About That Almost Perfect Game I Saw Back in '83-- Part 5: Blew My Top

Sad to say, but, BUT, this would have only been the ninth perfect game in Major League Baseball.  That is pretty impressive after all those years and all those games.  But NO, I didn't get to see a perfect game.  I would have been more than happy to "settle" for a no-hitter.  But, alas, poor me, I didn't even get that.  I only has a one-hitter.

BECAUSE, the next guy up grounded out to first base.

End of game.

And, the Sox ended up losing 6-0 anyway.

Now, I've seen a lot of White Sox games in my time and definitely have seen them lose a lot of times.  One more loss, no big deal.  But, this one hurt.

I was furious.  I was angry.  I was mad.

But, when Jerry Hairston hit that single, two White Sox fans behind me jumped up and started high-fiving and cheering and what-not.  I saw red, jumped turn around and started jawing loudly and unpleasantly with them.  They looked shocked.

"I'm yelling, "You idiots, you fools.  Don't you know what just happened?"

"Yeah!" they replied.  "The White Sox got a hit."

"Did you know there have only been a few perfect games in the history of MLB and you were about to see one?" I yelled.

Thankfully they shut up and sat down because if they had continued I think I would have gotten into my  first-ever fight at a baseball game.

To read the whole story, go to labels and click on perfect game.

Still Steams Me To Think About It.  --RoadStillMadAfterAllTheseYears

About That Almost Perfect Game I Saw Back in '83-- Part 5: Bottom of the 9th, Two Outs, Then....

Here we go, bottom of the ninth inning now, just three outs to go to you-know-what.  I am now a HUGE Milt Wilcox fan.  I could almost taste seeing the eighth perfect game in MLB history.  And I was going to BE THERE!!  Oh boy.  Come on Milt,

Did I say, THREE Outs?

First up for my White Sox was  Carlton Fisk who flew out.  White Sox manager Tony LaRussa (who is now back with the Sox as manager) then put in a pinch hitter, Mike Squires, who grounded out to first.

ONE OUT TO GO!!!

Then, LaRussa puts in his wildcard, Jerry Hairston.  Jerry Hairston was a pinch hitter's pinch hitter.  This made up a huge part of his career.

Wilcox threw a waist-high fast ball and Hairston did what he got paid for and slashed a ball that landed  a few feet in front of Chet Lemon in center field.

You probably could feel the disappointment in Detroit, but it was definitely that way with most all of Comiskey Park.

All, that is, except for two White Sox fan clowns sitting behind me.

And, Then....  --RoadCry

TEENAGERS AND CATS:  Even if you tell jokes as well as Jay Leno, neither your cat nor your teen will crack a smile.

About That Almost Perfect Game I Saw Back in '83-- Part 4: Do You Mention a Perfect Game During It

Back in April of 1983, I was at old Comiskey Park in Chicago on a very cool night and watching the White Sox play the Detroit Tigers.  A buddy and I had bought a White Sox twenty ticket plan and got tickets to twenty Sox games throughout the season.  The best thing about the plan was that we were guaranteed seats at the1983 All Star game which was played at Comiskey.  I think we paid around $100 each for the plan.

As usual, my buddy and I had parked in Bridgeport, just to the west of Comiskey and stopped at a bar for some food and drinks before walking to the park.  We got to our seats and settled in for some Friday night baseball.

Milt Wilcox was pitching for Detroit and the White Sox batters were being set down with regularity while Detroit was building up to a 6-0 lead.  As a matter of fact, by the end of the seventh inning the Sox had not gotten a hit or walk, nor had any reached on an error.  Could this be that rarest of the rare?

Of course, neither my Buddy or I said anything about it.  In baseball you just don't talk about no-hitters or perfect games while they ae underway.  It just isn't done by real fans.  It is especially true with announcers.  

Dan Holmes, a big Tiger fan, said that before Wilcox pitched to the Sox in the 8th inning, that the screen on his TV back in Detroit where he was watching the game ran the line score and announcer George Kell said:  "The Tigers have 13 hits tonight -- 13 more than the White Sox."

--RoadCox

TEENAGERS AND CATS:  You rarely see a cat walking outside of the house with an adult human being, and it can be safely said that no teenager in his or her right mind wants to be seen in public with his or her parents.

About That Almost Perfect Game I Saw Back in 1983-- Part 3: That Hairston Family

The other major player in this story is the White Sox player Jerry Hairston who pinch hit the single with two outs in the ninth.

In a career spanning 14 years, spent mostly with the Sox, he batted .258.  He was at his best in the year when he had 126 at bats, had 37 hits (one of which was The Hit) and batted .294.  Most of his career he was a pinch hitter, and what a pinch hitter.

On April 15, 1983, Jerry Hairston  broke a perfect game bid by Milt Wilcox of the Detroit Tigers, when he got a single with two outs in the ninth inning.  (Still hurts to think about it.)

***********************************

FROM A BASEBALL FAMILY

The Hairston family is one of only three families in Major League Baseball to have three generations of players.  The other two are the Boone family and the Bell family.

Jerry Hairston is the son of Sam Hairston, a Negro League and Major League player.  He played part of one season with the Chicago White Sox in 1951.

He is the brother of another MLB player, Johnny Hairston  He played one season for the Chicago Cubs in 1969.  (Ouch, I remember that year all too well.)

Jerry Hairston is also the father of Jerry Hairston, Jr., who played 16 years in the Majors and Scott Hairston who played  11 years in the majors.

That's What I call a MLB Family.  --RoadDog

About That Almost Perfect Game I Saw Back in 1983-- Part 2

Milt Wilcox pitched for  16 years in the Majors and had a 119-113 record with a 4.07 ERA.  In 1983, he posted an 11-10 record with 3.97 ERA.  By far, his best year inn the majors was with Detroit he following year, 1984, when he was 17-8 with a 4.00 ERA.

I see in Wikipedia that his birthday is April 20, 1950, so this near perfect game was a nice birthday gift for him.

Wikipedia has this to say about that near perfect game:

On April 15, 1983, Wilcox came within one out of a perfect game, when White Sox batter Jerry Hairston, Sr., singled off him in the ninth inning.  The perfect game would have been the first no-hitter by a Tiger since Jim Bunning  in 1958.

So, Milt Wilcox had a very journeyman career.

And, on April 15, here he was, on the thresh hold of a baseball pitcher's perfection and there I was, freezing and watching him right there in old Comiskey Park.

--RoadDog

Baseball's Hairston Family

While on the subject of Herry Hairston breaking up that perfect game 30 years ago, I suspected that Jerry Hairston Jr, playing for the Dodgers and Scott Hairston playing for the Cubs might be his sons.  They are.  But, I didn't know his father also played in the majors

Sam Hairston spent most of his baseball days in the old Negro League playing for the Birmingham Black Barons and the Indianapolis Clowns before playing for the White Sox in 1951.  Sadly, it was his only year in the majors and he didn't play much, but he broke the color barrier on the White Sox.

This is something I didn't know as I always thought Minnie Minoso was the first black player on the Sox.  This hits home with all the hoopla about that excellent Jackie Robinson movie "42."

The Hairstons three generations of players at the major league level ties them with the Boone and Bell families.

Then, Johnny Hairston, Jerry's brother played three games for the Cubs in that infamous 1969 season at catcher/left field.  Johnny and Jerry were the second generation of black players in the majors.

Quite the Family (And With a SOX CONNECTION).  --RoadDog

Jerry Hairston: The Guy Who Broke Up the Perfect Game All Those Years Ago

Closing out that perfect game for 26 outs that Milt Wilcox of the Detroit Tigers was pitching back 30 years ago, April 15, 1983 with some information on the guy who messed it all up, Jerry Hairston.

I went into his history and then found that he is a member of a Major League Baseball family, with two of his sons playing with the Cubs and Dodgers this year.  And, his father also played one year at the major league level.

Jerry Hairston was born in 1952 and spent 14 years in the majors playing mostly for the Chicago White Sox.  From 1978-1980, he played in the Mexican League, where he met his wife.  His lifetime batting average was .258 and he hit 30 homers, used primarily as a pinch hitter.

His best year was 1983, when he appeared in 101 games, had 126 at bats, 5 home runs and 37 hits for a .294 batting average.

He was pinch hitter excellent for the White Sox and manager Tony LaRussa made great use of that ability in that year when the Sox went to their first post season since the World Series in 1959.

Quite the Pinch Hitter, But WHY Did He Have to Get THAT HIT!!!??  --RoadDog


TOO PUNNY:  What does a clock do when it's hungry?  It goes back four seconds.  (These are getting bad.)

Milt Wilcox and That Near Perfect Baseball Game

I wrote a lot about that near-perfect baseball game between the Tigers and White Sox that took place back on April 15, 1983.  I sure would have liked to see that perfect game as that is a rare opportunity, despite the joy some Sox fans had when Jerry Hairston got that hit.

Here is some more information about Detroit pitcher Milt Wilcox.  He was born in 1950 (a year before me) and made his Major League Baseball debut September 5, 1970 with the Cincinnati Reds, beginning a career that went to 1986 and closed with him playing for the Seattle Mariners.

Overall career record 119-113 with a 4.07 ERA and 1,137 strikeouts (I would have liked to have had that strike out number one higher with a Jerry Hairston striking out that night back in 1983).

Reds--  1970-1971
Indians--  1972-1974
Cubs--  1975 (I never knew he played for the Cubs)
Tigers--  1977-1985
Mariners--  1986

Today, he runs an outfit called Ultimate Air Dogs in California.  It holds competitions to see how far a dog can jump off a dock into the water.

And, I really came up with some interesting stuff on Jerry Hairston and his family.

Sure Would Have Liked a Perfect Game.  --RoadDog


TOO PUNNY:  What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary?  A thesaurus!!

My Journal Goes to April 15, 1983: The Near-Perfect Game-- Part 2

Chester and I go to our first White Sox game of the season on out 20-ticket game package, and what a game to kick off the season.  Continuing from my journal entry for that day:

"The Sox bats were cold as Milt Wilcox put them down in order through the first six innings.  In the meantime the Togers, especially Lance Parrish and Chet Lemon, were hitting the ball exactly where Sox players weren't.  Greg Walker forgot how many outs there were and threw the ball to the ump who jumped away from it.  Forttunately the runner on third didn't discover the situation until it was too late to score.

Wilcox continued his perfect game through the 7th and 8th and the stands started cheering him.  I will pull for any pitcher, except a Yankee, to throw a no-hitter, even against one of the teams I back.  A standing ovation was in order as he came to the mound in the 9th.

He got the first two batters out, one away from a perfect game.  We were about to see only the 13th perfect game since the beginning of the majors.  But, alas, it was not to be.

LaRussa  sent up the AL's best pinch hitter, Jerry Hairston, and he singled sharply through the center, the first and only Sox baserunner of the game.  To say the least, he was roundly booed and all sorts of expletives were mentioned in the stands.  Wilcox couldn't have had more support had he been in Tiger Stadium.

The next batter grounded out so we had to settle for a one-hitter.  I know that the next time Hairston comes up in a game the Sox have a chance to win he will pop up, foul out or strike out, but no, he couldn't do that tonight.

Had two more beers at Bridgeport Pub and drove home."

That Sure Would Have Been Something.  --RoadDog

My Journal Goes to April 15, 1983: The Near-Perfect Game-- Part 1

I have been keeping a journal since 1978 and really wish I had started it earlier.

Here is my entry for that day which was a Friday..

"Chilly.
Picked up Chester and drove to Chicago, stopping at Gemini on the way for hotdogs.  (Chester and I had purchased Sox 20-game season tickets for 1983 which guaranteed us seats at the All-Star game and any playoff games.  Both of us were huge Sox fans, but the prize was getting to see the All-Star game.  Gemini was a little hotdog stand on Il-134 in Round Lake.  I had forgotten about Chester until I read this. I haven't seen him since about 1985.)

Traffic as usual wasn't moving too well but we still managed to get to Bridgeport in 1 hr. 15 minutes.  We had a drink at Bridgeport Pub and walked the short distance to Comiskey.  (This was before the Cubs got their night games and everything went to parking stickers for locals only around Comiskey and Wrigley.)

Our tickets are between third and home and the only shortcoming I could find was that we couldn't see one side of the scoreboard because of camera equipment.  (This evidently was the first game we used our tickets.)  We weren't uncomfortably cold."

More to Come.  --RoadDog

I Was Pulling For You, Milt: Milt Wilcox's Near Perfect Game 30 Years Ago Tonight

This has to be the greatest Major League Baseball event I have ever seen in person.   Thirty years ago today, Detroit Tiger pitcher Milt Wilcox had a perfect game going into the 9th inning against my Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park.

And I was there.

I have never forgotten that game, but had forgotten the actual date, but knew it was early in the 1983 baseball season.  Last night, while looking through the new book I bought at Five Below in McHenry, Illinois, "White Sox Journal" by John Snyder, a must-have for Sox fans, I happened upon the 1983 season and figured I'd see if they had the date for this near-perfect game.

The book did, and it was today.

Milt Wilcox had a perfect game going into the ninth inning and a 6-run lead.  I had long since quit pulling for my Sox and was 100% behind Wilcox.  One out, two outs and Sox manager Tony LaRussa puts in Jerry Hairston to pinch hit.  He was our best pinch-hitter.  And that is just what he did.  Clean single.  The next player flied out and the Sox got to lose a 6-0 game.

I did not get to see my perfect game.  I didn't even get to see a no-hitter.  All I got was a one-hitter.  Not bad, but I could have had a perfect game.

When Hairston got the single, two people behind me started cheering.  That is the nearest I ever came to getting into a fight at the old ballpark.

Idiots.  --RoadDog