Whitesox History 1963

 

Armed with the four players from Baltimore obtained in the trade for Luis Aparicio and a couple of young pitchers, the WhiteSox jumped up to second place with a 94-68 record altrough still 10.5 games out. Pete Ward, one of the former Orioles, Led the club in eight offensive departments including batting (.295), RBI's (84) nad Home Runs (22), where he shared the leadership with free swinging Rookie Dave Nicholson who struck out a then Record 175 times and hit .229 but drove in 70 runs. But it was the pitching that was primarily responsible for the upward move. The club led the league with 21 shutouts and a 2.97 ERA. Gary Peters was 19-8, leading the league with a 2.33 ERA and Juan Pizzaro was 16-8 with a 2.39 that was second best in the league despite arm and soulder problems. From July 11, Peters won 11 straight decisions including 10 complete games in a row. Ray Herbert was 8-4 on June 17 but suffered a groin pull and finished 13-10

Whitesox History 1963

 

Armed with the four players from Baltimore obtained in the trade for Luis Aparicio and a couple of young pitchers, the WhiteSox jumped up to second place with a 94-68 record altrough still 10.5 games out. Pete Ward, one of the former Orioles, Led the club in eight offensive departments including batting (.295), RBI's (84) nad Home Runs (22), where he shared the leadership with free swinging Rookie Dave Nicholson who struck out a then Record 175 times and hit .229 but drove in 70 runs. But it was the pitching that was primarily responsible for the upward move. The club led the league with 21 shutouts and a 2.97 ERA. Gary Peters was 19-8, leading the league with a 2.33 ERA and Juan Pizzaro was 16-8 with a 2.39 that was second best in the league despite arm and soulder problems. From July 11, Peters won 11 straight decisions including 10 complete games in a row. Ray Herbert was 8-4 on June 17 but suffered a groin pull and finished 13-10

Now we are starting to get to my earliest Sox memories.

After finishing 3rd, 4th, and 5th in the previous years the Sox were picked to stumble further. Lopez did his best job of managing in 63-64-65 I think. Gary Peters was just great. A bigger harder throwing version of Billy Pierce. Juan Pizarro was also tough going 16-8. Pete Ward gave the White Sox their best play at 3b since Willie Kamm. The White Sox were definitely the surprise team of the year in the AL. The Yanks had another awesome team. They went into the WS all full of themselves and proceeded to get swept by the LA Dodgers. Sandy Koufax just plain overpowered them. It broke my heart.

Very sorry this fell by the wayside. You could email them to me. I'd be very interested in 1964-1967 and 1972,1977,1983. Now you know why I decided against trying to become a history teacher.

saimgrund@yahoo.com