June 30, 1988: This is the deadline for the Illinois legislature to approve a deal for a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox.
Team owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn, a.k.a. "The Reinhorn Twins," have said that, if it's not approved, they will move the White Sox to the Tampa Bay region for the 1989 season, as the Florida White Sox, even though the domed stadium that will become Tropicana Field won’t open until 1990. They'd rather spent the 1989 season at 7,500-seat Al Lang Stadium (built in 1947 and seriously renovated in 1976) than at their current home, Comiskey Park (built in 1910 and in bad shape).
The deadline is 12:00 Midnight, Central Daylight Time. Governor James R. Thompson, a White Sox fan, knows that the bill won't get enough support in time, and 88 years of White Sox baseball will come to an end.
So he orders the clocks to be shut off in the State Capitol in Springfield, so, like gamblers in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, no one will know what time it is. (Unless they look at their watches.) It works: The bill gets the last supporter it needs, and the vote is taken, and declared passed, and signed into law by Thompson… at 12:03 AM. For once, political chicanery had helped the people.
The White Sox played the 1989 and 1990 seasons at old Comiskey. When the new Comiskey Park, now named Rate Field, opened on April 18, 1991, across 35th Street from its predecessor, Jim Thompson, by now out of the Governor's office, was invited to throw out the ceremonial first ball. In 2005, the White Sox won the World Series, something no Chicago team had done since 1917.
A bust of Thompson now stands outside the ballpark he made possible. It mentions that he is the longest-serving Governor in Illinois history, and says, "He kept the White Sox in Chicago."
As for Tampa Bay, after some cruel near-misses like this one, the San Francisco Giants in 1992, and the Seattle Mariners in 1995, they finally got the Rays in 1998, and have won Pennants in 2008 and 2020 -- but, through the 2021 season, not a World Series.
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June 30, 1988 was a Thursday. There were 4 Major League Baseball games were played that day, and 1 was a home game for the team in question:
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Tommy John, 45 years old, outpitched future Yankee Dave LaPoint, for the 283rd win of his career. There would be 5 more.
Jack Clark hit a home run. Dave Winfield went 1-for-5. Don Mattingly went 1-for-4 with a walk. Gary Redus and Steve "Psycho" Lyons each had 3 hits for the South Siders.
* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 12-6 at Shea Stadium. Bob Ojeda was the winning pitcher, and also went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Darryl Strawberry went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs. Kevin McReynolds went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Howard Johnson went 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs. Dave Magadan went 3-for-4 with a walk.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Brian Holman pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Tom Glavine, still only 22 years old and not yet a great pitcher.
* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 4-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Mark Davis got the 1st 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, but he gave up a single to Barry Larkin, and then walked Kal Daniels, Chris Sabo and Tracy Jones, throwing just 2 strikes to those 4 batters.
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