August 4, 1977: This is the modern height of Chicago baseball. Both of Chicago's baseball teams are in 1st place in their respective Divisions. That had never happened this late in the season before (including in the years of single-division leagues), and it has only happened once since (in 2008).
On this day, the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Comiskey Park, on the South Side. Steve Stone outpitched Bert Blyleven. Oscar Gamble went 3-for-3. As a result of this game, the White Sox led the American League Western Division by 3 1/2 games over the Minnesota Twins, 4 1/2 over the Kansas City Royals, and 5 1/2 over the Rangers.
Oscar Gamble
White Sox owner Bill Veeck was going for it: Having saved the team from bankruptcy and from being moved to Seattle in the 1975-76 off-season, and staged several kooky promotions like he had in his previous ownership of the South Siders, 1959 to 1961, he obtained a few "rent-a-players," in an attempt to win the Pennant this season, knowing that, as perhaps the least wealthy team owner in Major League Baseball, he wouldn't be able to re-sign them as free agents for the next season. He often remarked, "It's not the high price of talent that bothers me, it's the high prices of mediocrity."
Tying in with Chicago's image as a high-crime city, particularly one gripped by organized crime, the '77 White Sox became known as "The South Size Hit Men." Designated hitter Gamble hit 31 home runs and had 83 RBIs, right fielder Richie Zisk hit 30 home runs and had 101 RBIs, 2nd baseman Jorge Orta had 84 RBIs, 1st baseman Jim Spencer had 18 homers and 69 RBIs, 3rd baseman Eric Soderholm had 25 home runs and 67 RBIs, center fielder Chet Lemon had 67 RBIs, designated hitter Lamar Johnson had 65 RBIs, and left fielder and former National League batting champion Ralph Garr batted .388 and had 54 RBIs.
This was no old-style "Go-Go White Sox": Garr, whose speed had earned him the nickname "The Roadrunner," led the team with 12 stolen bases. There were a lot of fireworks shot off from Comiskey's center field "exploding scoreboard," and organist Nancy Faust gleefully playing Steam's 1969 Number 1 hit "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" every time the "Hit Men" led an opposing manager to relieve his pitcher.
Playing their home games at Wrigley Field on the North Side, the Chicago Cubs were not scheduled for the day. They were in an even tighter race for the lead in the National League Eastern Division, but, for the moment, they had it, by 1 game over the Philadelphia Phillies, 2 1/2 over the Pittsburgh Pirates, and 4 over the St. Louis Cardinals.
They weren't loaded with big hitters. Right fielder Bobby Murcer, the former Yankee star, hit 27 home runs, but he was their only player with more than 12. He had 89 RBIs, and was the only one with more than 69. But 3rd baseman Steve Ontiveros batted .299, center fielder Jerry Morales batted .290, 1st baseman Bill Buckner batted .284, and 2nd baseman Manny Trillo batted .280.
But while the Cubs have been known for power hitting, they only times they have ever seriously contended was when they had very good pitching. Rick Reuschel finished the season 20-10, making him the Cubs' only 20-game winner between Ferguson Jenkins in 1972 and Greg Maddux in 1992. (Rick Sutcliffe went 20-6 in 1984, but 15-1 after being traded to the Cubs in midseason.) And Bruce Sutter had one of the best seasons any reliever had ever had, going 7-3 with 31 saves and a 1.34 ERA.
Between the Cubs and their ivy-covered walls, their hand-operated scoreboard, and their "Bleacher Bums" by daylight, and the White Sox and their promotions, their exploding scoreboard, and their "South Side Hit Men" by night, Chicago was the place to be for a baseball fan from early April to early August.
But, in the end, neither team had enough pitching, and things began to fall apart after this. On Sunday, August 7, at Wrigley, the Cubs beat the San Diego Padres, 9-4. José Cardenal and Steve Swisher hit home runs, and Steve Renko was the winning pitcher. But it was the 2nd game of a doubleheader, and they had lost the 1st game, 8-6. The Phillies beat the Dodgers, 3-1 at Veterans Stadium, and passed the Cubs for 1st place in the NL East. The Phils led the Division the rest of the way, and the Cubs had another late-season fade, finishing at exactly .500, 81-81, a whopping 20 games behind the Phillies, in 4th place.
Also on August 7, the White Sox lost, 3-2 to the Royals at Royals Stadium. Gamble hit a home run, but John Wathan's single won it in the bottom of the 9th, completing a 3-game sweep for the defending AL West Champions.
On August 12, a loss to the Rangers knocked the Pale Hose out of 1st place. They were tied for 1st as late as August 19, but they went into a tailspin as the Royals surged. The White Sox finished 90-72, their highest win total between 1965 and 1983; but were 12 games behind the Royals, in 3rd place.
Sure enough, Veeck let his players drift away to other teams. Zisk signed with the Rangers. Gamble signed with the Padres. In mid-1978, Spencer was traded to the Yankees. Soderholm and Garr stayed until mid-1979, when they was traded to the Rangers and the Angels, respectively. Orta remained through the 1979 season, before going to Cleveland. Lemon and Johnson each lasted all the way until the end of the 1981 season.
After 3 seasons, in 1980, he sold the team to Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn. Veeck died in 1986. In 1988, "The Reinhorn Twins" threatened to move to the White Sox to the Tampa Bay region if they didn't get a replacement for Comiskey Park. They got it, and it opened in 1991. Finally, in 2005, the White Sox won their 1st Pennant since 1959, and their 1st World Series since 1917.
The Cubs would have shocking Playoff losses in 1984 and 2003, and ordinary Playoff losses in 1989, 1998, 2007, 2008 and 2015. Finally, in 2016, the Cubs won their 1st Pennant since 1945, and their 1st World Series since 1908.
The 2008 and 2020 seasons remain the only ones in which both the Cubs and the White Sox made the Playoffs. Neither won a round, either time.
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August 4, 1977 was a Thursday. In addition to the White Sox' win over the Rangers, 5 MLB games were played that day:
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Bake McBride singled Jerry Martin home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3. Dave Winfield went 0-for-4.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 1-for-5.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Larry Gura allowed 9 hits, but no walks, and kept the shutout. George Brett went 4-for-5 with an RBI, but the only home run was hit by the shortest player in baseball at the time, shortstop Freddie Patek.
* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Fergie Jenkins outpitched Vida Blue. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.
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