Chicago White Sox

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Lore & Background

The White Sox captured the AL's first major-league pennant in 1901, led by pitcher and manager Clark Griffith. The 1906 team, known as 'the Hitless Wonders,' had the lowest team batting average in the American League that year but stunned the crosstown Cubs—who had won a then-record 116 regular-season games—in the 1906 World Series, taking the Series in six games. Pitching workhorse Ed Walsh routinely pitched over 400 innings each season in his prime. In 1917, the White Sox roared through the American League with a record of 100–54, still a franchise record for wins, and won the pennant by nine games over the Boston Red Sox. Their offense was 1st in runs scored, and their pitching staff ranked first with a 2.16 ERA. They faced the 98–56 New York Giants in the 1917 World Series and clinched the world championship in six games, with Eddie Collins batting .409 over the series and Eddie Cicotte and Red Faber combining to pitch 50 out of a total 54 World Series innings.

In Their Own Story

After an off-year in the war-shortened season of 1918, the club bounced back to win the pennant in 1919 and entered the World Series heavily favored to defeat the Cincinnati Reds in a best-of-9. However, just before the World Series, it became known that some big money was being bet on the Reds, fueling talk that the Series was fixed. The White Sox lost to the Reds in eight games. In September 1920, an investigation into a fixed Cubs game turned toward the 1919 Series. During the investigation, Cicotte and Jackson confessed. Comiskey suspended the remaining seven players before their last season series against the St. Louis Browns. The suspensions ground the team to a halt; they lost two out of three games to the Browns and finished second, two games behind the Cleveland Indians. Newly installed Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned all the accused from baseball for life. From 1901 to 1920, the White Sox won four out of a possible 19 pennants, but they were severely crippled by the loss of seven of their best players in their prime. With a depleted roster, the White Sox dropped into seventh place in 1921 and would not contend again until 1936.

Reader's Guide

The White Sox finally became competitive again under popular manager Jimmy Dykes, who led them from 1934 to 1946—still the longest managerial tenure in team history. However, the White Sox did not completely recover from their malaise until the team was rebuilt in the 1950s under managers Paul Richards, Marty Marion, and Al López. Following Charles Comiskey's death in 1931, the team continued to be operated by his family—first by his son Lou, then by Louis' widow Grace, and finally by their daughter Dorothy Rigney. Not until 1959 did the team pass out of the family to a new ownership group, led by Bill Veeck, who had run the Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns. During the 1950s, the team began to restore its respectability with manager Paul Richards utilizing an offensive philosophy emphasizing speed.

Did You Know?

• The White Sox were originally the minor league Sioux City Cornhuskers before Charles Comiskey bought and moved them to Saint Paul, then to Chicago.
• The 1906 White Sox are known as 'the Hitless Wonders' because they had the lowest team batting average in the American League but still won the World Series.
• Ed Walsh routinely pitched over 400 innings each season in his prime for the White Sox.
• Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned all eight accused Black Sox players from baseball for life, even after they were acquitted in a criminal trial.