Today in White Sox History: August 16
Ross Baumgarten makes it to the majors, with his head still spinning
1927
Babe Ruth hit the first rooftop home run in Comiskey Park history, when he blasted a shot off of Tommy Thomas. The ball was estimated to have gone 474 feet. The Yankees won, 8-1. Ruth’s home run came in the fifth inning, and was a solo shot. Former White Sox manager Pants Rowland was the first base umpire in this game.
The roof had just been added to Comiskey Park earlier in the year.
(In a sad coincidence, exactly 21 years later, Ruth passed away from throat cancer.)
1978
White Sox pitcher Ross Baumgarten defeated the Texas Rangers, 6-2, for his first major league victory.
So what, you say? Well, see if this impresses you: Baumgarten won games at all four levels in 1978.
The southpaw, drafted in the 20th Round in 1977, started the year at Single-A Appleton, going 9-2 with a 1.82 ERA. At Double-A Knoxville, he had a cup of coffee and a 2-1 mark with a 3.24 ERA. Rushed up to Triple-A Iowa, the Highland Park native went 6-5 with a 3.27 ERA. All told, Baumgarten was 16-6 with a 2.62 ERA in the longest minor-league stint of his career. Talk about a meteoric rise!
1989
Vancouver Canadians southpaw Tom Drees threw his third no-hitter of the Triple-A season, in a 5-0 win over Las Vegas. The gem was a seven-inning doubleheader opener, joining a 1-0, nine-inning no-hitter on May 23 over the Calgary Cannons and a second consecutive no-hitter on May 28, a 1-0, seven-inning win vs. the Edmonton Trappers.
The 26-year-old went 12-11 with a 3.37 ERA in 1989 while pitching an entire year in the Canadians rotation. Three of his four complete games were no-hitters, and in his other 145 1⁄3, non no-hitter innings, he allowed 142 hits. Speaking to how stacked the White Sox rotation was in the early 1990s, Drees spent essentially three full seasons (1989-91) in the Vancouver rotation without advance.
Drees only reached the majors briefly, in 1991, pitching 7 1⁄3 innings for the White Sox to a 12.27 ERA and -0.3 WAR.
2011
In an 8-7, 14-inning win over Cleveland at U.S. Cellular Field, the White Sox hit five triples. That was their most in a single game since Sept. 17, 1920, when they got six against the Yankees. Alejandro De Aza had two and Alexei Ramírez, Tyler Flowers and Alex Ríos got the other three.
The Sox won the game on a Juan Pierre single in the 14th inning.
2017
White Sox outfielder Leury García homered on the first pitch of the game at Dodger Stadium, off of Yu Darvish. It marked the second straight game the Sox leadoff man homered on the game’s first delivery. The night before, shortstop Tim Anderson did it off of Alex Wood. It was the first time this ever happened in franchise history.
2020
The White Sox tied the major league record by hitting four consecutive home runs. It happened in the fifth inning at home, in a 7-2 win over the Cardinals and pitcher Roel Ramirez. The four home runs were hit by Yoán Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, José Abreu and Eloy Jiménez. It was the second time in franchise history the White Sox hit four straight homers. This feat had last taken place 12 years earlier (nearly to the day), on Aug. 14, 2008, against the Royals, when Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramírez and Juan Uribe did the honors.
It marked the 10th time an MLB team has hit four straight home runs in a game. It was also the first time in MLB history that three Cuban-born players (in this case Moncada, Grandal and Abreu) went back-to-back-to-back, or that four Latin-born players had homered consecutively.