The White Sox were treated to a private tour of the Hall of Fame before Monday`s game.
Most seemed impressed. Among the impressed: Frank Thomas.
”It`s really incredible,” Thomas said. ”It`s motivation. I still can`t believe Pete Rose is not there. It`s a joke. But there`s some memorabilia for him in there-so he`s there.”
– The game, which featured Chico Walker`s eighth-inning homer off Scott Ruffcorn, was a double no-hitter until Byron Mathews, called up for the occasion, singled with one out for the Sox in the seventh. It would be the only Sox hit. Chris Donnells` infield single off Ruffcorn matched it in the New York half. Jason Bere, up from Birmingham, threw five no-hit innings for the Sox.
– The game was special to Larry Monroe, Sox vice president of scouting and minor-league operations. It was at Doubleday Field that Monroe, then an 18-year-old Sox farmhand, faced his first big-league hitter in 1974.
”I go out to the mound, Ron Santo`s playing third and he throws the ball to me and says, `Relax, kid, and you`ll be OK,` ” Monroe said. ”All of a sudden there was a thunderous roar: `Leading off for the Atlanta Braves, No. 44, Henry Aaron.` ”
He was no longer relaxed. Aaron singled. Monroe gave up six runs in three innings.
– There was a home run contest, won by the Sox 9-4. Robin Ventura hit five, Warren Newson three, Esteban Beltre one; for the Mets, Eddie Murray was blanked, Mackey Sasser hit three, Doc Gooden one.
