The 1959 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 59th season in the major leagues, and its 60th season overall. They finished with a record of 94–60, good enough to win the American League (AL) championship, five games ahead of the second place Cleveland Indians. It was the team's first pennant since 1919 and would be its last until their championship season of .

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

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.Ray Boone at Baseball Reference 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 1959 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 152 612 98 157 18 5 6 51 53 40 .257 56 Earl Battey, C 26 64 9 14 1 2 2 7 8 13 .219 0 Ray Boone, 1B 9 21 3 5 0 0 1 5 7 5 .238 1 Johnny Callison, LF 49 104 12 18 3 0 3 12 13 20 .173 0 Cam Carreon, C 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 Norm Cash, 1B 58 104 16 25 0 1 4 16 18 9 .240 1 Larry Doby, OF, 1B 21 58 1 14 1 1 0 9 2 13 .241 1 Del Ennis, LF 26 96 10 21 6 0 2 7 4 10 .219 0 Sammy Esposito, 3B, SS 69 66 12 11 1 0 1 5 11 16 .167 0 Nellie Fox, 2B 156 624 84 191 34 6 2 70 71 13 .306 5 Billy Goodman, 3B 104 268 21 67 14 1 1 28 19 20 .250 3 Joe Hicks, CF 6 7 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .429 0 Ron Jackson, 1B 10 14 3 3 1 0 1 2 1 0 .214 0 Ted Kluszewski, 1B 31 101 11 30 2 1 2 10 9 10 .297 0 Jim Landis, CF 149 515 78 140 26 7 5 60 78 68 .272 20 Sherm Lollar, C 140 505 63 134 22 3 22 84 55 49 .269 4 J. C. Martin, 3B 3 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .250 0 Jim McAnany, RF 67 210 22 58 9 3 0 27 19 26 .276 2 Don Mueller, PH 4 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 0 Bubba Phillips, 3B, OF 117 379 43 100 27 1 5 40 27 28 .264 1 Jim Rivera, RF, LF 80 177 18 39 9 4 4 19 11 19 .220 5 John Romano, C 53 126 20 37 5 1 5 25 23 18 .294 0 Harry Simpson, RF 38 75 5 14 5 1 2 13 4 14 .187 0 Lou Skizas, LF 8 13 3 1 0 0 0 0 3 2 .077 0 Al Smith, LF, RF 129 472 65 112 16 4 17 55 46 74 .237 7 Earl Torgeson, 1B 127 277 40 61 5 3 9 45 62 55 .220 7 Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SB Rudy Árias, P 34 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 Dick Donovan, P 31 61 4 8 4 0 1 5 5 32 .131 0 Barry Latman, P 37 47 3 6 1 0 0 6 4 4 .128 0 Turk Lown, P 60 12 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .250 0 Ken McBride, P 11 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .167 0 Ray Moore, P 29 23 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 11 .087 0 Billy Pierce, P 34 68 3 13 1 2 0 7 7 13 .191 0 Bob Shaw, P 47 73 7 9 1 0 0 2 5 19 .123 0 Gerry Staley, P 67 13 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 5 .154 0 Joe Stanka, P 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .333 0 Early Wynn, P 37 90 11 22 7 0 2 8 9 18 .244 0 156 5297 669 1325 220 46 97 620 580 634 .250 113

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 Rudy Árias 2 0 4.09 34 0 2 44.0 49 23 20 7 27 28 Dick Donovan 9 10 3.66 31 29 0 179.2 171 84 73 15 61 71 Barry Latman 8 5 3.75 37 21 0 156.0 138 71 65 15 75 97 Turk Lown 9 2 2.89 60 0 15 93.1 73 32 30 12 46 63 Ken McBride 0 1 3.18 11 2 1 22.2 20 11 8 1 17 12 Ray Moore 3 6 4.12 29 8 0 89.2 86 46 41 10 49 50 Gary Peters 0 0 0.00 2 0 0 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 1 Billy Pierce 14 15 3.62 34 33 0 224.0 217 98 90 26 66 114 Claude Raymond 0 0 9.00 3 0 0 4.0 5 4 4 2 2 1 Don Rudolph 0 0 0.00 4 0 1 3.0 4 0 0 0 3 0 Bob Shaw 18 6 2.69 47 26 3 230.2 217 72 69 15 59 89 Gerry Staley 8 5 2.24 67 0 14 116.1 111 39 29 5 34 54 Joe Stanka 1 0 3.38 2 0 0 5.1 2 2 2 1 5 3 Early Wynn 22 10 3.17 37 37 0 255.2 202 106 90 20 124 179 94 60 3.29 156 156 36 1425.1 1297 588 521 129 570 761

1959 World Series

NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL Chicago White Sox (2) GameScoreDateLocationAttendance1 Dodgers – 0, White Sox – 11 October 1Comiskey Park 48,0132 Dodgers – 4, White Sox – 3 October 2Comiskey Park 47,3683 White Sox – 1, Dodgers – 3 October 4Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 92,3944 White Sox – 4, Dodgers – 5 October 5Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 92,6505 White Sox – 1, Dodgers – 0 October 6Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 92,7066 Dodgers – 9, White Sox – 3 October 8Comiskey Park 47,653

Awards and honors Nellie Fox, American League MVP.1959 MVP award voting results at Baseball Reference Luis Aparicio, second place in MVP voting. Early Wynn, Cy Young Award1959 Cy Young Award voting results at Baseball Reference Nellie Fox, Gold Glove AwardAmerican League Gold Glove winners at Baseball Reference Luis Aparicio, Gold Glove Award Sherm Lollar, Gold Glove Award Al López, Associated Press AL Manager of the YearAl López at Baseball Almanac

Farm system

Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

Notes

References 1959 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference