosman tossed three shutout innings for the save in nailing down the “Winning Ugly” White Sox first victory of their 99-win season with a 6-3 triumph of Detroit before 51,350 at Tiger Stadium. The Sox broke a 3-3 tie with three in the seventh with Tony Bernazard’s RBI single giving the Sox the lead for good.
*1988, THREE WINS IN FOUR TRIES: Dan Pasqua drove in the winning run in the ninth in the Sox 3-2 victory over Seattle before 10,524 at Comiskey Park. The victory improved the Sox to 3-1 for their best start since the 1982 squad began 8-0. John Davis hurled two hitless innings of relief for his first win in a Sox uniform.
*1989, THE DOG SLAMS A’S: Ivan Calderon’s sixth inning grand slam cemented the White Sox 7-4 win at Oakland. Two RBIs by leadoff man Ozzie Guillen helped the Sox get the lead before Calderon launched the earliest grand slam by a Sox player since Bill Melton’s blast on April 7, 1971 (also in Oakland)
*1991, SOX WRECK BALTIMORE BASH: Sammy Sosa hit two homers as the White Sox spoiled the final Opening Day at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium with a 9-1 trouncing of the Orioles before 50,213 disappointed onlookers. Sosa became the first Sox player with a multi-homer effort on Opening Day in 31 years (Minnie Minoso). Jack McDowell went the distance while striking out 10 for the Sox first complete game in an Opener since 1976.
*1992, 2-FOR-2 IN ’92: Robin Ventura’s eighth-inning single scored Tim Raines with the go-ahead run in the Sox 4-3 win at California. Greg Hibbard earned the win with relief help from Bobby Thigpen as the Sox improved to 2-0.
*1993, SOX STOMP TWINS: Alex Fernandez fashioned eight strong innings and Tim Raines and Ron Karkovice each homered in the White Sox 9-4 win over the Twins in the Metrodome. Fernandez limited the Twins to two runs on five hits in his first start of the season.
*2000, WINNING STREAK REACHES FOUR: Thanks to Frank Thomas’ three-run homer, the White Sox extended their winning streak to four by trampling the A’s 7-3 at Oakland. Thomas finished with three hits boosting his career total to 1,577th which moved him past Luis Aparicio into sixth place on the Sox all-time list. Mike Sirotka earned his first win of the season.
*2003, TRIUMPH OVER THE TRIBE: The White Sox scored two in the top of the 10th on a Jose Valentin single and a Frank Thomas sacrifice fly in spoiling the Indians’ home opener with a 5-3 win. Billy Koch earned his first win with the Sox by tossing two scoreless innings as the club extended its winning streak to four. Damaso Marte was the unsung hero in this one, firing 1.1 shutout innings of relief and ending an Indian uprising in the seventh with a K.
*2005, SOX POWER PAST TWINS: Sixth-inning home runs by Paul Konerko and Aaron Rowand gave the White Sox the lead for good in a 5-1 win at Minnesota. The victory gave the White Sox their best start since the 1992 team was also 3-1 after four games.
*2014, ROCKING IN THE ROCKIES: Jose Abreu hit his first two homers and collected five RBI in the White Sox 15-3 win at Colorado. Abreu also became the first rookie with two four-plus RBI games in his first eight big league contests. Avisail Garcia had two homers as the Sox six roundtrippers were their most since June 24, 2009.
*2018, BIG DAY FOR AVI: Avisail Garcia fell a double shy of the cycle in the White Sox 6-2 win over the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field. Miguel Gonzalez gave up two runs on six innings for the victory.
*2021, WHAT A HOME OPENER!2021: Lance Lynn fired a five-hitter and Yermin Mercedes launched a 485-foot home run in the White Sox 6-0 win over Kansas City in the Guaranteed Rate Field opener. Lynn became the first American Leaguer to throw a shutout with 10-plus strikeouts and no walks in a team’s home opener. The big right-hander also fired the Sox first complete game in a home opener since 1985 (Britt Burns) and the first complete game shutout in a home opener since 1976 (Wilbur Wood). Mercedes’ blast, in the first inning, was the Sox third-longest at Guaranteed Rate Field behind Joe Borchard (504 feet on Aug. 30 2004) and Frank Thomas (495 feet on July 23 2002).