1961 Chicago White Sox season explained

Chicago White Sox
Season:	1961
League:	American League
Ballpark:	Comiskey Park
City:	Chicago
Owners:	Bill Veeck, Arthur Allyn, Jr., John Allyn
General Managers:	Hank Greenberg, Ed Short
Managers:	Al López
Television:	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
Radio:	WCFL (Bob Elson, Ralph Kiner)

The 1961 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 61st season in the major leagues, and its 62nd season overall. They finished with a record of 86–76, good enough for fourth place in the American League, 23 games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Their pitching staff surrendered 13 of Roger Maris's 61 home runs that year, the most of any team.

Offseason

• December 14, 1960: 1960 MLB expansion draft
  • Earl Averill, Jr. was drafted from the White Sox by the Los Angeles Angels.^[1]
  • Jim McAnany was drafted from the White Sox by the Los Angeles Angels.^[2]

Regular season

Opening Day lineup

• Luis Aparicio, SS
• Nellie Fox, 2B
• Minnie Miñoso, LF
• Roy Sievers, 1B
• J. C. Martin, 3B
• Al Smith, RF
• Jim Landis, CF
• Sherm Lollar, C
• Early Wynn, P

Notable transactions

• May 10, 1961: Wes Covington was selected off waivers by the Chicago White Sox from the Milwaukee Braves.^[3]
• May 15, 1961: Joe Ginsberg was released by the White Sox.^[4]
• June 1, 1961: Warren Hacker was purchased by the White Sox from the Philadelphia Phillies.^[5]
• June 10, 1961: Wes Covington, Stan Johnson, Bob Shaw, and Gerry Staley were traded by the White Sox to the Kansas City Athletics for Ray Herbert, Don Larsen, Andy Carey, and Al Pilarcik.^[3]

Roster

1961 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches

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	156	625	90	170	24	4	6	45	38	33	.272	53
Andy Carey, 3B	56	143	21	38	12	3	0	14	11	24	.266	0
Cam Carreon, C	78	229	32	62	5	1	4	27	21	24	.271	0
Wes Covington, LF,RF	22	59	5	17	1	0	4	15	4	5	.288	0
Sammy Esposito, 3B,SS,2B	63	94	12	16	5	0	1	8	12	21	.170	0
Nellie Fox, 2B	159	606	67	152	11	5	2	51	59	12	.251	2
Joe Ginsberg, C	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	0
Billy Goodman, 3B	41	51	4	13	4	0	1	10	7	6	.255	0
Mike Hershberger, OF	15	55	9	17	3	0	0	5	2	2	.309	1
Jim Landis, CF	140	534	87	151	18	8	22	85	65	71	.283	19
Ted Lepcio, 3B	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	0
Sherm Lollar, C	116	337	38	95	10	1	7	41	37	22	.282	0
Dean Look, LF	3	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
J. C. Martin, 1B,3B	110	274	26	63	8	3	5	32	21	31	.230	1
Minnie Miñoso, LF	152	540	91	151	28	3	14	82	67	46	.280	9
Al Pilarcik, CF	47	62	9	11	1	0	1	6	9	5	.177	1
Jim Rivera, PR	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Floyd Robinson, RF	132	432	69	134	20	7	11	59	52	32	.310	7
Bob Roselli, C	22	38	2	10	3	0	0	4	0	11	.263	0
Roy Sievers, 1B	141	492	76	145	26	6	27	92	61	62	.295	1
Al Smith, 3B,OF	147	532	88	148	29	4	28	93	56	67	.278	4
Earl Torgeson, 1B	20	15	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	5	.067	0

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Frank Baumann, P	55	61	8	16	2	0	2	10	5	25	.262	1
Warren Hacker, P	42	9	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.111	0
Ray Herbert, P	21	53	7	12	1	0	2	3	3	8	.226	0
Joe Horlen, P	5	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	0
Russ Kemmerer, P	47	15	1	3	1	0	0	1	2	7	.200	0
Don Larsen, P	25	25	2	8	0	0	1	4	0	5	.320	0
Turk Lown, P	60	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	0
Cal McLish, P	31	54	2	9	1	0	0	5	1	24	.167	0
Gary Peters, P	3	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333	0
Billy Pierce, P	39	56	3	8	0	0	0	3	1	11	.143	0
Juan Pizarro, P	40	69	10	17	3	1	0	5	5	19	.246	1
Herb Score, P	8	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	0
Bob Shaw, P	14	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	.000	0
Early Wynn, P	17	37	4	6	0	0	0	2	3	11	.162	0
	163	5556	765	1475	216	46	138	704	550	612	.265	100

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
Frank Baumann	10	13	5.61	53	23	3	187.2	249	128	117	22	63	75
Alan Brice	0	1	0.00	3	0	0	3.1	4	2	0	0	3	3
Mike DeGerick	0	0	5.40	1	0	0	1.2	2	1	1	0	1	0
Warren Hacker	3	3	3.77	42	0	8	57.1	62	26	24	8	9	40
Ray Herbert	9	6	4.05	21	20	0	137.2	142	69	62	15	38	50
Joe Horlen	1	3	6.62	5	4	0	17.2	25	15	13	2	13	11
Russ Kemmerer	3	3	4.38	47	2	2	96.2	102	53	47	10	27	35
Don Larsen	7	2	4.12	25	3	2	74.1	64	36	34	5	31	53
Turk Lown	7	5	2.76	59	0	11	101.0	87	37	31	13	38	50
Cal McLish	10	13	4.38	31	27	1	162.1	178	87	79	21	48	80
Gary Peters	0	0	1.74	3	0	1	10.1	10	2	2	0	2	6
Billy Pierce	10	9	3.80	39	28	3	180.0	190	85	76	17	57	106
Juan Pizarro	14	7	3.05	39	25	2	194.2	164	73	66	17	90	188
Herb Score	1	2	6.66	8	5	0	24.1	22	19	18	3	25	14
Bob Shaw	3	4	3.79	14	10	0	71.1	85	40	30	11	25	31
Gerry Staley	0	3	5.00	16	0	0	18.0	17	10	10	3	6	8
Early Wynn	8	2	3.51	17	16	0	110.1	88	43	43	11	47	64
	86	76	4.06	163	163	33	1448.2	1491	726	653	158	523	814

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

Harlan affiliation shared with New York Yankees^[6]

References

• 1961 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/a/averiea02.shtml Earl Averill, Jr. page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcanaji01.shtml Jim McAnany page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/covinwe01.shtml Wes Covington page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/ginsbjo01.shtml Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hackewa02.shtml Warren Hacker page at Baseball Reference
6. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997