White Sox History 1958

 

A horrid start plunged the team into the cellar until mid June and kept it under .500 until early august, but a strong finish brought the WhiteSox home second (82-72) for the second time in Al Lopez's two years as Manager. While the Club's 101 homers were low in the league its 101 stolen bases were more than double any other team (Cleveland had 50) with Luis Aparicio stealing 29, Jim Rivera 21 and Jim Landis 19 to finish 1-2-3 in the league. With Minoso traded to the Indians in the offseason for infielder Al Smith and pitcher Early Wynn, Nellie Fox's .300 was the team's top average. Landis hit .277, Aparico .266 and catcher Sherm Lollar .273 with a club high 20 homers and 84 RBI's. Billy Pierce (17-11) was second in the league with a 2.68 ERA and Dick Donovan (15-14) eighth with a 3.01 while Wynn was 14-16

Where's the history from the year we threw the World Series?

Sorry, My book starts in 1952

The White Sox started off badly and attendance was down everywhere as the country was in a real bad recession, the worst since the 1930's. Al Lopez loved Early Wynn so he lobbied Sox management to trade for him and OF Al Smith. Minnie Minoso went to Cleveland which was a drag since he missed the pennant winner of 59. Billy Pierce retired the first 26 Washington Senators on June 27, only to lose the perfect game as the final hitter, Ed Fitzgerald who hit a line drive that just eluded 1bman Ray Boone. I attended my first Sox games on Labor Day, got to see the Sox swept by Cleveland.

This is where the '59 team started coming together. Althought trading Minnie Minoso wasn't a happy time it brought us Wynn. What always intrigues me with looking back at baseball history is the length of time players used to stay with one team. I don't think you will see that again with todays structure and I think that's why it will be hard to build a winning team and keep it together. The Yankees have shown that to survive as a winner you have to have the bucks.