1977 Chicago White Sox season

The 1977 Chicago White Sox season in the American League saw the team finish third in the American League West, at 90–72, 12 games behind the Kansas City Royals.

1977 Chicago White Sox
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersBill Veeck
General managersRoland Hemond
ManagersBob Lemon
Local televisionWSNS-TV
Local radioWMAQ (AM)
(Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall, Mary Shane)
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Offseason

White Sox owner Bill Veeck tried a new philosophy during the offseason: figuring that if he could not compete with the bigger spending clubs for free agents, he would "rent" them, even if only for one year. With this strategy in mind, he traded for Richie Zisk (who had one year remaining on his contract) and Oscar Gamble (also in the final year of his contract), hoping that he would be able to continue the practice financially.[1]

Notable transactions

Regular season

On April 7 in Toronto, the White Sox played the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game in Blue Jays history.[10]

The White Sox, who came to be called the "South Side Hitmen", were in solid contention for most of the season, battling the division-winning Royals and Minnesota Twins most of the way.[1] They moved into first place in the AL West on July 1 and remained there until August 12.[1] Their primary weapon was their power hitting. As a team, the White Sox hit 192 home runs, a record which lasted until 1996.[1] Their displays of power caused fans to cheer for "curtain calls", where players came out of the dugout after hitting a home run to acknowledge those cheers. Some Royals players greatly resented this, and called such behavior "bush" and "unprofessional". The climax of this came on August 5, when White Sox pitcher Bart Johnson and Royals catcher Darrell Porter had a fistfight in a game at Kansas City.[1]

Opening Day lineup

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 10260 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Texas Rangers 9468 0.580 8 44–37 50–31
Chicago White Sox 9072 0.556 12 48–33 42–39
Minnesota Twins 8477 0.522 17½ 48–32 36–45
California Angels 7488 0.457 28 39–42 35–46
Seattle Mariners 6498 0.395 38 29–52 35–46
Oakland Athletics 6398 0.391 38½ 35–46 28–52

Record vs. opponents
1977 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–85–65–511–412–34–711–46–48–78–27–34–610–5
Boston 8–6—7–33–78–79–65–59–64–68–78–310–16–412–3
California 6–53–7—8–76–44–66–95–57–84–75–109–65–106–4
Chicago 5–57–37–8—6–44–68–76–510–53–710–510–56–98–3
Cleveland 4–117–84–64–6—8–73–711–42–93–127–37–32–99–5
Detroit 3–126–96–46–47–8—3–810–55–56–95–55–62–810–5
Kansas City 7–45–59–67–87–38–3—8–210–55–59–611–48–78–2
Milwaukee 4–116–95–55–64–115–102–8—3–88–75–57–35–58–7
Minnesota 4–66–48–75–109–25–55–108–3—2–88–67–88–79–1
New York 7–87–87–47–312–39–65–57–88–2—9–26–47–39–6
Oakland 2–83–810–55–103–75–56–95–56–82–9—7–82–137–3
Seattle 3–71–106–95–103–76–54–113–78–74–68–7—9–64–6
Texas 6–44–610–59–69–28–27–85–57–83–713–26–9—7–4
Toronto 5–103–124–63–85–95–102–87–81–96–93–76–44–7—

Notable transactions

Roster
1977 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
Alan Bannister, SS,2B,LF,CF 139 560 87 154 20 3 3 57 54 49 .275 4
Kevin Bell, SS,3B 9 28 4 5 1 0 1 6 3 8 .179 0
Jack Brohamer, 3B,2B 59 152 26 39 10 3 2 20 21 8 .257 0
Bob Coluccio, OF 20 37 4 10 0 0 0 7 6 2 .270 0
Henry Cruz, OF 53 77 13 17 2 1 2 10 8 11 .221 0
Tommy Cruz, LF 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Brian Downing, C,DH,OF 69 169 28 48 4 2 4 25 34 21 .284 1
Jim Essian, C 114 322 50 88 18 2 10 44 52 35 .273 1
John Flannery, SS 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 0
Oscar Gamble, DH,OF 137 408 75 121 22 2 31 83 54 54 .297 1
Ralph Garr, LF 134 543 78 163 29 7 10 54 27 44 .300 12
Jerry Hairston, CF,LF 13 26 3 8 2 0 0 4 5 7 .308 0
Lamar Johnson, DH,1B 118 374 52 113 12 5 18 65 24 53 .302 1
Don Kessinger, SS,2B,3B 39 119 12 28 3 2 0 11 13 7 .235 2
Chet Lemon, CF 150 553 99 151 38 4 19 67 52 88 .273 8
Bob Molinaro, RF 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 1
Bill Nahorodny, C 7 23 3 6 1 0 1 4 2 3 .261 0
Tim Nordbrook, SS 15 20 2 5 0 0 0 1 7 4 .250 1
Wayne Nordhagen, RF,LF,DH 52 124 16 39 7 3 4 22 2 12 .315 1
Nyls Nyman, PH 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Jorge Orta, 2B 144 564 71 159 27 8 11 84 46 49 .282 4
Eric Soderholm, 3B,DH 130 460 77 129 20 3 25 67 47 47 .280 2
Jim Spencer, 1B 128 470 56 116 16 1 18 69 36 50 .247 1
Mike Squires, 1B 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0
Royle Stillman, OF,DH 56 119 18 25 7 1 3 13 17 21 .210 2
Richie Zisk, RF,DH,LF 141 531 78 154 17 6 30 101 55 98 .290 0
Team Totals
 162 5633 844 1568 254 52 192 809 559 666 .278 42

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
Larry Anderson 1 3 9.35 6 0 0 8.2 10 10 9 1 19 7
Francisco Barrios 14 7 4.12 33 31 0 231.1 241 117 106 22 59 119
Ken Brett 6 4 5.01 13 13 0 82.2 101 47 46 10 15 39
Clay Carroll 1 3 4.76 8 0 1 11.1 14 7 6 3 4 4
Bruce Dal Canton 0 2 3.75 8 0 2 24.0 20 11 10 1 13 9
Dave Frost 1 1 3.04 4 3 0 23.2 30 9 8 0 3 15
Dave Hamilton 4 5 3.61 55 0 9 67.1 71 33 27 6 37 45
Bart Johnson 4 5 4.01 29 4 2 92.0 114 48 41 5 41 46
Don Kirkwood 1 1 5.18 16 0 0 40.0 49 27 23 3 12 24
Chris Knapp 12 7 4.80 27 26 0 146.1 166 90 78 16 62 103
Ken Kravec 11 8 4.10 26 25 0 166.2 161 87 76 12 57 125
Jack Kucek 0 1 3.63 8 3 0 34.2 35 20 14 4 10 25
Lerrin LaGrow 7 3 2.46 66 0 25 98.2 81 32 27 10 38 63
Silvio Martinez 0 1 5.57 10 0 1 21.0 28 14 13 4 14 10
Steve Renko 5 0 3.54 8 8 0 53.1 55 23 21 3 17 36
Steve Stone 15 12 4.51 31 31 0 207.1 228 115 104 25 83 124
John Verhoeven 0 0 2.61 6 0 0 10.1 9 3 3 0 2 6
Randy Wiles 1 1 10.13 5 0 0 2.2 5 3 3 1 4 0
Wilbur Wood 7 8 4.99 24 18 0 122.2 139 75 68 10 50 42
Team Totals
 90 72 4.25 162 162 40 1444.2 1557 771 682 136 540 842

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Oaks American Association Joe Sparks
AA Knoxville Knox Sox Southern League Jim Napier
A Appleton Foxes Midwest League Gordon Lund
Rookie GCL White Sox Gulf Coast League Joe Jones

The GCL White Sox won their league's championship.

Notes
  1. The White Sox Encyclopedia, Richard C. Lindberg, p. 88, Temple University Press, ISBN 1-56639-449-X
  2. Minnie Miñoso at Baseball Reference
  3. Phil Roof at Baseball Reference
  4. Eric Soderholm at Baseball-Reference
  5. Royle Stillman at Baseball Reference
  6. Rich Gossage at Baseball Reference
  7. Mark Esser at Baseball Reference
  8. Blue Moon Odom at Baseball Reference
  9. Fritz Peterson at Baseball Reference
  10. Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball, Stephen Brunt, p.94, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-023978-2
  11. Oscar Gamble at Baseball Reference
  12. Don Kessinger at Baseball Reference
  13. Nyls Nyman at Baseball Reference

References
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
  • 1977 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference
  • 1977 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Almanac
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