July 3

1926 Exhibits - Ted Blankenship

On this day in 1922, Ted Blankenship made a spectacular debut, pitching twelve innings in relief.

White Sox starter Ferdie Schupp went two innings against Detroit, in Chicago, in the first game of a double header. Ferdie gave up five runs before he was lifted for pinch hitter Amos Strunk. Blankenship made his MLB debut, taking Strunk's place in the batting order and Schupp's vacated spot on the mound. The rookie gave up only two runs over twelve innings in relief, eventually losing to the Tigers 7-6. Most of the heavy lifting was done by the top of the order. The first five batters spread out the six White Sox RBI. The first four Sox batters each had two hits, accounting for all eight of the hits that day for the South Siders. The rest of the order got on base through walks. The only spot that didn't do anything at the plate was the pitcher's spot. Strunk and Blankenship combined for an 0 for 6 day, but Ted Blankenship was masterful on the mound, sporting a 1.38 ERA in his debut.

Ted played with the Sox from 1922 until 1930, with his best years coming in the middle of that stretch. In 1925 he went 17-8 with a 3.03 ERA. Not too shabby for a ChiSox team that won only seventy-nine games. Through a career of bad White Sox teams, Blankenship had a 77-79 record and a career ERA of 4.29. For each of his nine seasons, Ted appeared as a starter and in relief. Seventy-three of his one hundred fifty-six starts were complete games. Switching between the starting rotation and the bullpen also allowed Blankenship to accumulate four saves, one a year from 1922 until 1926, with the exception of 1923.