Bo gets a replacement part
1960
Shortly before the season opened, the White Sox finished their decimation of the young depth on their roster by shipping future All-Star and power-hitting catcher Earl Battey along with future power-hitting All-Star first baseman Don Mincher to the Senators for power-hitting first baseman Roy Sievers.
Sievers gave the Sox good output, averaging 27 home runs, 92 RBIs and a .295 batting average in two seasons. He had a 21-game hitting streak in 1960, and made the All-Star team in 1961. But Battey, who cried when he was told he was traded, may have won the Sox the pennant in 1964, 1967 or both just by himself (to say nothing of other players shipped out that offseason like Johnny Romano, Norm Cash and Johnny Callison.) Battey would go on to make four All-Star appearances and win three Gold Gloves at catcher. Mincher would become a two-time All-Star.
1982
One of the most highly-anticipated Opening Days in franchise history … was snowed out!
The Sox were set to host Boston, and the organization was expecting a crowd of around 50,000. That got torpedoed when a blizzard hammered the entire Midwest, cancelling games for days. In fact, the White Sox didn’t open their season until April 11 in New York, with a doubleheader win over the Yankees.
1983
On the same night that North Carolina State upset Houston in the men’s NCAA basketball championship, the White Sox opened their divisional championship season by dropping a 5-3 game at Texas. The Sox scored three times in the top of the first, but were handcuffed after that. Two first inning errors by rookie Greg Walker were costly to pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, as they led to two runs and narrowed a 3-0 lead the White Sox kicked off the season with. The Sox would drop all three games to the Rangers, but rebounded to win 99 games and take the division by a record 20 games.
1988
On Opening Day, Ken Williams belted a two-run, fifth-inning home run off of California’s Mike Witt to help the White Sox to an 8-5 win. Williams would drive in three runs on the afternoon.
1992
A year and a day after signing with the White Sox despite a hip injury, Bo Jackson had hip replacement surgery, at Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights. Through the prism of today it might seem a matter of routine that, with rehab, Jackson was to be able to return to the field, but at the time of the surgery his doctors felt the likelihood of a comeback “will be uncertain for some time.”
On Opening Day 1993, after arduous rehab with trainer Herm Schneider, Jackson returned to the field — and hit a pinch-hit home run in his first at-bat!
1994
What would end up being a bittersweet, shortened season started in Canada with a rematch of the 1993 ALCS. Like in the ALCS, it was Toronto winning this Opening Day, 7-3. The Blue Jays beat the reigning Cy Young winner Jack McDowell, just as they did twice in the postseason the year before.
But by August 11, the White Sox were rolling on all cylinders — that’s when the season came to a staggering end because of the labor impasse between the MLBPA and owners. At the time of the shutdown, the Sox were leading the division and had the third-best record in baseball.
1999
Hall of Fame pitcher Early Wynn died in Venice, Fla., at 79. Wynn found his most sustained success with Cleveland, but came over to the White Sox to help push them to the World Series in 1959, a season in which he won the MLB Cy Young and finished third in AL MVP voting. Wynn was elected to the Hall of Fame on his fourth ballot, in 1972, and later coached in the big leagues and was a White Sox radio and TV broadcaster in 1982-83.
2005
The world championship season got off to a great start, as a packed house saw Mark Buehrle and Shingo Takatsu shut out Cleveland, 1-0, in a game that took less than two hours! Buehrle held Cleveland to two hits over eight innings, and Takatsu was perfect in the ninth for his first save.
The only run came in the seventh inning, when Paul Konerko scored on Aaron Rowand’s hard-shot ground ball that was misplayed by Jhonny Peralta. More than 38,000 fans were on hand for the game.
The White Sox would roar out of the gate at 26-9, the best 35-game start in franchise history.