A look at some significant events on this day in White Sox history:
*1901, FIRST GAME, FIRST WIN: The White Sox inaugurated American League play with an 8-2 win over Cleveland before 9,000 fans at South Side Park. The Sox took the lead for good on Fred Hartman’s single in the first which plated Fielder Jones and Frank Shugart with the first two runs in A.L. and Sox history. The outburst came moments after the Sox hoisted the 1900 championship flag in what the Tribune reported as “the most auspicious beginning imaginable, without a thing to mar the occasion.” Roy Patterson went the distance for the win,
*1917, FUTURE CHAMPS MOVE TO 9-2: Eddie Collins’ sac fly in the ninth scored Swede Risberg with the winning run in the White Sox 1-0 win over Cleveland before 5,000 at Comiskey Park. Jim “Death Valley” Scott tossed a five-hitter with six strikeouts as the White Sox improved to 9-2 for their best 11-game start in franchise history.
*1920, DID THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO PROVE? Joe Jackson had two hits and drove in three in the White Sox 7-1 win at Detroit. The defending American League champion improved to 5-0 to tie the 1914 club for the best start in franchise history. Ed Cicotte picked up his second win by giving up five hits with six strikeouts.
*1925, THE LYONS SHARE OF THE RELIEF: Future Hall of Famer Ted Lyons continued a sterling stretch of relief with 2.2 shutout innings in finishing off the White Sox 3-2 win over the Tigers at Comiskey Park. Lyons gave up one hit and fanned one in nailing down starter Sarge Connally’s win. Lyons made six of his first seven appearances of this season in relief and did not allow an earned run in 18 innings in those outings. Eddie Collins, another future Hall of Famer, drove in two runs and Ike Davis scored three runs as the Sox won their third straight. The Sox improved to 7-4 for their best 11-game start since the doomed 1920 crew started 9-2.
*1935, O YES THEY CALL HIM THE ZEKE: Zeke Bonura homered twice and drove in four in the White Sox 10-4 win over Detroit before 6,000 at Comiskey Park. Al Simmons and George Washington also homered in support of John “Porkchop” Whitehead, who went the distance to improve to 2-0.
*1941, THE FIRST OF 22 FOR LEE: Thornton Lee picked up the first of his 22 wins in the White Sox 2-1 victory over Cleveland before 1,764 at Comiskey Park. Dario Lodigiani’s two-run triple in the seventh gave Lee the lead. The lefty gave up a run in the eighth but he was able to hang on.
*1953, BEARDEN TO THE RESCUE: Veteran Gene Bearden fired 8.2 innings of scoreless relief for the win in the White Sox 3-0 victory at St. Louis. Bearden took over for Lou Kretlow with the bases loaded in the first and got an inning-ending double play. From there, the lefty gave up three hits and three walks with one strikeout for his first Sox victory. The Sox took the lead in the first on RBIs by Jim River and Rocky Krsnich.
*1963, HOYT DOES IT ALL: Hoyt Wilhelm started the game-winning rally in the 12th with a single and got the victory with 3.1 innings of shutout relief in the White Sox 6-4 win at Yankee Stadium. The future Hall of Famer led off the 12th with a single and eventually scored the go-ahead run on Mike Hershberger’s single. The knuckleballer was phenomenal on the mound, giving up one hit while striking out two for his first win.
*1973, HAVE A DAY, EDDIE LEON: Light-hitting infielder Eddie Leon homered and drove in three as the White Sox began what would turn into a nine-game win streak with an 8-4 victory at Yankee Stadium. Leon’s two-run homer in the second put the Sox on top. After the Yankees tied the game, Bill Melton fronted the Sox for good with a homer leading off a five-run fourth.
*1974, FORSTER GOES K KRAZY: Terry Forster struck out eight in three innings in preserving the White Sox 7-2 win over Milwaukee before 5,409 at Comiskey Park. After starter and winner Wilbur Wood gave up a single to start the seventh, Forster fanned three of the next four batters he faced. In the eighth Forster got two Ks and then struck out the side in the ninth.
*1975, BIG COMEBACK IN MINNESOTA: Deron Johnson’s two-run homer capped a four-run ninth as the White Sox pulled out an improbable 4-3 win at Minnesota. Carlos May ignited the inning with a home run. After a Ken Henderson triple and a B.B. Richard RBI single, Johnson socked the go-ahead homer off Tom Burgmeier. The outburst enabled Wilbur Wood, who threw eight good innings, to win his first game of the year. Terry Forster got through the ninth for his second save.
*2000, BATTERY POWERS SOX: Cal Eldred fired a complete game and Josh Paul launched a three-run homer in the White Sox 8-2 win over Baltimore before 15,461 at Comiskey Park. Eldred fanned 11 and retired 26 of the last 27 Orioles he faced in posting the first-two hitter by a Sox pitcher since Tim Belcher turned the trick Aug. 10, 1993. Paul caught Eldred’s gem and his three-run home run in the second inning was part of a four-run outburst that gave the Sox the lead for good as the team won their sixth consecutive game and improved to 13-6.
*2005, FUTURE CHAMPS STAY HOT: The surging White Sox scored two in the eighth on RBIs by Aaron Rowand and Pablo Ozuna en route to a 4-3 win at Kansas City to extend their winning streak to seven. Rowand’s single tied it and Ozuna’s double put the Sox ahead to stay.
*2008, SOX TAKE TAFFY PULL: Joe Crede’s one-out single in the ninth brought home Carlos Quentin with the winning run in the White Sox 7-6 triumph of the Yankees before 27,243 at U.S. Cellular Field. Crede’s heroics capped a back-and-forth affair which saw the Sox overcome an early 3-0 deficit but blow a 6-3 lead. Contributing to the lead was Jim Thome, who launched a solo homer in the fifth for his 513th roundtripper to move past Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks into 19th place on the all-time list. The bullpen really delivered in this one. Bobby Jenks set the stage for the win by getting Jorge Posada to bounce into an inning ending double play in the top of the ninth.
*2015, DELAYED GLORY: The White Sox game with the Royals was suspended after eight innings because of an unplayable field with the score tied 2 before 20,350 at U.S. Cellular Field. Two days later, Avisail Garcia delivered the Sox a 3-2 win with a ninth inning walkoff single for the first game-ending hit of his career. Before the game was suspended, Melky Cabrera forged a tie with a sac fly RBI in the seventh.
*2016, PERFECT MAT: Mat Latos gave up one run in six innings in improving to 4-0 in the White Sox 4-1 win over the Rangers before 26,058 at U.S. Cellular Field. Latos fanned two as the Sox completed their first home sweep of the Rangers in four seasons. Melky Cabrera scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to break a tie as the Sox moved to 13-6 for their best start since 2006,
*2017, ROYAL POWER: Matt Davidson hit the fourth of his club-record tying eight homers against the Royals in a 12-1 win at Guaranteed Rate Field. Davidson, who hit three homers on Opening Day at Kansas City, wound up tying Albert Belle’s 1998 Sox record for homers vs. the Royals.
*2021, NICKY THE HERO: Nick Madrigal’s two-out double in the ninth scored Luis Robert with the winning run in the White Sox 2-1 victory over Texas at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Sox took a 1-0 lead into the ninth but Liam Hendriks surrendered a homer to set the stage for the heroics in the ninth.