White Sox Memories: Dan Pasqua’s famous and infamous moments

Former Chicago White Sox outfielder Dan Pasqua rocked glasses and home runs during his seven years on the Southside.

He looked like a history teacher but could rip dingers with his powerful left-handed bat. He also played a solid outfield and an occasional first base.

Pasqua hit 75 of his 117 career homers for the Sox. His job was simple, bring the boom from the left side of the plate.

His career average was .244 but he had a career slugging percentage of .438 with a career-high .525 in 1986 when he was with the New York Yankees.

Dan Pasqua was a very interesting Chicago White Sox player in his day.

His Chicago White Sox career-best slugging percentage came in 1990 when he slugged .495.

It was in 1990 when he sent Old Comiskey Park out in style.

The “Baseball Palace of the World’s” last game took place on September 30, 1990, against the Seattle Mariners.

The Chicago White Sox were down 1-0 going into the bottom of the sixth. Frank Thomas ripped an RBI single to score Lance Johnson. Then Pasqua came to the plate.

He was the DH that day and he ripped a 1-1 pitch from Rich DeLucia into left field. A weird hop allowed the ball to get past Ken Griffey Sr. and Thomas made a mad dash for home.

Jack McDowell pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning. Bobby Thigpen came in to pitch the ninth and got his 57th save of the year which is a single-season save record that lasted for 18 years.

The victory capped off a surprisingly great final season for Old Comiskey Park.

The team in 1989 was bad and decaying much like the old ballpark. An infusion of younger talent in 1990 led the Chicago White Sox to win 94 games. The only reason the Sox did not make the playoffs was because the Oakland Athletics won the American League West with 103 victories.

The Sox’s win total was the second-best in the AL but it happened before the wild card system was implemented.

That is why Old Comiskey Park’s last season did not end with playoff baseball. Pasqua did get to play in the postseason in 1993 when the White Sox finally won the AL West.

That is when he met the infamous moment of his White Sox career.

Pasqua was strictly a bench player by 1993. He played in just 78 games that season and manager Gene Lamont had him in the starting lineup as the designated hitter in Games 1 and 2.

Dan went 0-for-8 with a walk and a run scored. It led to Bo Jackson criticizing the decision as Jackson was benched in favor of Pasqua. Bo described Dan Pasqua’s presence in the batting order as the Sox playing one man short.

Although Bo Jackson did not do any better in the next three games. Jackson had no hits, three walks, and run scored in Games 3, 4, and 5.

Pasqua played just 11 games in 1994 when a knee injury cut short his season and he never played professional baseball again.

He is still involved with the Chicago White Sox working for the organization’s youth baseball program.