100 Things White Sox Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Bob Vanderberg

Author:Bob Vanderberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2014-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

48. The Chamber of Horrors

Most Sox fans were rather confident after the opening game of the 1983 American League Championship Series in Baltimore. LaMarr Hoyt had beaten the Orioles’ Scott McGregor 2–1, meaning the Sox actually had won a game in that evil place, Memorial Stadium, where they’d had so much trouble since the ugly-looking structure had opened for baseball in 1954.

At least the Sox were not going to have to come back and play another game in what the late Bob Elson, even way back in the ’50s when the Orioles were pretty bad, used to call “The Chamber of Horrors.”

The strangest things happened to the White Sox in that stadium. Maybe the strangest one was “The Paul LaPalme Game,” played on Preakness Saturday in 1957. It was Catholic Charities Night at the park, and the O’s had shown some to the Sox, who had to catch a train to Boston for the next day’s game. The managers, Al Lopez and Baltimore’s Paul Richards, had agreed with the umpires that the gane would end at exactly 10:20 p.m, regardless. It is not clear to this day if all the players knew about the coming curfew, which now was just minutes away.

The Sox had scored four in the seventh to lead 4–3. It was still 4–3 in the ninth as Dick Williams strolled to the plate to face lefty knuckleballer Paul LaPalme. Remembered Williams: “George Kell, as I left the dugout, said, ‘Better be swinging at anything.’ I said, ‘Why?’ ‘This is going to be the last pitch. Get a good cut.’ I thought that no inning could start after 10:20.’”

LaPalme received no such reminder. “All the guys in our bullpen,” he said, “were former National Leaguers—me, Gerry Staley, Dixie Howell. We figured it’d be played like the normal rain-delayed game, and I had to get three outs.” He didn’t even need three strikes. He could’ve held the ball for a few more seconds or called the catcher out for a brief confab, etc. But he did not. He threw and Williams swung, and the ball sailed into the seats in left, the game was tied 4–4 and the Sox hustled through their showers to catch their train.

Afterward, Bob Maisel of the Baltimore Sun walked into the Sox clubhouse to find Lopez still seething.

“Al was in shock,” Maisel said. “His mouth was hanging open. He couldn’t believe it. I saw him at the Hall of Fame ceremony when Chuck Thompson went in a few years ago and needled him about it. Lopez said, ‘I’m still in shock.’”

Incidentally, the game was replayed in its entirety later that season. The O’s won.

Then there was the time in May 1959 when Billy Pierce, in the second inning of a scoreless game, facing Billy O’Dell, gave up a pop fly headed for the right-field foul line, which was made of wood. O’Dell’s ball hit the line in such a way that the ball bounded over the head of an oncharging Al Smith and rolled around in the corner while the first two runs of the game scored in a 2–1 Sox loss.

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