White Sox: All-time major award winners

In 2020, Jose Abreu became the 4th White Sox player to be named American League MVP. Who are the other major award winners in Chicago White Sox history?

Since their inception as one of the American League’s charter franchises in 1901, the Chicago White Sox have had a long and colorful history, but a history that has not produced much in the way of championship hardware.

The White Sox have won three World Series titles in their 120 seasons, most recently in 2005 with the others coming in 1906 and 1917. The club has made two other appearances in the Fall Classic, losing infamously to the Cincinnati Reds in 1919 and to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959.

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Along the way, several White Sox players have earned individual awards. There have been 16 White Sox that have been named Gold Glove winners, with Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio receiving a franchise-best seven.

Additionally, 13 players have won Silver Slugger honors as the best hitter at their position, with Frank Thomas having the most with four. Thomas, another Hall of Famer, is also the only player to win the award at two different positions, winning twice at both designated hitter and first base.

Since the All-Star Game was introduced in 1933, 105 different White Sox players have been named to teams, with Hall of Famer Nellie Fox holding the franchise mark for being selected 15 times. He was named every year from 1951-58, twice each from 1959-61 and made his final All-Star appearance for the White Sox in 1953.

Fox’s eight All-Star starting nods are also the most in White Sox history, just ahead of Aparicio’s seven.

Then you get to the major awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and the postseason MVP honors. Eighteen members of the organization have won at least one of these honors, with three that have won two.

So counting backward, here are the White Sox award recipients.

2020: Jose Abreu, American League MVP

In the shortened 2020 season, Jose Abreu became the first Chicago White Sox player to be named American League MVP in more than 25 years while leading the South Siders to their first postseason appearance since 2008.

Even with the playoff format of 2020 that said “bring us your tired, your poor and your sub-.500 teams yearning to play in October,” the White Sox would have been a wild-card entry regardless. Chicago finished 35-25, tied with the Cleveland Indians for second place in the AL Central one game behind the Minnesota Twins.

Abreu helped power the White Sox surge back into postseason play, leading the American League in RBI for the second straight season with 60, while also topping the AL with 76 hits, 148 total bases and a .617 slugging percentage.

He played in all 60 games, hitting .317/.370/.617 in 262 plate appearances, finishing with 15 doubles and 19 home runs while striking out 59 times and drawing 18 walks. His OPS+ of 166 was the second-best of his career while the slugging percentage was a career-high.

2005: Ozzie Guillen, American League Manager of the Year

Ozzie Guillen was no stranger to Chicago White Sox fans when he was named manager of the club on Nov. 3, 2003, after two seasons as the third base coach for the Florida Marlins, with whom he had just gotten his first World Series ring.

Guillen played 13 of his 16 seasons with the White Sox before closing out his career as a spare infielder for three other clubs between 1998-2000.

He led the White Sox to a winning record in 2004 at 83-79, but that was three games worse than they had been the season before. Still, it was a fifth straight non-losing season for Chicago, its longest stretch since a 17-year run from 1951-67.

But what happened in 2005 went beyond the wildest expectations of the South Side faithful. The White Sox posted the best record in the American League at 99-63.

Once the playoffs started, the Sox served notice they were for real in the ALDS by sweeping the defending champion Boston Red Sox in three games.

After a Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in the ALCS, the White Sox ran off eight consecutive playoff wins, winning their first American League pennant since 1959 and sweeping the Houston Astros for their first World Series championship since 1917, ending a “curse” that was two years longer than the much-ballyhooed Red Sox curse broken the previous October.

Based on their scoring, Chicago overachieved in 2005, with a Pythagorean won-loss record of 91-71, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Guillen remained skipper of the White Sox until late in the 2011, when he successfully lobbied for his release in order to accept the Miami Marlins’ managerial position with two games remaining in the season. With a career record of 678-617, Guillen is third among White Sox managers in wins.

2005: Jermaine Dye, World Series MVP

Fans on Chicago’s South Side had waited 46 years for a World Series to come to town and the Chicago White Sox made sure not to disappoint. And at the end of it all, it was right fielder Jermaine Dye who delivered the clutch hit, singling home Willie Harris, who had reached with a leadoff single while pinch-hitting for starting pitcher Freddy Garcia.

Garcia had fired seven shutout innings at the Houston Astros, but Brandon Backe had matched him before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh. He was replaced Brad Lidge, the Astros’ closer who had bounced back from serving up a series-losing home run to Albert Pujols in the 2004 NCLS to earn an All-Star berth in 2005 while saving a career-high 42 games.

Scott Podsednik sacrificed Harris into scoring position and pinch-hitter Carl Everett hit behind the runner to send him to third on a groundout.

With two men out and the go-ahead run 90 feet away, Dye bounced a 1-1 pitch from Lidge back up the middle to score the only run in Chicago’s 1-0 victory that locked up a sweep and the team’s first World Series title in 88 years.

That capped a series during which Dye was 7-for-16 while reaching base 10 times in 19 plate appearances, slugging .688 with a double and a homer. Dye’s home run helped set the tone for the White Sox in the series, giving them an early 1-0 lead in Game 1 by taking Roger Clemens deep with two outs in the bottom of the first to cap a nine-pitch at-bat.

Dye had come to the White Sox the previous offseason after three-plus seasons with the Oakland Athletics and in 2005 hit .274/.333/.512 in 145 games, hitting 29 doubles and 31 homers to go with 86 RBI. Dye remained with Chicago through the 2009 season before his 14-year career finished. He hit 164 homers in five seasons, including a career-high 44 in 2006.

2005: Paul Konerko, ALCS MVP

Paul Konerko got the Chicago White Sox off to a quick start in Game 3 of the 2005 ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels, belting a three-run homer in the top of the first off Angels starter John Lackey. The White Sox never trailed in the game and took a 2-1 series lead with their 5-2 win.

Konerko liked that plan so much, he duplicated it in Game 4. This time it was a three-run bomb off Ervin Santana to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead they would never relinquish. Chicago’s 8-2 victory gave the Sox a commanding 3-1 lead.

In Game 5, he provided a dagger in the top of the ninth off Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez, lofting a double to right field with two on and no one out, giving the White Sox a 5-3 lead en route to a 6-3 series clinching victory.

Konerko went 6-for-21 in the series, hitting .286/.318/.619 in 22 plate appearances. His two homers and seven RBI all came as Chicago swept the Games 3, 4 and 5 at Anaheim after splitting the first two games of the series at home.

He also delivered a grand slam as the White Sox swept the Houston Astros in the World Series.

During the regular season, Konerko was named an All-Star for the second time, hitting .283/.375/.534 in 158 games. In 664 plate appearances, Konerko hit 40 homers and drove in 100 runs while scoring a career-best 98, with 81 walks and 109 strikeouts.

Konerko came to Chicago in a November 1998 trade that sent outfielder Mike Cameron to the Cincinnati Reds. He wound up spending 16 seasons with the White Sox, hitting 432 home runs. That is second in franchise history behind only Frank Thomas’ 448.

2000: Jerry Manuel, American League Manager of the Year

Jerry Manuel ended the 20th century facing his third season as manager of the Chicago White Sox. Coming off consecutive losing seasons, there wasn’t much reason to think 2000 would be different … but it was.

Over the course of the season, Keith Foulke emerged as the closer and finished with 34 saves, moving Bob Howry into a setup role. Herbert Perry wound up pushing out Greg Norton for the bulk of the playing time at third base and general manager Ron Schueler helped shore up the weak spot behind the plate by renting pending free agent Charles Johnson from the Baltimore Orioles.

Throw in even a marginal improvement from the starting rotation, with its ERA dropping from 5.25 to 4.90 and it was enough to push the White Sox past the Cleveland Indians to a stunning AL Central title.

The party did not last long from there — the wild-card Seattle Mariners swept Chicago out of the ALDS and the White Sox did not return to the postseason under Manuel, who was fired the day after the 2003 season ended. In six seasons, Manuel directed the team to a 500-471 record.

1993 and 1994: Frank Thomas, AL Most Valuable Player

Frank Thomas put a Big Hurt on the rest of the American League in 1993 and 1994, leading the Chicago White Sox to their first division title in a decade in 1993 and having the Sox on the way to another division crown before the players’ strike stopped the 1994 season in its tracks in early August.

In 1994, Thomas had powered the White Sox to a 67-46 record and a one-game lead over the Cleveland Indians in the newly created AL Central Division and the numbers he put up in 113 games would have been outstanding over 162.

In 517 plate appearances, Thomas slashed .353/.487/.729, leading the league in on-base and slugging percentage. He belted 38 home runs and 34 doubles, drove in 101 runs and scored a league-best 106, while his 109 walks also led the AL.

That effort came on the heels of Thomas’ first MVP performance in 1993, when the White Sox finished eight games clear of the Texas Rangers in cruising to their first American League West title in 10 years, stepping into the void created when the Oakland A’s went into rebuilding mode.

Thomas played in 153 games for the 94-win club, hitting .317/.426/.607 in 676 plate appearances. Thomas had 36 doubles, 41 homers, 128 RBI and scored 106 runs. He was walked 112 times with only 54 strikeouts.

Although Chicago fell in six games to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS, Thomas was 6-for-17 in the series with 10 walks. The Blue Jays were careful not to let Thomas beat them, pitching around him often in favor going after cleanup man Robin Ventura, who was 4-for-20 in the series.

Thomas had a solo home run in a 7-4 White Sox win in Game 4 at Toronto to even the series at 2-2.

1993: Jack McDowell, American League Cy Young Award

In an era when wins were still king of the hill, Jack McDowell became just the third Chicago White Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young Award by going 22-10 in 34 starts (Only two no-decisions? Seriously?) as he led the Sox staff to the AL West title.

McDowell led the league with both his 22 wins and four shutouts, posting a 3.37 ERA and 1.286 WHIP in 256.2 innings. He completed 10 games, struck out 158 and walked 69 while allowing 20 home runs and for good measure was the winning pitcher in the All-Star Game. It was the last of his three consecutive All-Star appearances.

McDowell did not have that same level of success in the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays, as he was hit hard in both starts.

In Game 1 in Chicago, McDowell worked 6.2 innings while he was touched up for seven runs on 13 hits with two walks and four strikeouts and he also took the loss in Game 5, when he couldn’t get out of the third inning. He gave up three runs on five hits in 2.1 innings with three walks and a strikeout.

McDowell was a first-round pick out of Stanford by the White Sox in 1987 and he made his big-league debut that September. McDowell was with Chicago for seven years, going 91-58 with a 3.50 ERA in 1,343.2 innings. He was traded to the New York Yankees in December 1994 for a minor leaguer and a player to be named later.

He later pitched with the Cleveland Indians and Anaheim Angels before arm troubles ended his career after the 1999 season.

1993: Gene Lamont, American League Manager of the Year

When Jeff Torborg bolted the Chicago White Sox after the 1991 season for a lucrative contract to manage the New York Mets, not a lot of casual fans knew who Gene Lamont was. He managed in the Kansas City Royals organization for eight years before spending six seasons on Jim Leyland‘s coaching staff with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1992, the White Sox regressed slightly, going 86-76 — one win less than the previous year — and finished third in the AL West. But in 1993, Chicago was 94-68 and won the AL West title.

There were some good breaks along the way — right fielder Ellis Burks, coming off an injury-plagued season with the Boston Red Sox — signed a one-year deal and proved he was OK with 17 homers and 74 RBI. MVP Frank Thomas powered the offense, Cy Young winner Jack McDowell led the rotation and Roberto Hernandez emerged as a lights-out closer with 38 saves.

Right-hander Jason Bere was 12-5 after being called up late May and the White Sox brought in a veteran with postseason experience by acquiring Tim Belcher from the Cincinnati Reds at the July 31 trade deadline. Chicago even got 16 home runs from Bo Jackson, who was returning from hip replacement surgery that ended his NFL career.

Lamont led the White Sox to another division crown in 1994, but after an 11-20 start in the lockout-delayed 1995 season, he was fired after going 258-210. He later managed the Pirates from 1997-2000.

1990: Jeff Torborg, American League Manager of the Year

The Chicago White Sox were just 69-92 in 1989, their first season under manager Jeff Torborg, while finishing below .500 for the fourth consecutive season.

But in 1990, the White Sox rode a dominant bullpen into contention and came within shouting distance of going from last place in the AL West to first place.

In the end, Chicago was no match for the defending World Series champion Oakland A’s, finishing nine games behind Oakland for second place in the division. The White Sox spent 11 days in first place, the last of which being July 7, the latest they had the division lead since entering the All-Star break atop the AL West in 1984.

Torborg pieced together a lineup centered around Ivan Calderon, 42-year-old Carlton Fisk and 21-year-old Sammy Sosa. Calderon led the club with 74 RBI, Sosa drove in 70 despite hitting only .233/.282/.404 and Fisk had a team-high 18 home runs.

But Torborg rode setup men Barry Jones (65 appearances) and Scott Radinsky (62 games) to get the ball to closer Bobby Thigpen, who shattered the major league single-season record with 57 saves.

Torborg left after the 1991 season having gone 250-235 in three seasons. He also managed the Cleveland Indians for the final 104 games in 1977 through the first 95 games of the 1979 season, the Mets in 1992 and for the first 38 games in 1993, the Montreal Expos for the final 109 games in 2001 and the Florida Marlins in 2002 and 38 games into the 2003 season.

1985: Ozzie Guillen, American League Rookie of the Year

A couple of trades changed the complexion of the Chicago White Sox infield heading into the 1985 season.

On Dec. 6, 1984, the White Sox traded former Cy Young winner LaMarr Hoyt to the San Diego Padres for a package that included a couple of veterans, left-hander Tim Lollar and utilityman Luis Salazar, and a pair of prospects, right-hander Bill Long and a 21-year-old Venezuelan infielder.

The following day, third baseman Vance Law was traded to the Montreal Expos.

Why are those two trades connected? Because shortstop Scott Fletcher wound up playing most of the 1985 season at third base to make room for the kid in the Hoyt trade, Ozzie Guillen.

Guillen had risen rapidly through San Diego’s farm system, from Rookie-level in 1981, to Class-A in 1982, Double-A in 1983 and Triple-A in 1984. The next step went off without a hitch as well.

Guillen hit .273/.291/.358 in 150 games, with 21 doubles, nine triples and one home run in 412 plate appearances. He drove in 33 runs and scored 71 with 12 walks and 36 strikeouts — yes, Guillen very much lived by baseball’s now-antiquated “put it in play” philosophy.

Guillen played 13 years in Chicago, hitting .265/.286/.339 in 6,451 plate appearances. In 1,743 games, he had 240 doubles, 68 triples and 24 homers to go with 565 RBI and 693 runs scored. He was also a three-time All-Star and won a Gold Glove in 1990.

1983: LaMarr Hoyt, American League Cy Young Award

The Chicago White Sox had been building toward the 1983 season for awhile. The club breached the .500 mark in the strike-shortened 1981 season and improved to 87 wins and a third-place finish in the AL West in 1982.

In 1983, it all came together, with right-hander LaMarr Hoyt playing a big role in that. Hoyt was one of two 20-game winners on the staff as Chicago rolled to 99 wins and their first-ever division title. Richard Dotson went 22-7 in 35 starts, but it was Hoyt who stole the headlines.

In 36 starts, Hoyt was 24-10 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.024 WHIP, walking just 31 and fanning 148 in 260.2 innings. He did give up 27 home runs, but led the league in wins, WHIP and walks per nine innings (1.1). It was the second straight season Hoyt had led the AL in victories after picking up 19 in his first full season in the rotation.

Despite his gaudy record, however, Hoyt was not an All-Star in 1983. Despite the team’s record, the White Sox had just one player on the roster for the annual classic, which was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago for the first time since 1950.

Hoyt did his part in the ALCS, scattering five hits and escaping a bit of a jam in the bottom of the ninth to pick up the 2-1 complete game victory. As was typical for Hoyt, he wasn’t overpowering — striking out just four — but he didn’t walk anyone to get the White Sox off to a 1-0 lead in the series.

But the Baltimore Orioles came back to win the next three games before Hoyt got another start.

After losing 18 games to lead the AL in 1984, Hoyt was traded to the San Diego Padres in the offseason. Unfortunately that wasn’t Hoyt’s only losing battle. After earning his only All-Star bid in 1985, Hoyt was arrested on drug charges three times in 1986 and a fourth time in December 1987, which essentially got him black-listed by MLB.

1983: Ron Kittle, American League Rookie of the Year

Ron Kittle defied the odds just to get to the major leagues. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school in 1977, he was released a year later. The Chicago White Sox signed Kittle in September 1978 and he spent the next four seasons climbing the minor league ladder.

His power started to bloom in 1980, when he hit 12 homers in 61 games at Class-A Appleton before getting four more in 17 games for Double-A Glens Falls. He followed that up with 40 long balls for Glens Falls in 1981 and a whopping 50 at Triple-A Edmonton in 1982, earning a September call up.

Kittle struck out 12 times in 32 plate appearances during his cup of coffee, but did hit his first major-league homer off Minnesota Twins left-hander Frank Viola on the next-to-last day of the season.

Kittle won the left field job in spring training in 1983 and began crushing the ball almost immediately. He was Chicago’s lone All-Star representative in a season during which he hit .254/.314/.504 in 145 games, launching 35 homers with 100 RBI. In 570 plate appearances, Kittle struck out a league-leading 150 times with 39 walks and earned Rookie of the Year honors.

But he slipped to .215/.295/.453 with 32 homers in 1984 and by 1985 was sent to Triple-A Buffalo to straighten things out. Was was traded to the New York Yankees in 1986, coming back to Chicago in 1989 and again in 1991 after he had been dealt to the Baltimore Orioles at the 1990 trade deadline.

But his final stay with the White Sox lasted a little less than two months and he was released in August 1991.

In parts of eight seasons in Chicago, Kittle played in 657 games and hit .237/.307/.470 with 140 homers and 374 RBI in 2,433 plate appearances.

1983: Tony LaRussa, American League Manager of the Year

Tony LaRussa kicked around organized baseball for 16 seasons, but played only 132 games in the major leagues during that span. After playing as a utility infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans in 1977, LaRussa retired to take a job as a minor league manager for the Chicago White Sox.

He was an instant hit, leading Double-A Knoxville to an 88-56 record and the Southern League championship. That earned him a promotion to Triple-A Iowa for the 1979 season, where the Oaks were 69-67 on Aug. 3 when lightning struck. Player-manager Don Kessinger was fired and LaRussa got the call to replace him.

He never managed in the minors again. He inherited a 46-60 team and led them to a 27-27 finish. The Sox were 70-90 in 1980, went 54-52 in 1981 strike season and improved to 87-75 in 1982.

In 1983, LaRussa piloted Chicago to a 99-63 record and the team’s first postseason appearance since 1959. That earned him the AL Manager of the Year award, though the White Sox would be bounced in four games by the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.

LaRussa remained with the Sox until he was fired on June 20, 1986, with the White Sox at 26-36. In parts of eight seasons, LaRussa’s teams were 522-510.

He wouldn’t be unemployed long. LaRussa was hired by the Oakland A’s a few weeks later, on July 7, 1986, and stayed there through the 1995 season. The A’s won three pennants and a World Series title in 1989 before he jumped to the Cardinals in 1996. In 16 seasons, St. Louis won three pennants and two World Series rings, reaching the playoffs nine times in all.

He retired after the 2011 season in third place on the all-time wins list with 2,728, per Baseball-Reference.com. After several years in the front office and as a consultant, however, LaRussa will be back in the dugout in 2021, as he was re-hired by the White Sox last Oct. 29 to replace Rich Renteria.

1972: Dick Allen, American League MVP

Dick Allen was a four-time All-Star when he was acquired by the Chicago White Sox in December 1971, giving up left-hander Tommy John (yes, the elbow surgery guy) and utility infielder Steve Huntz. This was at a time when there were always concerns when a player was changing leagues — different pitchers, different umpires make for a significant adjustment.

Apparently Allen did not get the memo on the whole adjustment problem, because he came within a whisker of a Triple Crown for the White Sox in 1972. Allen led the league with 37 home runs and 113 RBI in a season delayed for about a week because of a players’ strike, but finished third in batting average at .308 — 10 points behind Minnesota Twins star Rod Carew.

The White Sox, meanwhile, surprised the American League by going 87-67 and finishing just 5½ games back of the Oakland A’s in the AL West.

That earned Allen the MVP award. In 148 games, Allen hit .308/.420/.603 in 609 plate appearances. He had 28 doubles and five triples to go with the power numbers, stole 19 bases and drew 99 walks against 126 strikeouts. Allen was the AL leader in walks, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS+ (199).

All was an All-Star all three seasons he was in Chicago, despite missing more than half of the 1973 season with a broken leg. In December 1974, however, the White Sox traded Allen to the Atlanta Braves, eventually getting catcher Jim Essian in return despite Allen winning his second home run title in 1974 with 32.

In 348 games with the White Sox, Allen hit .307/.398/.589 in 1,422 plate appearances and had 85 homers and 242 RBI.

1966: Tommie Agee, American League Rookie of the Year

Tommie Agee had signed with the Cleveland Indians before the 1961 season and spent a few games in the major leagues each year between 1962-64. In January 1965, he was traded along with left-hander Tommy John and catcher John Romano to the Chicago White Sox as part of a three-team deal that also included the Kansas City Athletics.

Again, Agee saw some major league time in 1965 … just not a lot.

He was still a rookie when he won the center field job for the White Sox in spring training in 1966 and made the most of it. He played in 160 games and hit .273/.326/.447 in 689 plate appearances, with 27 doubles, eight triples, 22 home runs and 86 RBI. He also scored 98 runs, stole 44 bases, walked 41 times and struck out 127 times.

Agee was an All-Star as a rookie, won a Gold Glove and finished eighth in the MVP voting despite Chicago’s fourth-place finish at 83-79.

Agee was an All-Star again in 1967, but in December 1967 he was sent with infielder Al Weis to the New York Mets for four players, most notably outfielder Tommy Davis and right-hander Jack Fisher.

In two seasons, Agee hit .254/.314/.409 with 54 doubles, 10 triples, 36 homers and 141 RBI in 328 games, while also scoring 173 runs and swiping 72 bases.

1963: Gary Peters, American League Rookie of the Year

Gary Peters needed seven seasons in the minors to gain a full-time spot in the majors, but once he did, he was a long-time stalwart at the top of the rotation for the Chicago White Sox.

Signed out of a Pennsylvania junior college in 1956, Peters debuted in the bigs in September 1959. He had brief cups of coffee in 1960, 1961 and 1962, but those totalled only 12 appearances and 21 innings.

In 1963 he earned a bullpen spot out of spring training, but it wasn’t long before he was getting the ball to start games. Peters made just one relief appearance after June 4 and put together a terrific rookie season.

He appeared in 41 games, starting 30, and was 19-8 with a league-leading 2.33 ERA and a WHIP of 1.070. Peters led the AL in home runs allowed per nine innings at 0.3, surrendering just nine in 243 innings.

He finished with 13 complete games and four shutouts and in 243 innings walked 68 and struck out 189. The White Sox finished second in the American League, 10½ games behind the New York Yankees.

He was an All-Star in 1964 and again in 1967, leaving Chicago in December 1969 when he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. In 11 seasons with the White Sox, Peters was 91-78 with a 2.92 ERA and 1.190 WHIP in 1,560 innings, striking out 1,098 and walking 515. The left-hander completed 60 games and pitched 18 shutouts.

1959: Nellie Fox, American League MVP

It was one of only two seasons in the decade of the 1950s when the New York Yankees didn’t win the American League pennant. In 1959, the Chicago White Sox ran all the way to their first pennant in 40 years and it was second baseman Nellie Fox that was the glue holding it together.

Singles hitters didn’t win a lot of awards in the 1950s — consider that Fox was preceded as American League MVP by Boston Red Sox slugger Jackie Jensen in 1958 and Yankees legend Mickey Mantle in 1956 and 1957.

The White Sox were 94-60 and won the American League by five games over the Cleveland Indians — 15 games up on the also-ran Yanks.

Fox was named to both All-Star games in 1959 and won a Gold Glove, hitting .306/.380/.389 out of the No. 2 spot in the order. In 156 games, Fox had 34 doubles, six triples, two homers and drove in 70 runs while scoring 84. He drew 71 walks and struck out just 13 times. He led the majors with 717 plate appearances and the AL with 624 at-bats.

The White Sox lost the World Series in six games to the Dodgers, but not because of Fox. He hit .375/.464/.500 in the series, going 9-for-24 with three doubles and four runs scored.

Fox was acquired in October 1949 from the Philadelphia Athletics and stayed in Chicago until he was dealt to the Houston Colt .45s in December 1963.

In 14 seasons with the White Sox, Fox was a 15-time All-Star, hitting .291/.349/.367 in 2,115 games and 9,493 plate appearances. He hit 335 doubles, 104 triples and 35 homers, driving in 740 runs and scoring 1,187. Fox walked 658 times and struck out only 192. Fox is tied with Shano Collins for the franchise’s all-time record with his 104 triples.

His 44.2 at-bats per strikeout is also a club record, far ahead of another Hall of Fame second baseman, Eddie Collins (29.6).

1959: Early Wynn, Cy Young Award

While the first Cy Young Award was given out after the 1956 season, it wasn’t until 1967 that winners were named in each of the American and National leagues. Prior to that, the award went to the pitcher deemed to be the best in baseball that season.

For the pennant-winning Chicago White Sox in 1959, it was veteran right-hander Early Wynn who earned that distinction.

The 39-year-old was coming off back-to-back losing seasons, including a 14-16 mark with a 4.13 ERA in his first season in Chicago in 1958.

He rediscovered the form that made Wynn a four-time 20-game winner with the Cleveland Indians as well as a five-time All-Star prior to the 1959 campaign. Wynn went 22-10 with a 3.17 ERA and 1.256 WHIP. He led the league in wins, as well as with 37 starts and 255.2 innings pitched.

Wynn completed 14 games with five shutouts, with a league-high 119 walks and 179 strikeouts.

In the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wynn made three starts in the six-game loss, pitching seven shutout innings in Chicago’s 11-0 win in Game 1. But he got a no-decision in a 5-4 loss in Game 4, knocked out after just 2.2 innings having allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits with two strikeouts.

With the White Sox down 3-2 and the series returning to Comiskey Park for Game 6, Wynn got the call on three days rest, but struggled again. He gave up five runs on five hits in 3.1 innings, walking three and striking out two as Chicago went down 9-3.

Wynn spent five year with the White Sox, going 64-55 with a 3.72 ERA and 1.319 WHIP in 1,010.2 innings. He appeared in 157 games, starting 147 and completing 53 with 16 shutouts.

Acquired from the Indians in a December 1957 trade that sent Minnie Minoso to Cleveland, the White Sox released Wynn in November 1962. He returned to Cleveland and got one win in 1963, the 300th of his career.

1956: Luis Aparicio, American League Rookie of the Year

The Chicago White Sox took a huge gamble in October 1955, trading four-time All-Star shortstop Chico Carrasquel to the Cleveland Indians to get slugging outfielder Larry Doby.

At the time the White Sox made the deal, they were banking on a shortstop who wouldn’t turn 22 until after Opening Day, a shortstop signed out of Venezuela two years earlier who had exactly one year of experience at the Class B level and one year of playing at the Double-A level.

Luis Aparicio made the move pay off for Chicago, winning the first of nine consecutive American League stolen base titles in 1956 with 21 while hitting .266/.311/.341 in 152 games and 583 plate appearances. Aparicio added 19 doubles, six triples and three home runs, scoring 69 times and finishing with 56 RBI.

He walked 34 times, struck out 63 and also led the AL with 14 sacrifice bunts. That earned Aparicio the first major award in franchise history, the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Chicago traded Aparicio in January 1963 to the Baltimore Orioles in a six-player swap that sent Al Smith to the Orioles as well, with Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm among the four players heading to the White Sox.

But in November 1967, Aparicio was reacquired from Baltimore and played three more seasons in Chicago before being traded to the Boston Red Sox in December 1970.

In 10 years overall with the White Sox, Aparicio hit .269/.319/.348 in 1,511 games and 6,438 plate appearances. He had 223 doubles, 54 triples, 43 homers and 464 RBI while scoring 791 runs.

Aparicio’s 318 stolen bases are second in franchise history behind dead-ball era standout Eddie Collins’ 348. Defense got Aparicio into the Hall of Fame — he won nine Gold Gloves, seven of those while with the White Sox.