Good morning!
On Thursday evening, the White Sox took care of the Tigers, 4-1, on the strength of four solo home runs. And that had me wondering: how often does that take place? A team hits that many dingers, and they all happen to be without anybody on base?
As it turns out, it actually isn’t all that often! There have been just 8 games in franchise history where the White Sox have hit at least four home runs and they were all solo jobs. Four of those have occurred in the past decade, but there is a game in there that goes back as far as 1937. So what I’m tasking you with today: can you name the players who hit the home runs in those games? There are 29 entries, how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- While Thursday’s game was a victory, the result in the rest don’t matter as far as getting included in the Sporcle. A couple of these games resulted in losses.
- I’ve allotted 10 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I’ve provided the date of the game, the position of the player on that day, and the number of home runs they hit.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- Not counting just solo shots, the White Sox have hit four home runs or more in a game 248 times, with the earliest such game coming on the back half of a double header against the Yankees on July 2, 1930. The White Sox won that game, 15-4.
- The White Sox are 215-33 in such games (and 6-2 in the solo shot games).
- Their largest rout from those 248 games? Also their franchise record for most runs scored: the 29-6 shellacking of the Kansas City Athletics on April 23, 1955.
(Image credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports)
All data from stathead.com
26/29, missing two of the guys from 1937 and the LF from 1975. Has there been a Sporcle quite as 21st-century dominant as this one?
It’s a fair question, and I had the same thought when I was compiling it.
Didn’t get the 2001 RF because I don’t associate him with that position. Also missed the 2012 LF because I never remember him existing. Also missed a bunch of the old guys
The 1937 third-baseman with 2 of the 4 homers is one of the truly obscure players to appear in one of these quizzes. I looked up the 1937 Sox after finishing the quiz with none of the 1937 names. The regular third-baseman on that team was Tony Piet later known for the Pontiac dealership on Western Ave. “Shop for it anywhere. You’ll buy it at Piet.”
Wow, thanks to your post, I have learned something cool today! (Now let’s see if I retain his name long enough to use as an answer the next time Ted includes him in a quiz.)
The only 1937 guy I got was one of the two guys who shows up occasionally in offensive Sporcles. The one who shares a name with a onetime 1B/hitting coach.
That’s a great bit of trivia, thanks for sharing. I’ll see if I can’t figure out a way to get him into a future Sporcle.
Tony Piet’s car dealership was still going at least into the 1970’s and its logo featured crossed baseball bats and all the advertising tied into Tony Piet’s unspectacular baseball career. I’m not young (born in 1963) but I’m not that old. I’m sure there are other posters on the site who spent their youth on the southwest side (two words to satisfy Jim) who remember the dealership at 66th and Western.
Link to old Tony Piet advertisement