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The White Sox are one of Major League Baseball’s oldest teams, but not exactly a club soaked in rich history. After all, we're talking about a franchise that went 87 years between championships and almost single-handedly destroyed the integrity of Major League Baseball with the Black Sox scandal.
But this past weekend, Sox pitcher Phil Humber threw a perfect game and it reminded us that Chicago’s South Side has witnessed some pretty amazing baseball moments. From walk-offs to fist-fights, riots, and exploding scoreboards, these are the 25 Greatest Moments in White Sox History.
RELATED: The 50 Greatest Moments in Chicago Bulls History
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25. Crosstown Beatdown
Date: 5/20/2006
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Chicago Cubs
While you might not consider getting sucker punched a noteworthy moment, the Cub-Sox brawl of '06 was the ultimate validation for the South Siders. Chicago's always been a Cubs town (and likely always will be), but for a moment in the mid-2000s, the jean skirt-wearing bleacher creatures of the North Side traded their vodka-filled Gatorade bottles for A.J. Pierzynski t-shirt jerseys. "Go Cubs Go" gave way to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" as the Windy City's official summer anthem and, for an instant, Chicago was a Sox town. Michael Barrett's cold-cocking of Pierzynski was as much about jealousy as it was about being shoulder-crashed into the dugout. The Cubs were losing, the Sox were champs, and the brawl was a jolted domestic disturbance from the city's ex-lover.
24. Bobby Thigpen Closes Out Comiskey
Date: 9/30/1990
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Seattle Mariners
In the last game at Comiskey Park, Bobby Thigpen closes out the stadium—literally. The Sox closer secured his 57th save which, before Eric Gagne broke it while cresting on horse steroids, was a Major League Baseball record. Comiskey Park was the iconic home to the South Siders for 81 years and, at the time, was baseball's oldest stadium.
23. Between the Legs
Date: 4/5/2010
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Cleveland Indians
The 2010 season wasn't particularly spectacular for the Sox, their 88-74 record was good for second place in the Central. But Mark Buehrle's between the legs, jump-off-your-couch-screaming putout on Opening Day set the standard for amazing defense—so much so that Baseball Tonight began measuring web gems against the "Buehrle Meter."
22. Disco Demolition Night
Date: 7/12/1979
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Detroit Tigers
Forfeiting a game on account of creating a riot atmosphere on the field, on its surface, may not seem like much of a shining moment. But Disco Demolition night is the most notorious promotional event in the history of sports—and that's pretty awesome.
When legendary Chicago disk jockey Steve Dahl was fired by WDAI (known for "Disco DAI") and hired by "The Loop" (an album rock station) he masterminded Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, an event by which disco records would be placed in a crate and blown up on the field. The fan turnout was much larger than expected with almost 100,000 people showing up to the stadium, trying to climb the stadium walls to get in, and completely shutting down exit ramps on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Then Dahl walked onto the field in ARMY fatigues and blew up the crate to a stadium wide chant of "Disco sucks!"
The explosion blew a hole in the outfield and started a small fire which triggered a riot with thousands of drunken fans rushing the field. Uniquely Chicago, appropriately White Sox, and totally awesome.
21. Thomas Swings Rebar
Date: 1991-2005
Game: Various
The Big Hurt was one of the most awesomely badass South Siders of all-time. He took batting practice with a metal bat, feuded with Sox brass, and instead of warming up with a lame batting doughnut, swung a five pound piece of rebar in the on-deck circle. No. 35 is as much a part of the Sox lore as Bill Veeck or Hawk Harrelson. He was a staple on the Second City's second baseball team. Thomas finished his 18-year career with 521 home runs, over 1,700 RBIs, and .301 career batting average.
20. A Never-Ending Game
Date: 5/9/1984
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Baseball can be a slow moving game with all the spitting, pick-off throws to first, and general dicking around between pitches. But in '84 the White Sox played a two-day, 25-inning affair that, were it not for a Harold Baines walk-off home run, might've lasted another day or two. The longest game in American League history ended in the bottom of the 25th inning after a Harold Baines bomb to right field. #thankyoubasedgod
19. Four Straight
Date: 10/16/2005
Game: 2005 American League Championship Series, Games 2-5
The White Sox steam-rolling of the '05 Playoffs was due in large part to 36 consecutive bullpen-less innings in their AL Championship Series against the Angels. The four-man rotation of Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia, and Jose Contreras combined to pitch four consecutive complete games to take the series 4-1. It was the first time in 77 years that a team had thrown four straight complete games in the playoffs and the feat clinched the White Sox first World Series appearance since 1959.
18. Tom Seaver Wins 300
Date: 8/4/1985
Game: Regular Season Game vs. New York Yankees
Tom Seaver defeats the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Phil Rizzuto Day for his 300th career win. Seaver became the 15th member of the exclusive club. Tom Terrific FTW x 300.
17. The Scoreboard Explodes
Date: 5/1/1960
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Detroit Tigers
While the Cubs play in a beacon of baseball tradition, the Sox play in a cesspool of ridiculously awesome gimmicks and publicity stunts. No ploy for attention was more grand than Bill Veeck's exploding scoreboard at old Comiskey Park.
After every home run, lighted pin wheels would spin and fireworks would be shot over the Dan Ryan Expressway in the ultimate look-at-us display of egoism. The exploding scoreboard (which cost $300K when it was constructed in 1960) was a slam-dunk, touchdown spike, and Gatorade shower all rolled into one and came to embody the White Sox aggressive, somewhat defiant marketing counter to pretentious Wrigley Field.
16. Thome Hits 500
Date: 9/16/2007
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Anaheim Angels
In the final two weeks of an otherwise forgettable '07 season, Jim Thome connects with a fastball delivered by Angels reliever Dustin Moselay and made his slow trot around the bases for the 500th time in his career. Thome was the first to reach the historic milestone in walk off fashion (and on Jim Thome Bobblehead Day no less).
15. No Hit Wonder
Date: 7/1/1990
Game: Regular Season Game vs. New York Yankees
During the 80th Anniversary of the first game at the old ball park, New York Yankees pitcher Andy Hawkins throws a no-hitter against the White Sox... and loses. In the eighth inning Hawkins walked in a run with the bases loaded. Down 1-0, a lazy fly ball to right was dropped by rookie Yankee outfielder Jim Leyritz, clearing the bases. Chicago would go on to win the game 4-0 despite never actually, you know, getting a single base hit.
14. Sound the Alarm
Date: 9/22/1959
Game: Regular Season Game @ Cleveland Indians
After the Black Sox scandal of 1919, the White Sox franchise went into a tailspin, going forty years without winning a pennant. That is until the stacked "Go Go" Sox of 1959 with the league's MVP (Nellie Fox) and Cy Young winner (Earl Wynn) won the American League championship posting a 94-60 record. Mayor Richard J. Daley (a lifelong Sox fan) was so thrilled with the clinching victory that he ordered the fire chief to sound the air raid sirens—not a great idea during the Cold War. Chicagoans went into a panic before the city sent word of a Sox celebration.
13. "Hey, the Kids Can Play"
Date: 9/24/2000
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Minnesota Twins
You know expectations for your team are low when the marketing campaign is literally, "Hey, the kids can play." What's that supposed to mean? "Yo, we're not as shitty as you might think."
The catchphrase referred to a nucleus of young players like Paul Konerko, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Lee who along with Frank Thomas and Mike Sirotka were predicted to wallow in mediocrity and finish in the middle of the AL Central. Instead, the team dominated the American League, leading their division by as many as 10.5 games behind a breakout year from Ordonez and Thomas' 43 home runs.
12. Dropped Third?
Date: 10/12/2005
Game: 2005 American League Championship Series, Game 2
Game 2 of the ALCS appeared to be going to extra innings after A.J. Pierzynski swung at a Kelvim Escobar pitch in the dirt, and the Angels players ran off of the field. But as catcher Josh Paul rolled the ball back to the mound, Pierzynksi sprinted to first base like an escaped mental patient.
When he touched first he was called safe, triggering a meeting of the umpires and reaffirmation of the on-field call that about made Angels manager Mike Scioscia crap himself. The dropped third strike call gave the Sox an extra out which they used to pinch run with Pablo Ozuna, who stole second, and scored on a Joe Crede single. Got all that?
11. Bo Knows Bombs
Date: 9/27/1993
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Seattle Mariners
The '93 White Sox were stacked. Frank Thomas' 41 home runs and 128 RBIs were good enough to win MVP, while "Black Jack" McDowell earned the Cy Young with 22 wins. But the signature moment came when Bo Jackson ended a decade long playoff drought with a 400-foot moon shot home run to clinch the AL West.
With the Chi-Sox down 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Jackson (who'd struggled to recover from hip surgery) smacked a pitch to give the South Siders a 4-2 lead. The bomb is a part of White Sox lore as it was reported to have a hang time of 7.7-seconds. To put that into perspective, the average NFL punt hang time is 4.6-seconds and a 300-yard golf drive usually spends about six seconds in the air.
10. El Duque the Dream Killer
Date: 10/7/2005
Game: 2005 American League Divisional Series, Game 3
It had been a lifetime since the White Sox experienced any kind of postseason success so, even up 2-0 in the '05 ALCS, there was a fear that the Pale Hose would choke away the series.
The here-we-go-again moment came in the bottom of the sixth when the Red Sox loaded the bases with nobody out. Clinging to a one-run lead, Orlando Hernandez came out of the bullpen and got Jason Varitek to foul out, Tony Graffanino to pop out, and Johnny Damon to strike out on a did-he-or-didn't-he check swing. Boston left their runners stranded, Chicago closed out the game, and won their first playoff series since 1917.
9. "The Blackout"
Date: 9/30/2008
Game: Play-In Game vs. Minnesota Twins
The heated Twins-Sox rivalry reached a pinnacle in 2009 when the grueling 162-game regular season was extended for a one-night, winner take all play-in game. The drama on the field paled in comparison to the setting around it. U.S. Cellular Field, and its crowd dressed in all black everything, with drapes over the field like a dark shadow.
In a scoreless game, Jim Thome stepped to the plate and put a 2-2 pitch into the shrubs behind center field. His solo home run traveled an estimated 461-feet and proved to be the difference in a 1-0 game. Thome pumped his fist as he rounded the bases. The Sox joined the Cubs in the postseason for the first time since 1906.
8. Beginners Luck
Date: 1901
Game: 1901 Regular Season
In their first season as a Major League Baseball team, the Chicago White Stockings win the American League pennant by four games. Roy Patterson pitches an unbelievable 312 innings over the 136-game season and second baseman Sam Mertes leads the team with five home runs and 98 RBIs.
7. Humber-lievable
Date: 4/21/2012
Game: Regular Season Game @ Seattle Mariners
How rare are perfect games? Major League Baseball once went 42 straight years without one. Phil Humber didn't have a striking resume or overwhelming stuff, but he was intensely focused, confident, and ballsy as hell when he went 27-up-27-down against the Seattle Mariners last weekend.
Humber started the ninth inning going 3-0 on Seattle's Michael Saunders before striking him out on a 3-2 hook. You know you're feeling it when you're throwing full-count hooks with a perfect game on the line. In a dramatic conclusion to the game, Humber struck out Brendan Ryan who vehemently argued his check swing while Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski made the throw to first.
Oh yeah, did we mention that the Mets had drafted him but traded him back in '08? Sorry, Mets fans. #hadtodoit
6. On the Arms of Cicotte and Faber
Date: 10/15/1917
Game: 1917 World Series, Game 6
Remember when you were in Little League and there was that six-foot kid with a mustache that pitched every night? Development and future arm surgeries be damned, y'all had games to win.
Well, Major League Baseball used to work the same way—forget a bullpen. In the 1917 World Series, White Sox pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Red Faber combined to pitch 50 of the Series' 52 total innings. Red Faber alone pitched four of the six games against the New York Giants (winning three). As league champions, the Chicago players split a $3,700 bonus (less than $200 a guy). Suddenly the Black Sox scandal doesn't seem so appalling.
5. "Winning Ugly"
Date: 9/17/1983
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Seattle Mariners
The '83 White Sox were the most badass team in franchise history. In mid-June Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, and Ron Kittle were sitting in fifth place and five games under .500. The club rattled off a modest win streak around the All-Star break, but according to Texas manager Doug Rader their success would be short lived. "They're not playing that well. They're winning ugly." The phrase became a rallying cry. Behind manager Tony La Russa the "Winning Ugly" Sox finished the season 60-25 and clinched their first AL West championship in 20 years.
4. "The Catch"
Date: 7/23/2009
Game: Regular Season Game vs. Tampa Bay Rays
Considering the circumstances of DeWayne Wise's impossible catch-drop-catch, we're calling it the greatest defensive play in White Sox history. Three outs away from a perfect game, Tampa's Gabe Kapler ripped a ball into the gap to the collective sigh of the U.S. Cellular Field crowd.
With his shoulders squared to home plate, the Wise turned and sprinted toward the warning track. As he approached the fence he kicked off of the wall padding and desperately threw his glove in the air—the ball stuck. Wise completed a shoulder roll and bobble before securing the ball to the coronary-induced delight of Sox commentator Hawk Harrelson who screamed "Makes the catch! DeWayne Wise makes the catch!" We called this the greatest defensive play in White Sox history—but forget that—one of the greatest defensive plays in baseball history.
3. The Hitless Wonders
Date: 10/14/1906
Game: 1906 World Series, Game 6
The Chicago Cubs had a record 116 wins and were the overwhelming favorites in the Cross-Town 1906 World Series. The Sox, on the other hand, had the worst team batting average in the American League. The "Hitless Wonders" as they were dubbed, picked a perfect time to get hot. In the Series-clinching Game 6 they dotted Cubs starter Mordecai Brown for seven runs in the first two innings, ultimately winning the game 8-3.
2. First Pitch Swinging
Date: 10/22/2005
Game: 2005 World Series, Game 2
Paul Konerko's walk-up song ("Harvester of Sorrow" by Metallica) fades from the U.S. Cellular Field speakers and 41,000 fans chant "Pauly" repeatedly. The White Sox are down 4-2, there are two outs in the bottom of the seventh, and the bases are loaded. He takes the first pitch from Houston reliever Chad Qualls and crushes it over the left field bullpen. The stadium is deafening. The crowd is euphoric. But the humble, reliable Sox slugger trots the bases unfazed in what would be the second greatest moment in South Sider history.
1. An Unlikely Hero
Date: 10/23/2005
Game: 2005 World Series, Game 2
Playoff baseball has a look in Chicago. The boys of summer are wearing long sleeves, hoods, and can see their breath with every exhale. Scott Podsednik steps to the plate in the bottom of the tenth with the game tied. The lights reflect off of his helmet, the dirt around the batters box starts to color with moisture. He was 0-for-4 on the day. Houston's Brad Lidge tries to beat him with a 2-1 fastball, Pods drops the bat head on a low pitch and it carries to the gap. Fans on their feet, outfielders running to the fence, the ball clears the wall and lands in the front row. The greatest game in White Sox history ends in a walk-off. The South Siders take a 2-0 World Series lead. Three days later the White Sox would win their first World Series Championship since 1917.