The start of the season found the White Sox in Detroit, and it was a highlight game for third baseman Pete Ward. Ward smacked a seventh-inning, three-run home run off of Jim Bunning to push the Sox into the lead, and in the ninth inning makes a clutch, barehanded pick up-and-throw out of a slow roller hit by Al Kaline. The Sox won, 7-5, and it would be the start of a brilliant rookie year for Ward. That year, he finishes at .295 with 22 home runs, 84 RBIs, 34 doubles and six triples.
1971
It was the biggest crowd for a home opener in years, as 43,253 fans poured into Comiskey Park to see the “New Look” White Sox under new player personnel director Roland Hemond and manager Chuck Tanner.