1959 Chicago White Sox season

Offseason

• December 1, 1958: 1958 rule 5 draft
  • Claude Raymond was drafted by the White Sox from the Milwaukee Braves.
  • Lou Skizas was drafted by the White Sox from the Detroit Tigers.

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. 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 , 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. 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.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

• May 1, 1959: Lou Skizas and Don Rudolph were traded by the White Sox to the Cincinnati Redlegs for Del Ennis.
• May 2, 1959: Ray Boone was traded by the White Sox to the Kansas City Athletics for Harry Simpson.
• May 11, 1959: Claude Raymond was returned by the White Sox to the Milwaukee Braves.
• August 25, 1959: Ted Kluszewski was traded to the White Sox from Pittsburgh for outfielder Harry Simpson and minor league pitcher Bob Sagers.

Opening Day lineup

• Luis Aparicio, SS
• Nellie Fox, 2B
• Jim Landis, CF
• Sherm Lollar, C
• Norm Cash, 1B
• Al Smith, RF
• Johnny Callison, LF
• Bubba Phillips, 3B
• Billy Pierce, P

Roster

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

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

1959 World Series

Main article: 1959 World Series

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

Awards and honors

• Nellie Fox, American League MVP. Luis Aparicio, second place in MVP voting.
• Early Wynn, Cy Young Award
• Nellie Fox, Gold Glove Award
• Luis Aparicio, Gold Glove Award
• Sherm Lollar, Gold Glove Award
• Al López, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year

Farm system

Notes

References

• 1959 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

References

1. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/raymocl01.shtml Claude Raymond] at ''Baseball Reference''
2. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/skizalo01.shtml Lou Skizas] at ''Baseball Reference''
3. Grosshandler, Stan. (October 1979). "Sam Esposito Recalls White Sox Pennant Year". [[Baseball Digest]].
4. Secter, Bob. (2016). "The 1959 'Go-Go' White Sox and the air-raid sirens". [[Chicago Tribune]].
5. "SI.com". CNN.
6. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/boonera01.shtml Ray Boone] at ''Baseball Reference''
7. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1959.shtml#ALmvp 1959 MVP award voting results at Baseball Reference]
8. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1959.shtml#MLcya 1959 Cy Young Award voting results at Baseball Reference]
9. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/gold_glove_al.shtml#top American League Gold Glove winners at Baseball Reference]
10. [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_mgy2.shtml 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