May 26, 1992: Carlton Fisk homers for South Bend White Sox in his first minor-league game in 21 years

Carlton Fisk knew how to rise to an occasion. His dramatic home run off Fenway Park’s left-field foul pole, punctuated by a tense hop-and-skip down the baseline and an exuberant leap, won Game Six of the 1975 World Series for the Boston Red Sox. Six seasons later, after a mistake by Boston’s front office made this native New Englander a free agent,1 Fisk returned to Fenway on Opening Day 1981 as a member of the Chicago White Sox and won his first game back with an eighth-inning homer off former batterymate Bob Stanley.

Fisk’s feat of May 26, 1992, didn’t get the same publicity, but 3,147 fans at Coveleski Stadium2 in South Bend, Indiana, are unlikely to have forgotten it. Playing his first minor-league game since 1971, the 44-year-old catcher and future Hall of Famer hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat on an injury rehabilitation assignment with the South Bend White Sox of the Class A Midwest League. The visiting Madison Muskies, an Oakland Athletics farm team, came back to tie the game in the eighth, but a late rally gave the South Benders a 6-4 win.

Fisk entered the 1992 season at a crossroads. While his power and RBI numbers had held steady the previous season, his batting average fell from .285 in 1990 to .241 in 1991. His on-base percentage also declined sharply in 1991, as he drew half as many walks as he had in 1990.3 The statistical evidence suggested the advance of age, wear, and tear.

But Fisk, a fierce competitor, continued to chase goals. He’d already set the major-league record for home runs by a catcher in August 1990, when he hit his 328th.4 Now, he sought to break the major-league record for games caught, held at that time by Bob Boone with 2,225. “I hadn’t thought about it much until Bob retired. That would be real nice,” Fisk said in June 1991. “I think it’s a possibility and hopefully the knees hold out.”5

An inflamed tendon in his right foot stalled Fisk’s pursuit of history in 1992. He played in spring training games, but was placed on the injured list on April 1 and had his foot in a cast for part of that month.6 In late May, with his condition improving, Fisk caught a few innings of the Windy City Classic, a White Sox-Cubs exhibition.7 He also agreed to a rehab stint to be divided between South Bend and Sarasota of the High-A Florida State League.8

The game in South Bend was Fisk’s first minor-league appearance since September 2, 1971, when he caught the season finale for the Louisville Colonels, the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate at the time.9 It was also Fisk’s first game in the Midwest League since 1968, when he played his first full pro season with the Waterloo (Iowa) Hawks. The league “is where a lot of big-league players get their start,” he reminisced. “Everybody has that dream to get to the big leagues. This is where it starts.”10

The South Bend White Sox and their opponents, the Muskies, were near the bottom of the league’s Northern Division in the early going. Madison’s 21-23 record put them fifth in the seven-team division, five games behind first-place Appleton. South Bend’s 19-25 record placed them sixth, a few hundredths of a percentage point ahead of last-place Kenosha, seven games out.11

Both teams’ managers were considerably younger than Fisk and were former playing contemporaries of his. Madison skipper Dick Scott was just 29; he’d played a few games with the 1989 Oakland Athletics, though none against Fisk.12 South Bend’s Terry Francona, in his first season as a manager, was 33 and had played against Fisk during parts of three seasons (1988-1990) in the American League. Asked whether Fisk would catch or play designated hitter, Francona said he would accommodate Fisk’s wishes: “If he wants to, he can manage the game.”13

Fisk chose to catch. For a batterymate, he drew 22-year-old right-hander Barry Johnson, who’d grown up in the Chicago area watching Fisk on TV.14 Johnson signed with the White Sox after attending the University of Arizona. In his second pro season, he went 7-5 with a 3.79 ERA in 16 games with South Bend in 1992.

Johnson never reached the big leagues, topping out at Triple A, but one future major-leaguer was in the White Sox lineup. Third baseman Olmedo Sáenz led the team with 59 RBIs that season while hitting .245. He later played parts of nine seasons in the majors.

Only one player in the Muskies’ lineup, catcher Creighton Gubanich, reached the majors; he led the team that season with 55 RBIs.15 The start on the mound fell to 22-year-old right-hander Steve Shoemaker, the Athletics’ 41st-round pick in the June 1991 amateur draft. An Ohio native who’d grown up a White Sox fan, Shoemaker split 1992 between Class A and High-A ball, going a combined 6-7 with a 4.23 ERA in 32 games. His parents were in the stands, watching him as a pro for the first time.16

Light sprinkles earlier in the day gave way to dry but chilly conditions for the game, with temperatures dipping as low as 42 degrees.17 After a scoreless top of the first, the White Sox put shortstop Glenn Disarcina and first baseman Troy Fryman18 on base in the bottom half for cleanup hitter Fisk.19 Shoemaker missed the strike zone with two curveballs, then challenged Fisk with a fastball away.20 The veteran hammered the ball 380 feet into the parking lot of a nearby church to give South Bend a 3-0 lead.21

Shoemaker settled down after the big blow, holding South Bend off the scoreboard through the bottom of the sixth. Johnson, meanwhile, limited the Muskies to three hits and one run through seven innings, sticking closely to his legendary catcher’s pitch selection.22 Asked later whether Johnson had shaken Fisk off, Francona replied: “I’d have wrung his neck.”23

South Bend made it a 4-1 game in the seventh when Sáenz tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by left fielder Charles Poe. But the Muskies responded in the eighth, collecting four hits and three runs off Johnson to tie the score at 4-4.24

Game stories do not detail the Muskies’ offensive eruption, but box scores suggest that the fourth through sixth spots in their lineup did the damage. No. 3 hitter and DH Eric Booker, cleanup hitter and second baseman Brad Parker, and fifth-place hitter and first baseman Bob Leary were each credited with an RBI. Parker was the only Muskie to collect two hits. Fisk took himself out of the game in the eighth, giving way to Julio Vinas, a 19-year-old in his second pro season.25

Righty reliever Tony Scharff, who entered with a 5-0 record, took over for Madison in the bottom half. Two walks, a base hit, and Scharff’s own error later, the White Sox had reclaimed a 6-4 lead.26 The game-breaking hit belonged to Sáenz, who singled in Disarcina and Fryman.27

Righty Chris Woodfin nailed down the game for the White Sox in the ninth, allowing only a walk. South Bend won 6-4 in 2 hours and 29 minutes, with Johnson getting the win, Woodfin the save, and Scharff taking the loss.

The South Bend Tribune reported that Fisk played “with the enthusiasm and effort of a kid trying to impress the manager,” adding that he high-fived his young teammates and took time for pictures and autographs with players and fans.28 Fisk joked that he hadn’t missed the cold, but was otherwise ready to get back to playing. “You never get used to not playing. At least not me,” he said.29

Johnson raved about pitching to his idol: “You put guys like that on a pedestal, but he put me at ease so I wouldn’t be nervous. He fit in with all of us. He cracked one-liners and made people laugh.”30 Shoemaker credited Fisk, who walked and flied out in two subsequent plate appearances,31 for hitting a good pitch. “There’s no shame in giving up a home run to Carlton Fisk,” Shoemaker said. “I’m not the first guy to do it. It was fun for me to pitch to a major-leaguer and challenge him.”32

South Bend ended the season in second place in its division with a 73-64 record,33 while Madison slumped to last place at 59-75. Neither team made the playoffs.

Fisk was long gone from the minors by then. After one game in South Bend and seven more at Sarasota, he made his Chicago White Sox debut on June 9. Fisk went on to hit .229 in 62 games in 1992. The following year, he hit .189 in 25 games. The White Sox released him on June 28, 1993, ending his 24-season major-league career – six days after he played his 2,226th and final big-league game as a catcher, breaking Boone’s record.34

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Sources and photo credit

In addition to the specific sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for general player, team, and season data. Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet do not provide box scores for minor-league games, but the May 27, 1992, editions of the South Bend (Indiana) Tribune and the Capital Times and Wisconsin State Journal (both Madison, Wisconsin) printed box scores.

Image of 1992 Score card #72 downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 The Red Sox had a deadline of December 20, 1980, to offer Fisk a new contract. But the team – reportedly unintentionally – made its offer on December 22. An arbitrator ruled that the error by Boston’s front office allowed Fisk to become a free agent, and in March 1981, he signed with the White Sox. Joseph Wancho, “April 10, 1981: Carlton Fisk Homers in Return to Fenway Park,” SABR Games Project, accessed January 2026, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-10-1981-carlton-fisk-homers-in-return-to-fenway-park/.

2 The ballpark was named for Hall of Fame pitcher Stan Coveleski, who lived in South Bend. “A Historical Look at the South Bend Cubs,” South Bend Cubs website, accessed April 2026, https://www.milb.com/south-bend/team/history.

3 Fisk drew 61 walks in 521 plate appearances in 1990 and 32 walks in 501 plate appearances in 1991. His on-base percentage was .378 in 1990 and .299 in 1991.

4 Fisk finished his career with 351 homers as a catcher. This remained a record until May 5, 2004, when Mike Piazza hit his 352nd home run as a catcher. Piazza ended his career with 396 homers as a catcher (and 427 total).

5 Mike Terry, “Home Run Production Down, but Fisk’s Bat Still Has Pop,” USA Today, June 11, 1991: 6C. Boone retired after the 1990 season.

6 Curt Rallo, “Fisk in South Bend Tuesday for Rehab,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, May 23, 1992: C1; “Doctors Remove Fisk’s Foot Cast,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 23, 1992: C4. Examinations of Fisk’s foot also discovered a bone spur, but that was not considered to be the real cause of his problems. “Sore Foot Sidelines Fisk,” Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune, March 21, 1992: 7C.

7 Bill Jauss, “What a Chilling, Thrilling Start,” Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1992: Sports:1.

8 Rallo, “Fisk in South Bend Tuesday for Rehab.”

9 Tev Laudeman, “Mixed Emotions to Accompany Fisk,” Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, September 3, 1971: B6.

10 David Haugh, “A Night in Single A Has Fisk Feeling Like Rookie, Hitting Big-League Style,” South Bend Tribune, May 27, 1992: A1.

11 “Midwest Standings,” South Bend Tribune, May 26, 1992: C4.

12 Scott appeared in two games against the Red Sox and one against the Milwaukee Brewers. In the latter game, on May 23, he played against Terry Francona.

13 Rallo, “Fisk in South Bend Tuesday for Rehab.”

14 Curt Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski,” South Bend Tribune, May 27, 1992: C1. Johnson had been drafted by the New York Mets in the later rounds of the June 1987 amateur draft, but did not sign. Born in Wichita, Kansas, Johnson attended high school in Joliet, Illinois.

15 Gubanich was a successor of sorts to Fisk: His 18 games with the 1999 Boston Red Sox included 14 appearances at catcher.

16 Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

17 Haugh, “A Night in Single A Has Fisk Feeling Like Rookie, Hitting Big-League Style”; Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

18 If these last names look familiar, it’s probably because Glenn and Troy’s brothers, Gary Disarcina and Travis Fryman, were major-league All-Stars. Glenn Disarcina topped out at Triple A, while Troy Fryman reached Double A. A photo on Page 1 of the May 27, 1992, South Bend Tribune showed Glenn Disarcina and Troy Fryman greeting Fisk at home plate; their combined age of 43 (Disarcina was 22, Fryman 21) was younger than Fisk’s age (44).

19 Unless otherwise noted, play-by-play action is based on “Fisk’s Blast Gives Sox Good Start,” South Bend Tribune, May 27, 1992: C3, and staff and Associated Press, “Fisk, South Bend Triumph,” (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal, May 27, 1992: 3D, as well as box scores. (Both Madison newspapers, the State Journal and the Capital Times, ran a brief, identical item about the game, along with a box score.) Unfortunately, news stories focused heavily on Fisk and included relatively little game action.

20 Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

21 “Fisk, South Bend Triumph.” News stories do not specify which field Fisk hit the ball out to. A Google Maps search for Coveleski Stadium in January 2026 found the Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church, and its parking lot, located beyond the right-center-field fence.

22 News stories do not specify how the Muskies scored their first run in the top of the fourth inning.

23 Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

24 Box scores report that Johnson surrendered seven hits and four runs – three earned – in eight innings of work. “Fisk, South Bend Triumph” says he allowed just three hits and one run through seven innings. Based on that, the Muskies must have collected four hits off Johnson in the eighth.

25 Fisk’s departure from the game in the eighth is mentioned in Haugh, “A Night in Single A Has Fisk Feeling Like Rookie, Hitting Big-League Style.” The story does not specify whether Fisk left the game at the start of the eighth inning, in the middle, or at inning’s end.

26 Game stories do not specify whether Scharff’s error was fielding or throwing, and they do not detail the order of events in the eighth-inning rally.

27 Box scores credit Fisk with three RBIs, Poe with one, and Sáenz with two. Since Fisk’s and Poe’s RBIs are clearly accounted for in the first and seventh innings, we extrapolate that Sáenz drove in the two eighth-inning runs. Sáenz is also credited with two hits, the first being his seventh-inning triple. He is not credited with any other extra-base hits. From this, we extrapolate that Sáenz drove in his eighth-inning RBIs with a single. Similarly, Disarcina and Fryman are credited with two runs scored apiece; based on the box score, no one else on the South Bend team could have scored the eighth-inning runs.

28 Haugh, “A Night in Single A Has Fisk Feeling Like Rookie, Hitting Big-League Style”; Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

29 Haugh, “A Night in Single A Has Fisk Feeling Like Rookie, Hitting Big-League Style.”

30 Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

31 “Fisk’s Blast Gives Sox Good Start.”

32 Rallo, “Fisk Finds No Foes at Coveleski.”

33 And one tie.

34 Joey Reaves, “Johnson’s Big Hit Hogs Fisk’s Glory,” and Jerome Holtzman, “Pudge Enjoys ‘Battlefield Honors,’” both Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1993: Sports:1.