1978 Chicago White Sox season explained

Chicago White Sox
Season:	1978
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Comiskey Park
City:	Chicago, Illinois
Owners:	Bill Veeck
General Managers:	Roland Hemond
Managers:	Bob Lemon, Larry Doby
Television:	WSNS-TV
Radio:	WMAQ (AM) (Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall)

The 1978 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 78th season in Major League Baseball, and its 79th overall. They finished with a record of 71–90, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 20.5 games behind the first-place Kansas City Royals.

Offseason

• November 28, 1977: Rich Hinton was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[1]
• December 5, 1977: Brian Downing, Chris Knapp, and Dave Frost were traded by the White Sox to the California Angels for Bobby Bonds, Thad Bosley and Richard Dotson.^[2]

Regular season

• Larry Doby replaced Bob Lemon as manager of the White Sox in 1978. Doby was the second African-American to lead a major league club.

Opening Day lineup

• Ralph Garr, LF
• Jorge Orta, 2B
• Lamar Johnson, 1B
• Bobby Bonds, RF
• Ron Blomberg, DH
• Chet Lemon, CF
• Eric Soderholm, 3B
• Wayne Nordhagen, C
• Don Kessinger, SS
• Steve Stone, P

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1978: Royle Stillman was released by the White Sox.^[3]
• April 1, 1978: Bob Coluccio was released by the White Sox.^[4]
• July 17, 1978: Guy Hoffman was signed as an amateur free agent by the White Sox.^[5]

Draft picks

• June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Britt Burns was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round.^[6]
  • Bobby Meacham was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 14th round of the 1978 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[7]
  • Gary Gaetti was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round of the secondary phase, but did not sign.^[8]

Roster

1978 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		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
Alan Bannister, DH,OF,SS,2B	49	107	16	24	3	2	0	8	11	12	.224	3
Kevin Bell, 3B	54	68	9	13	0	0	2	5	5	19	.191	1
Ron Blomberg, DH,1B	61	156	16	36	7	0	5	22	11	17	.231	0
Bobby Bonds, RF,DH	26	90	8	25	4	0	2	8	10	10	.278	6
Thad Bosley, OF	66	219	25	59	5	1	2	13	13	32	.269	12
Jim Breazeale, 1B,DH	25	72	8	15	3	0	3	13	8	10	.208	0
Harry Chappas, SS	20	75	11	20	1	0	0	6	6	11	.267	1
Mike Colbern, C	48	141	11	38	5	1	2	20	1	36	.270	0
Henry Cruz, OF	53	77	13	17	2	1	2	10	8	11	.221	0
Mike Eden, SS,2B	10	17	1	2	0	0	0	0	4	0	.118	0
Marv Foley, C	11	34	3	12	0	0	0	6	4	6	.353	0
Ralph Garr, LF,DH	118	443	67	122	18	9	3	29	24	41	.275	7
Joe Gates, 2B	8	24	6	6	0	0	0	1	4	6	.250	1
Lamar Johnson, 1B,DH	148	498	52	136	23	2	8	72	43	46	.273	6
Larry Johnson, C,DH	3	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	.125	0
Don Kessinger, SS,2B	131	431	35	110	18	1	1	31	36	34	.255	2
Chet Lemon, CF,RF,DH	105	357	51	107	24	6	13	55	39	46	.300	5
Bob Molinaro, OF,DH	105	286	39	75	5	5	6	27	19	12	.262	22
Junior Moore, DH,3B,LF	24	65	8	19	0	1	0	4	6	7	.292	1
Bill Nahorodny, C,1B,DH	107	347	29	82	11	2	8	35	23	52	.236	1
Wayne Nordhagen, DH,RF,LF,C	68	206	28	62	16	0	5	35	5	18	.301	0
Jorge Orta, 2B	117	420	45	115	19	2	13	53	42	39	.274	1
Greg Pryor, 2B,SS,3B	82	222	27	58	11	0	2	15	11	18	.261	3
Ron Schueler, PR	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Eric Soderholm, 3B,DH	143	457	57	118	17	1	20	67	39	44	.258	2
Tom Spencer, OF	29	65	3	12	1	0	0	4	2	9	.185	0
Mike Squires, 1B	46	150	25	42	9	2	0	19	16	21	.280	4
Rusty Torres, OF	16	44	7	14	3	0	3	6	6	7	.318	0
Claudell Washington, OF	86	314	33	83	16	5	6	31	12	57	.264	5
	161	5393	634	1423	221	41	106	595	409	625	.264	83

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
Francisco Barrios	9	15	4.05	33	32	0	195.2	180	93	88	13	87	79
Ross Baumgarten	2	2	5.87	7	4	0	23.0	29	15	15	3	9	15
Britt Burns	0	2	12.91	2	2	0	7.2	14	12	11	2	3	3
Rich Hinton	2	6	4.02	29	4	1	80.2	78	38	36	5	30	48
Ken Kravec	11	16	4.08	30	30	0	203.0	188	104	92	22	96	154
Jack Kucek	2	3	3.29	10	5	1	52.0	42	23	19	5	29	30
Lerrin LaGrow	6	5	4.40	52	0	16	88.0	85	47	43	9	38	41
Mike Proly	5	2	2.74	16	6	1	65.2	63	24	20	4	12	19
Ron Schueler	3	5	4.30	30	7	0	81.2	76	50	39	10	41	39
Steve Stone	12	12	4.37	30	30	0	212.0	196	110	103	19	85	118
Pablo Torrealba	2	4	4.71	25	3	1	57.1	69	37	30	6	44	23
Steve Trout	3	0	4.03	4	3	0	22.1	19	10	10	0	11	11
Jim Willoughby	1	6	3.86	59	0	13	93.1	95	41	40	6	21	36
Wilbur Wood	10	10	5.20	28	27	0	168.0	187	103	97	23	75	69
Rich Wortham	3	2	3.05	8	8	0	59.0	59	24	20	1	23	25
	71	90	4.21	161	161	33	1409.1	1380	731	660	128	604	710

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Knoxville, Appleton^[9]

References

• 1978 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hintori01.shtml Rich Hinton page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dotsori01.shtml Richard Dotson page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stillro02.shtml Royle Stillman page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/colucbo.shtml Bob Coluccio page at Baseball Reference
5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hoffmgu01.shtml Guy Hoffman page at Baseball Reference
6. Web site: Britt Burns career stats . Baseball Reference . June 8, 2010.
7. Web site: Bobby Beacham: Career Statistics . Baseball Reference. 14 March 2018.
8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gaettga01.shtml Gary Gaetti page at Baseball Reference
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997