The 1970 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 70th season in the American League, and its 71st overall. They finished with a 56–106 record, their third-worst in 114 seasons of Major League Baseball, and finished in last position in the American League West, 42 wins behind the first-place Minnesota Twins.

Manager Don Gutteridge was fired September 1 with the team 49–87. Bill Adair served briefly as interim manager before Chuck Tanner, manager of the White Sox' Class AAA affiliate in Hawaii, came to the mainland to assume the position with the parent club. Tanner went 3–13 to close 1970 and remained skipper on the South Side through 1975.

The White Sox drew a paltry 495,355 fans to Comiskey Park, the lowest total in Major League Baseball.

In 1970, the White Sox hired organist Nancy Faust, who was a fixture at Comiskey and its successor, U.S. Cellular Field, for 40 years.

This was their last season of 100 losses or more until 2018, when they reached the century mark on the final day of the season.

Offseason October 15, 1969: Woodie Held was released by the White Sox.Woodie Held at Baseball Reference December 18, 1969: Pete Ward was traded by the White Sox to the New York Yankees for Mickey Scott and cash.Pete Ward at Baseball Reference January 17, 1970: John Tamargo was drafted by the White Sox in the 4th round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase), but did not sign.John Tamargo at Baseball Reference

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup Walt Williams, RF Luis Aparicio, SS Carlos May, LF Bill Melton, 3B John Matias, 1B Buddy Bradford, CF Syd O'Brien, 2B Duane Josephson, C Tommy John, P

Notable transactions June 4, 1970: 1970 Major League Baseball draft Lee Richard was drafted by the White Sox in the 1st round (6th pick).Lee Richard at Baseball Reference Goose Gossage was drafted by the White Sox in the 9th round.Rich Gossage at Baseball Reference September 11, 1970: Lee Maye was selected off waivers by the White Sox from the Washington Senators.Lee Maye at Baseball Reference

Roster 1970 Chicago White Sox Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

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 Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SB Luis Aparicio, SS 146 552 86 173 29 3 5 43 53 34 .313 8 Ken Berry, CF 141 436 45 128 12 2 7 50 43 61 .276 6 Ossie Blanco, 1B 34 66 4 13 0 0 0 8 3 14 .197 0 Buddy Bradford, CF, RF 32 91 8 17 3 0 2 8 10 30 .187 1 Chuck Brinkman, C 9 20 4 5 1 0 0 0 3 3 .250 0 Bob Christian, LF 12 15 3 4 0 0 1 3 1 4 .267 0 Ed Herrmann, C 96 297 42 84 9 0 19 52 31 41 .283 0 Gail Hopkins, 1B 116 287 32 82 8 1 6 29 28 19 .286 0 Duane Josephson, C 96 285 28 90 12 1 4 41 24 28 .316 0 Bobby Knoop, 2B 130 402 34 92 13 2 5 36 34 79 .229 0 Art Kusnyer, C 4 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 .100 0 Carlos May, LF, 1B 150 555 83 158 28 4 12 68 79 96 .285 12 Lee Maye, PH 6 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .167 0 Rich McKinney, 3B, SS 43 119 12 20 5 0 4 17 11 25 .168 3 Bill Melton, 3B, RF 141 514 74 135 15 1 33 96 56 107 .263 2 John Matias, 1B, RF, LF 58 117 7 22 2 0 2 6 3 22 .188 1 Tommy McCraw, 1B, OF 129 332 39 73 11 2 6 31 21 50 .220 12 Rich Morales, SS, 3B, 2B 62 112 6 18 2 0 1 2 9 16 .161 1 Syd O'Brien, 3B, 2B, SS 121 441 48 109 13 2 8 44 22 62 .247 3 José Ortiz, OF 15 24 4 8 1 0 0 1 2 2 .333 1 Bob Spence, 1B 46 130 11 29 4 1 4 15 11 32 .223 0 Walt Williams, RF, LF, CF 110 315 43 79 18 1 3 15 19 30 .251 3 Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SB Gerry Arrigo, P 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 Jerry Crider, P 32 24 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 .083 0 Joe Horlen, P 28 52 2 6 1 0 0 1 2 14 .115 0 Gerry Janeski, P 35 66 0 5 0 0 0 5 2 31 .076 0 Tommy John, P 38 84 4 17 1 0 0 5 2 17 .202 0 Bart Johnson, P 18 29 3 8 2 0 0 2 1 6 .276 0 Jim Magnuson, P 13 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 0 Bob Miller, P 16 23 0 4 0 0 0 2 3 5 .174 0 Barry Moore, P 24 19 2 5 0 0 0 2 1 4 .263 0 Danny Murphy, P 51 6 3 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 .333 0 Tommie Sisk, P 17 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .250 0 Lee Stange, P 16 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0 Floyd Weaver, P 31 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 Wilbur Wood, P 77 18 2 2 1 0 0 3 0 11 .111 0 Billy Wynne, P 12 13 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 .077 0 162 5514 633 1394 192 20 123 587 477 872 .253 53

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 Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB K Gerry Arrigo 0 3 12.83 5 3 0 13.1 24 20 19 4 10 12 Jerry Crider 4 7 4.45 32 8 4 91.0 101 49 45 13 36 40 Don Eddy 0 0 2.31 7 0 0 11.2 10 4 3 0 6 9 Steve Hamilton 0 0 6.00 3 0 0 3.0 4 2 2 0 1 3 Joe Horlen 6 16 4.86 28 26 0 172.1 198 99 93 18 45 77 Gerry Janeski 10 17 4.77 35 35 0 205.2 247 125 109 22 73 79 Tommy John 12 17 3.27 37 37 0 269.1 253 117 98 19 117 138 Bart Johnson 4 7 3.82 18 15 0 89.2 92 53 48 11 48 71 Jim Magnuson 1 5 4.84 13 6 0 44.2 45 28 24 7 17 20 Bob Miller 4 6 5.01 15 12 0 70.0 88 42 39 11 36 36 Richie Moloney 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 Barry Moore 0 4 6.37 24 7 0 70.2 85 56 50 12 34 34 Danny Murphy 2 3 5.69 51 0 5 80.2 82 55 51 11 57 42 Denny O'Toole 0 0 2.70 3 0 0 3.1 5 1 1 0 2 3 Gene Rounsaville 0 1 9.95 8 0 0 6.1 10 8 7 1 2 3 Don Secrist 0 0 5.52 9 0 0 14.2 19 9 9 2 12 9 Tommie Sisk 1 1 5.40 17 1 0 33.1 37 28 20 6 18 16 Lee Stange 1 0 5.24 16 0 0 22.1 28 13 13 5 6 14 Floyd Weaver 1 2 4.38 31 3 0 61.2 52 33 30 7 36 51 Wilbur Wood 9 13 2.81 77 0 21 121.2 118 50 38 7 43 85 Billy Wynne 1 4 5.32 12 9 0 44.0 54 30 26 8 24 19 56 106 4.54 162 162 30 1430.1 1554 822 722 164 623 762

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Duluth-Superior, GCL White SoxJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

Notes The White Sox' only worse records have been 49 wins against 102 losses in 1932, and 51 wins against 101 losses in 1948.

References

1970 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference