Chicago White Sox - The Viet Nam Era (1960-1969)  
   
 
Chicago
Home
Click
on Logo
                                                   
        Yr P W L   Yr P W L   Yr P W L               1960  
        1960 3 87 67   1963 2 94 68   1967 4 89 73               Decade  
        1961 4 86 76   1964 2 98 64   1968 8 67 95               Click  
        1962 5 86 77   1965 2 95 67   1969 5 68 94               on Logo  
                  1966 4 83 79                            
                                                       
   
  Titles: None Top White Sox Players during the Sixties  
     
  BallPark: Comiskey Park Pitchers:  
    Joel Horlen (23.8) -    66  
  Team Name: White Sox Gary Peters (21.34) -    66  
    Juan Pizarro (12.87) -    43  
  Owner: Bill Veeck (1960-1961) Tommy John (16.73) -    42  
  Arthur Allyn (1961-1969) Hoyt Wilhelm (16.35) -    32  
  John Allyn (1969) Ray Herbert (8.49) -    28  
    Eddie Fisher (7.4) -    26  
  General Managers: John Buzhardt (6.15) -    24  
  Hank Greenburg (1959-1961) Wilbur Wood (8.51) -    19  
  Ed Short (1961-1970) Frank Baumann (2.79) -    18  
    Early Wynn (4.95) -    16  
  Managers: Bob Locker (4.7) -    15  
  Al Lopez (1960-1965, 1968-1969) Billy Pierce (4.45) -    15  
  Eddie Stanky (1966-1968) Turk Lown (4.04) -   9  
  Les Moss (1968) Dave DeBusschere (0.79) -    0  
  Don Gutteridge (1969)    
    Catchers:  
  Hall of Famers: John Romano (5.21) -    22  
   Minnie Minoso Sherm Lollar (4.5) -    16  
  Early Wynn     
  Hoyt Wilhelm First Basemen:  
  Nellie Fox Tom McCraw (6.12) -    37  
  Luis Aparicio   Roy Sievers (7.15) -    19  
    Moose Skowron (4.72) -    11  
  No Hitters: Joe Cunningham (6.18) -   9  
  Joel Horlen (1967)    
    Second Basemen:  
  Rookie of the Year: Don Buford (17.02) -    36  
  Gary Peters (1963) Al Weis (4.39) -   9  
  Tommy Agee (1966) Nellie Fox (6.31) -   6  
       
  MVP: ShortStop:  
  None Luis Aparicio (18.26) -   56  
    Ron Hansen (18.08) -    35  
  Cy Young:    
  None Third Base:  
    Pete Ward (20.02) -    41  
  Notable Events:    
    Outfielders:  
  1960 - OF Floyd Robinson, 24, is obtained from Cleveland. He will be one of the Floyd Robinson (18.5) -    46  
  better hitters in the league over the first half of the decade. Jim Landis (9.92) -    46  
    Tommy Agee (10.89) -    29  
  1960 - Bill Veeck, who always liked to make going to the games a carnival like Ken Berry (7.74) -    23  
  atmosphere, introduces the exploding scoreboard whenever a White Sox  Al Smith (6.6) -    23  
  player hit a home run. Nice idea. Mike Hershberger (2.46) -    17  
    Minnie Minoso (5) -    17  
  1961 - Bill Veeck becomes the first to put names on the backs of     
  player's uniforms. Nice idea.  Notable Events:  
   
  1961 - Bill Veeck sells the club to Arthur Allyn after the season as 1967 - Twenty seven year old Wilbur Wood is acquired from the   
  Bill was having difficulty making ends meet. The other owners  Pirates for Juan Pizarro. A steal for the Sox. Wood is the mainstay of the  
  generally despised Veeck. Presumably because he thought of Chicago staff for the next eight years. A knuckleballer, Wood could pitch all day  
  himself as one of the common folk rather than one of the elites and racked up four consecutive twenty win seasons in the early Seventies  
  that they all felt they were. As a traitor to his class, the other owners  averaging around 350 innings per season while doing so. His career was  
  never gave Veeck an opportunity to make a go of it. An example thwarted in 1976 when a line drive shattered his kneecap.  
  being expansion in baseball. Veeck wanted to own the new Los    
  Angeles franchise in the American League. However, Dodgers  1968 - The Sox plummet twenty two games in the standings from a very     
  owner Walter O'Malley would have none of it. It would have gotten competitive 89-73 mark in '67 to an awful 67-95 mark in '68. This wasn't an  
  Veeck on his feet financially. After Veeck sold the White Sox, his aberration, 1968 marked the Sox from being one of the top clubs in the league  
  General Manager Hank Greenberg was so disgusted with baseball to one of the worst. There were four reasons for this sudden change of status.  
  that he left it for good. Two huge losses for baseball and its fans. Chicago's offense was poor, but two players were generating much of the offense  
  Of course, once Veeck was out of the picture, the Anaheim franchise  that was there with their dynamism - third baseman Don Buford and centerfielder  
  miraculously opened up (and for an outsider, no less, cowboy star Gene Autry). Tommy Agee. Both of them had some pop in their bat altho' they weren't hitting  
    for high average and they both put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses with  
  1963 - After being a well above average club for the previous their baserunning and speed. Buford was sent to the Orioles for an aging Luis  
   dozen seasons (and exceptional once in 1959), the Sox step up Aparicio and Agee was sent to the Mets for an aging Tommy Davis. Not Ed   
  their game and finish a competive second for the next three Short's finest hour. Without Buford and Agee, the Chicago offense was dead   
  seasons. They are a team for their era, excellent pitching and as a doornail. Note that the Orioles, who got Buford and the Mets, who got Agee  
  mediocre hitting. It's an interesting pitching staff as there are not would meet in the World Series the following year and Buford and Agee were two  
  a couple of aces carrying the staff, but rather a deep effective big reasons why. The other two reasons were that aces Gary Peters and Joe  
  rotation with a deep bullpen. Gary Peters, signed by the Sox in '56 Horlen lost their effectiveness. The went from studs to duds. Both hung on for a   
  and Juan Pizarro, pilfered from the Reds iin '61 in a deal for  few more years, but the effectiveness was gone.  
  third baseman Gene Freese, were the closest to aces. Hoyt     
   Wilhelm, picked up from the Orioles in 1963 at the age of forty, 1968 - Chcago coaxes Al Lopez out of retirement to try   
  for shortstop Luis Aparicio, and Eddie Fisher, picked up from the to turn around their misfortunes on the field. Too late. They stink.   
   Giants in 1962 at the age of twenty five were the main bullpen    
  stoppers. It was GM Ed Short who put this team together 1968 The Sox try to bolster attendence by playing a home game in  
     Milwaukee against each team. This was also a thinly veiled   
  1963 - In addition to Wilhelm, the Sox also pick up 3B Pete Ward, 25, SS Ron stepping stone toward potentially moving the club to Milwaukee  
  Hansen, 25, and OF Dave Nicholson, 23 in the Aparicio deal. All become starters. which had been recently abandoned by the Braves.  
       
  1964 - Chicago loses the pennant race by a game to the Yankees. 1969 - Bud Selig tries buying the White Sox and moving them to   
  Their 98 wins are their most since 1917 Milwaukee. However, Arthur Allyn sells the club to his brother  
     John, instead, thus granting the Sox a stay of execution in Chicago.  
  1965 - In a tremendous three team deal for the White Sox, Chicago picks up This was a glimpse of what baseball would be in for in the future when  
  twenty two year old lefthander Tommy John, twenty two year old center fielder Selig became commissioner - a me-first individual running an  
  Tommy Agee and thrity year old catcher John Romano from Cleveland organization depending on fans, but the fans be damned. Losing  
  while losing only catcher Camilo Carreon, righthander Fred Talbot and  the White Sox from Chicago would have been a blow to baseball and   
  centerfielder Mike Herschberger. Another great trade by Ed Short a blow to many loyal fans - but who cared?, certainly not Selig.  
    When Selig was commissioner, he used his position for his own goals  
  1965 - Al Lopez retires after the season. Eddie Stanky   and gains.  The office requires someone who understands that he should  
  takes over, but he can't match Lopez's success act for the greater good and the good of the sport. You can't say folks  
      weren't warned.  This self centered behavior was his modus operandi from  
     the instant he became involved with the game to the day he thankfully left it.