Today in White Sox History: May 22
Another win, and the 1982 club becomes the best in baseball
Tony Bernazard had three hits in a 7-3 win on this day, 44 years ago — a victory that gave the White Sox the best record in baseball. | (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) 1926 With a single in his first at-bat, Earl Sheely ran his hot streak to 10-of-13, one of just seven such stretches in White Sox history. Of his 10 hits, Sheely had four singles, five doubles and a home run.
1928 Center fielder Johnny Mostil tied former White Sox center fielder Happy Felsch with an AL-record 12 chances in a 4-3 win against Cleveland. Mostil took advantage of a cavernous Comiskey Park center field to grab 10 fly balls (including all three outs in the top of the third) in the game. Mostil also initiated an inning-ending double play in the top of the sixth, snagging a liner off the bat of Luke Sewell .
As if scampering deep to center and into left and right field for fly balls wasn’t enough of a testament to Mostil’s speed and quicks, he also scored the eventual winning run on a wild pitch by George Uhle — from second base! Mostil had three hits on the day, scoring two runs. 1938 Ted Lyons beat the Senators, 9-2, for his 200th career win.
The future Hall-of-Famer would earn 60 more victories before his career was done. Despite this milestone in 1938, other counting stats failed the legend, as his 9-11 record and seemingly-high 3. 70 ERA (nope, he had a 134 ERA+) for a putrid, 65-83-1 White Sox club saw Lyons get his $10,000 salary slashed by 10% in 1939!