GRAND SLAM Home run no 13 was certainly not unlucky for Sox Catcher Ed Herrmann since the blast came with the bases loaded and helped to the Sox gain a victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. As Ed crosses the plate, he is greeted by teammates Luis Aparaicio, Bob Spence and Bill Melton who were on base when Herrmann hit the grand slam. Ed's minor league high for home run production was 9 in 1967 when he was playing for Evansville. He hit 8 round trippers last season with the White Sox and is well on his way to doubling that figure this year. The 6'1" 200 lb. receiver will celebrate his 24th birthday August 27, and the way he's playing ball, it looks like Ed "Super" Herrmann will be celebrating birthdays in the major leagues for many years. (UPI Telephoto).

The White Sox catcher has had so many foul balls hit off his right ankle in the last few eeks that it's turning into hamburger. He took another whack in Oakland Sunday, but played the entire double header.

"I have it wrapped every day," he said. "I don't even think about it any more."

Along with that malady, Herrmann's right throuwing arm has been numb for the last four days. "I don't know what it is," he said, again apparently ending the subject.

DESPITE ALL this, the 27-year-old veteran played what could mildly be called a key role in last night's 3-2 Sox victory over the California Angels and Nolan Ryan.

His seventh home run of the season, with two out and nobody aboard in the 10th inning, provided the winning run. And his patented knock-down tag of Bobby Valentine for the final out preserved Jim Kaat's 12th victory.

In a typical Chuck Tanner move, the Sox manager relieved Kaat when Valentine began the Angel 10th with a single, bringing Terry Forster right back the night after Forster had been hammered.

Winston Llenas bunted Valentine to second. Bruce Bochte struck out, but Bob Oliver lined a single to right. Bill Sharp's perfect throw was in plenty of time. The aggressive Valentine tried to jar the ball loose, but it was no go.

"I DON'T CARE how tough they are," Tanner said, "they won't get by Herrmann. This is my 29th year is baseball, and he's the best I've ever seen at blocking the plate.

"And I've seen some good ones. Roy Campanella put me down pretty good once, which is why I remember him. Walker Cooper was nother one. And Del Rice.

Asked to rate Valentine's jarring ability, Herrmann described him as "just an average running back."

"Yeah, I used to watch all those guys play,", Herrmann said when informed of Tanner's comparisons. "I used to love football, too. I played middle linebacker in high school. It was the same thing--in the middle of the action.

"Stop 'em right there. Don't let them get another yard on you."

HERRMANN SAID this tag was less of a challenge, because the ball arrived well ahead of the runner.

"I wish I had that much time all the time," he said. "I could set myself. I figured he'd come into me."

His homer came off a new Ryan weapon -- a change up.

"I was just looking for the ball and swinging hard," Herrmann said, "He has such overpowering speed, you've got to be ready for the fast ball. but he threw me a change, and it just stayed up.

"It's great to win for a change. Maybe this will start us going."

He found his mark and sent his seventh home run inamong his friends in the Chicago bullpen. the big blast, coupled with a six-hit pitching gem by Jim Kaat and Terry Forster brought an end to a three-game losing streak as the Sox nipped the Angels 3-2.

Kaat registered his 12th victory, Forster his 15th save, and Herrmann . . . well, his job wan't over with the home run.

Bobby Valentine's single to left center opened the California 10th, and Forster was hustled to the mound. Bruce Bochte, a gigantic rookie first baseman, fanned after Valentine had been sacrificed to second. Bob Oliver then smashed a single to Bill Sharp in right, and the race was on.

Valentine, coming hard, found Herrmann standing in his path just as Sharp's well-aimed throw found the Sox catcher chest high. With Herrmann holding his ground in characteristic fashion, it was no contest. Valentine survived the collision but was out as the game ended.

Earlier, a 2 run homer by Bill Melton followed the second of two walks off Ryan for a 2-0 Sox lead that failed, because of an error, to stand thru nine innings of excellent piutching. Kaat had a perfect game over four innings.

Except for the never-in-doubt authority with which Melton sent his 15th home run, you'd have thought it was Ryan who had the pitching gem under way. Nobody hit the ball out of the infield against him otherwise until the fifth inning, and he struck out four in the first three.

Off Kaat, ont he other hand, there wer four shots by Angle hitters before anyone was retired routinely.

Mickey Rivers and Lee Stanton sent Ken Henderson deep for a 400-foot rocket by Frank Robinson, Kaat began getting some outs of a more routine nature. He put away a dozen in a row before Robinson doubled inside third base to open the fifth. bobby Valentine gave himself up to get the runner to third with an out to second baseman, and Winston Llenas broke the shutout with a sacrifice fly to Carlos May.

The White Sox weren't hitting anymore by now, and it seemed a good wager that Kaat would have to make his 2-1 lead stand up.

Ryan retired 11 in a row before Bucky Dent's harmless single interrupted the operation in the sixth. Then in the last half of the same inning, the Sox defense was guilty of its first error in five games, and the boot cost an unearned run.

to be continued.....

Can a portly butterfly-trainer subdue an angry horde of Northland giants for his 20th victory?

Can a blue-eyed, baby-faced tobacco chewer push the white Sox over the 800,000 mark in the attendance with his mere presence -- which he describes as "the most colorless" in baseball?

Tune in Wednesday night, Smedley, for the answers as Wilbur Wood saunters forth to do battle with the Minnesota Twins at Sox Park.

Forgive the melodrama, but it's been seven years since White Sox fans saw a genuine 20-game winner. That was in 1964 when Gary Peters (20-8) reached the #FFCC66en plauteau.

NOT ONLY is Woody a lock to be a 20-game winner this year, but he also stands to become the winningest Sox pitcher in 50 years. No South Side hurler since Red Faber

MUCH OF Wood's success this year has come from the ability of his personal catcher, Ed Herrmann to handle the elusive knuckleball. Hermie has had singular success in stopping the left-hander's wandering butterflies with his glove, his shin guards and even his chest.

Tuesday night, Hermie had singular success in stopping a Rod Carew "Submarine pitch" with his chest and it won the Sox a ball game.

With the Sox leading 7-5 in the last of the eigth, Herrmann went sliding into second base in an attempt to break up a double play.

"I wasn't trying to get hit by the throw or anything," said the catcher, displaying a red grapefruit-sized welt near his heart. "I was just trying to take out Carew."

"I guess Rod's a little gun shy since his operation 'cause a lot of guys have been taking aim at his legs. He kind of backs up on those plays and almost throws underarm to first instead of coming over the top. He threw too low and the ball hit me in the ribs."

The toss bounced into short left field, enabling Carlos May to score from second with the eventual winning run.

If the Sox pitching had been able to shackle the Twins, Hermie's "base-running" wouldn't have meant that much. His bat would have done enough of the talking.

THE BURLY catcher socked a pair of homers off loser Jim Perry and 10 and 11th of the year.

They split a double header to stop the Oakland steam roller. They gave Bart Johnson his first start in nearly two years, and he responded with a big victory, the Sox winning 11-1 after Oakland had blitzed them behind Vida Blue 7-0.

They got a near-record performance in run-production by Ed Herrmann, and even after slipping from first place to fourth for a part of the afternoon, they rebounded into second.

And their day was made complete when they saw the less knowledgeable fans in a throng of 34,841 boo their manager, Chuck Tanner--then watched him take it like a man with a smile and the wave of his cap after removing the greatly-fatigued Johnson from the 6th inning of game two.

CHUCK'S DERISIVE TREATMENT was occasioned by what some may have glet was a "quick hook" on the heels of Reggie Jackson's towering home run at a time when the Sox led 3-0 in the game, which Herrmann later turned into a rout.
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Herrmann, stung by what he felt was responsibility for Eddie Fisher's early dismissal in Saturday's rout by the A's, started with a 3 run homer off loser Blue Moon Odom in the second game and ultimately drove across seven runs.

HERRMANN'S RBI BONANZA was the biggest by a White Sox player since Bob Niemann knocked in the same number against Kansas City on April 23, 1955. The club record, shared by Joe Jackson [1920] and Carl Reynolds [1930] is eight.

Ed's later hits yesterday were a 2 run double off Darold Knowles who brought his left-handed serves into the game specifically to contain the lefty slugger in the midst of a zany 5 run sixth, and a single off Paul Lindblad that knocked in 2 more in the 7th.

Unfortunately for the Sox, they ran into a Vida Blue, who yesterday was pitching "with the velocity he showed in 1971," Tanner observed. Vida dazzled them on only 4 singles while the world champions pounced on Steve Stone for 3 runs in the first inning and later got a three run homer out of Joe Rudi.

It was the most runs driven in by a White Sox player in one game since Bob Nieman knocked in 7 against Kansas City.

"I guess I was just still mad from yeseterday," said Herrmann. "I felt that yesterday I was responsible for Eddie Fisher being removed in the first inning because of my passed ball that set up the 3 run inning for them. I was determined to make up for it today."

Ed attoned for it in his very first time at bat. In the 2nd inning after Carlos May had walked and Rich Reichardt double to center, Herrmann ripped Odom's first pitch into the right field lower deck for his no. 5.