Oketo turned me on to baseball reference.com, a website where you can research not only players and games, but actual box scores for all major league games as far back as 1957. This prompted me to find out what happened on opening day for my White Sox in my favorite baseball year, 1959, when they made it, but lost, in the World Series.
Here's what the box score shows:
- Billy Pierce and Jim Bunning were the starters. Bunning went to the Hall of Fame--and the U.S. Senate. Pierce should be in the Hall--more wins and complete games than Drysdale, better winning percentage and ERA than Bunning, more wins, shutouts, complete games and strikeouts than Whitey Ford--all of whom made it. In any case, it's opening day, and neither one of the starters makes it past the fifth
- Nellie Fox has what could be the best opening day of any batter in history--5 for 7, including a double, a homer--even a sacrifice bunt
- Charlie Paw Paw Maxwell (remember him?) hits a three run shot off of Ray Moore (Ol' Blue, remember him?) to tie it in the 8th
- Gerry Staley goes four and two-thirds in relief (on opening day!) for the win after Fox's two run shot in the top of the 14th
- The loss and the save go to the two guys with perhaps the biggest ears in MLB history--the save to the Sox' Don Rudolph, and the loss to Tiger's Don Mossi
What the box score doesn't report is the fact that Rudolph didn't last long with the Sox--good fastball, no breaking ball, so owner Bill Veeck traded him in the middle of that season. Rudolph's main claim to fame was that he was married to a stripper who worked professionally as 'Patti Wagon'. When Veeck traded him, he said, "Alas, the wrong Rudolph had the good curves"
Man, I love baseball,diderot
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