Sporcle Saturday: New Comiskey opens
There are opening days every year, and 80 home games after that. For Sox fans, the only lasting memory of what went on between the white lines Thursday is that ugly baseball can be played in beautiful ballparks. “At least we know the ball carries”, said one White Sox official, squirming in his tuxedo, wing collar and grey cummerbund.
Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1991
Yes, the White Sox stadium opener 29 years ago today –April 18, 1991– was one to forget. The Sox were riding high to start the season, having completed a 6-1 road trip, with series sweeps or victories over Detroit, Baltimore, and New York. 4 home runs off Tiger bats, though, led to a forgettable 16-0 drubbing. Today’s Sporcle will challenge you to dredge up any memories you might have repressed: which Sox and Tigers players were involved in this game? All told there are 33 players (15 Tigers, 18 White Sox): how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I’ve allotted 15 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I’ve provided the position of the player in question, and sorted by team. For relievers, I’ve indicated their handedness. Position player replacements are denoted by PH (whether that’s as a pinch hitter, or defensive substitute).
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- All of Detroit’s runs were scored in the 3rd and 4th innings (6 and 10, respectively).
- The White Sox had no extra base hits.
- Too little, too late: after the big 3rd and 4th innings, Sox pitching allowed just 4 singles the rest of the way.
All data from baseballreference.com
(Photo credit: Jerry Reuss/Flickr)
28/33. Got all the sox. And all the tigers starters but one- but I got one of their bench guys. Awesome quiz! Sad day!
Boomer with 25. Missed the first man out of the Sox pen, the first sox bench guy and the tiger bench guy I got. Chalk up another one for the bad guy!
26/33. The Sox I missed were
My enduring memory of this game is the photo of
22/33. The Sox I missed were
Is there a reason they had the stadium facing that way?
The million dollar question. (Someone else may be able to shed light here; I can’t remember hearing a compelling reason, or have forgotten if I did read it somewhere)
I believe because they wanted the main entrance and their offices at the intersection on 35 and shields. Also at the time the neighborhood around the back of the park was sketchy at best. Probably had a hand in that decision. Now why the main offices and main entrance had to be by home plate? I don’t know
I thought it had to do with maximizing the parking. Pointing it towards the skyline would have results in wasted space. But I could be wrong
18/33. I always forget about
Have the ticket stub from this game on my home desk. Any guesses at to what the face ticket price was for Sec 350 row 2 seat 15 in 1991?
My dad and grandfather bought two season tickets that year with another set of cousins who bought four seats. We had six seats in that club level and an 11 year old couldn’t have been happier. I probably went to >20 games that year.
My grandfather let me go to opening day – huge gift to me and one I clearly remember.
Man, I miss baseball.