1959 Chicago White Sox
American League Champions
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkComiskey Park
CityChicago
Record94–60 (.610)
League place1st
OwnersDorothy Comiskey Rigney, Bill Veeck
General managersChuck Comiskey/Johnny Rigney, Bill Veeck
ManagersAl López
TelevisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
RadioWCFL
(Bob Elson, Don Wells)
Seasons

The 1959 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 59th season in the major leagues, and its 60th season overall. They finished with a record of 94–60, good enough to win the American League (AL) championship, five games ahead of the second place Cleveland Indians. It was the team's first pennant since 1919 and would be its last until their championship season of 2005.

Offseason

Regular season

In 1959, the team won its first pennant in 40 years, thanks to the efforts of several eventual Hall of Famers – manager Al López, Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox (the league MVP), and pitcher Early Wynn, who won the Cy Young Award at a time when only one award was presented for both leagues. Veteran catcher Sherm Lollar provided quiet leadership on and off the field, leading the team in home runs and RBIs.[3] The White Sox also acquired slugger Ted Kluszewski in August, a local area native, from the Pittsburgh Pirates for the final pennant push. Kluszewski gave the team the needed power-hitting for the stretch run and hit nearly .300 in the final month of play for the White Sox. Lopez had also managed the Cleveland Indians to the World Series in 1954, making him the only manager to interrupt the New York Yankees pennant run between 1949 and 1964.

After the pennant-clinching victory, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, a lifelong White Sox fan, ordered his fire chief to set off the city's air raid sirens. Many Chicagoans became fearful and confused since 1959 was the height of the Cold War; however, they relaxed somewhat upon realizing it was part of the White Sox' celebration.[4] The Sox won Game 1 of the World Series 11–0 on the strength of Kluszewski's two home runs, their last postseason home win until 2005. The Los Angeles Dodgers, however, won three of the next four games and captured their first World Series championship since moving to the west coast in 1958. 92,706 fans witnessed Game 5 of the World Series at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the most ever to attend a World Series game, or for that matter any non-exhibition major league baseball game. The White Sox won that game 1–0 over the Dodgers' 23-year-old pitcher Sandy Koufax, but the Dodgers clinched the series by beating the Sox 9–3 two days later at Comiskey Park.

Fox became the last player in the 20th century to have five hits on Opening Day.[5]

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 9460 0.610 — 47–30 47–30
Cleveland Indians 8965 0.578 5 43–34 46–31
New York Yankees 7975 0.513 15 40–37 39–38
Detroit Tigers 7678 0.494 18 41–36 35–42
Boston Red Sox 7579 0.487 19 43–34 32–45
Baltimore Orioles 7480 0.481 20 38–39 36–41
Kansas City Athletics 6688 0.429 28 37–40 29–48
Washington Senators 6391 0.409 31 34–43 29–48

Record vs. opponents

1959 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CHW CLE DET KCA NYY WSH
Baltimore —8–1411–11–110–1213–98–1412–1012–10
Boston 14–8—8–148–1411–1111–1113–910–12
Chicago 11–11–114–8—15–713–912–1013–9–116–6
Cleveland 12–1014–87–15—14–815–711–1116–6
Detroit 9–1311–119–138–14—15–714–810–12
Kansas City 14–811–1110–127–157–15—5–1712–10
New York 10–129–139–13–111–118–1417–5—15–7
Washington 10–1212–106–166–1612–1010–127–15—

Notable transactions

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1959 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SB
Luis Aparicio, SS 152 612 98 157 18 5 6 51 53 40 .257 56
Earl Battey, C 26 64 9 14 1 2 2 7 8 13 .219 0
Ray Boone, 1B 9 21 3 5 0 0 1 5 7 5 .238 1
Johnny Callison, LF 49 104 12 18 3 0 3 12 13 20 .173 0
Cam Carreon, C 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Norm Cash, 1B 58 104 16 25 0 1 4 16 18 9 .240 1
Larry Doby, OF,1B 21 58 1 14 1 1 0 9 2 13 .241 1
Del Ennis, LF 26 96 10 21 6 0 2 7 4 10 .219 0
Sammy Esposito, 3B,SS 69 66 12 11 1 0 1 5 11 16 .167 0
Nellie Fox, 2B 156 624 84 191 34 6 2 70 71 13 .306 5
Billy Goodman, 3B 104 268 21 67 14 1 1 28 19 20 .250 3
Joe Hicks, CF 6 7 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .429 0
Ron Jackson, 1B 10 14 3 3 1 0 1 2 1 0 .214 0
Ted Kluszewski, 1B 31 101 11 30 2 1 2 10 9 10 .297 0
Jim Landis, CF 149 515 78 140 26 7 5 60 78 68 .272 20
Sherm Lollar, C 140 505 63 134 22 3 22 84 55 49 .269 4
J. C. Martin, 3B 3 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .250 0
Jim McAnany, RF 67 210 22 58 9 3 0 27 19 26 .276 2
Don Mueller, PH 4 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 0
Bubba Phillips, 3B,OF 117 379 43 100 27 1 5 40 27 28 .264 1
Jim Rivera, RF,LF 80 177 18 39 9 4 4 19 11 19 .220 5
John Romano, C 53 126 20 37 5 1 5 25 23 18 .294 0
Harry Simpson, RF 38 75 5 14 5 1 2 13 4 14 .187 0
Lou Skizas, LF 8 13 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 2 .077 0
Al Smith, LF,RF 129 472 65 112 16 4 17 55 46 74 .237 7
Earl Torgeson, 1B 127 277 40 61 5 3 9 45 62 55 .220 7
Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SB
Rudy Árias, P 34 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0
Dick Donovan, P 31 61 4 8 4 0 1 5 5 32 .131 0
Barry Latman, P 37 47 3 6 1 0 0 6 4 4 .128 0
Turk Lown, P 60 12 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .250 0
Ken McBride, P 11 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .167 0
Ray Moore, P 29 23 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 11 .087 0
Billy Pierce, P 34 68 3 13 1 2 0 7 7 13 .191 0
Bob Shaw, P 47 73 7 9 1 0 0 2 5 19 .123 0
Gerry Staley, P 67 13 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 5 .154 0
Joe Stanka, P 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .333 0
Early Wynn, P 37 90 11 22 7 0 2 8 9 18 .244 0
Team Totals
 156 5297 669 1325 220 46 97 620 580 634 .250 113

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB K
Rudy Árias 2 0 4.09 34 0 2 44.0 49 23 20 7 27 28
Dick Donovan 9 10 3.66 31 29 0 179.2 171 84 73 15 61 71
Barry Latman 8 5 3.75 37 21 0 156.0 138 71 65 15 75 97
Turk Lown 9 2 2.89 60 0 15 93.1 73 32 30 12 46 63
Ken McBride 0 1 3.18 11 2 1 22.2 20 11 8 1 17 12
Ray Moore 3 6 4.12 29 8 0 89.2 86 46 41 10 49 50
Gary Peters 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 1
Billy Pierce 14 15 3.62 34 33 0 224.0 217 98 90 26 66 114
Claude Raymond 0 0 9.00 3 0 0 4.0 5 4 4 2 2 1
Don Rudolph 0 0 0.00 4 0 1 3.0 4 0 0 0 3 0
Bob Shaw 18 6 2.69 47 26 3 230.2 217 72 69 15 59 89
Gerry Staley 8 5 2.24 67 0 14 116.1 111 39 29 5 34 54
Joe Stanka 1 0 3.38 2 0 0 5.1 2 2 2 1 5 3
Early Wynn 22 10 3.17 37 37 0 255.2 202 106 90 20 124 179
Team Totals
 94 60 3.29 156 156 36 1425.1 1297 588 521 129 570 761

1959 World Series

NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL Chicago White Sox (2)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Dodgers – 0, White Sox – 11October 1Comiskey Park48,013
2Dodgers – 4, White Sox – 3October 2Comiskey Park47,368
3White Sox – 1, Dodgers – 3October 4Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum92,394
4White Sox – 4, Dodgers – 5October 5Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum92,650
5White Sox – 1, Dodgers – 0October 6Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum92,706
6Dodgers – 9, White Sox – 3October 8Comiskey Park47,653

Awards and honors

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Indianapolis Indians American Association Walker Cooper
A Charleston ChaSox Sally League Skeeter Scalzi
B Lincoln Chiefs Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League Ira Hutchinson
C Duluth–Superior Dukes Northern League George Noga
D Clinton C-Sox Midwest League Johnny Hutchings
D Holdrege White Sox Nebraska State League Frank Parenti

[11]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Claude Raymond at Baseball Reference
  2. 1 2 Lou Skizas at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Grosshandler, Stan (October 1979). "Sam Esposito Recalls White Sox Pennant Year". Baseball Digest. 38 (10). ISSN 0005-609X.
  4. ↑ Secter, Bob (2016). "The 1959 'Go-Go' White Sox and the air-raid sirens". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  5. ↑ "SI.com". CNN.
  6. ↑ Ray Boone at Baseball Reference
  7. 1 2 1959 MVP award voting results at Baseball Reference
  8. ↑ 1959 Cy Young Award voting results at Baseball Reference
  9. 1 2 3 American League Gold Glove winners at Baseball Reference
  10. ↑ Al López at Baseball Almanac
  11. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

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