1961 Chicago White Sox season

1961 Chicago White Sox
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Comiskey Park (since 1910)
Chicago (since 1900)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bill Veeck, Arthur Allyn, Jr., John Allyn
General manager(s)	Hank Greenberg, Ed Short
Manager(s)	Al López
Local television	WGN-TV (Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
Local radio	WCFL (Bob Elson, Ralph Kiner)
< Previous season     Next season  >

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 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

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	109	53	.673	--
Detroit Tigers	101	61	.623	8
Baltimore Orioles	95	67	.586	14
Chicago White Sox	86	76	.531	23
Cleveland Indians	78	83	.484	30.5
Boston Red Sox	76	86	.469	33
Minnesota Twins	70	90	.438	38
Los Angeles Angels	70	91	.435	38.5
Kansas City Athletics	61	100	.379	47.5
Washington Senators	61	100	.379	47.5

Record vs. opponents

1961 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	LAA	MIN	NYY	WSH
Baltimore	—	11–7	11–7	9–9	9–9	13–5	8–10	11–7	9–9–1	14–4
Boston	7–11	—	9–9	5–13	8–10	10–8	11–7–1	11–7	5–13	10–8
Chicago	7–11	9–9	—	12–6	6–12	14–4	10–8	9–9–1	6–12	13–5
Cleveland	9–9	13–5	6–12	—	6–12	8–9	10–8	10–8	4–14	12–6
Detroit	9–9	10–8	12–6	12–6	—	12–6–1	14–4	11–7	8–10	13–5
Kansas City	5–13	8–10	4–14	9–8	6–12–1	—	9–9	7–11	4–14	9–9
Los Angeles	10–8	7–11–1	8–10	8–10	4–14	9–9	—	8–9	6–12	10–8
Minnesota	7–11	7–11	9–9–1	8–10	7–11	11–7	9–8	—	4–14	8–9
New York	9–9–1	13–5	12–6	14–4	10–8	14–4	12–6	14–4	—	11–7
Washington	4–14	8–10	5–13	6–12	5–13	9–9	8–10	9–8	7–11	—

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 38 Frank Baumann 46 Alan Brice 36 Mike DeGerick 28 Warren Hacker 21,23 Ray Herbert 20 Joe Horlen 44 Russ Kemmerer 26 Don Larsen 27 Turk Lown 15 Cal McLish 23 Gary Peters 19 Billy Pierce 32 Juan Pizarro 18 Herb Score 35 Bob Shaw 21 Jerry Staley 24 Early Wynn		Catchers 45 Cam Carreon 28 Joe Ginsberg 10 Sherm Lollar 31 Bob Roselli Infielders 11 Luis Aparicio  7 Andy Carey 14 Sammy Esposito  2 Nellie Fox  6 Billy Goodman 36 Ted Lepcio 12 J. C. Martin  5 Roy Sievers 16 Al Smith 17 Earl Torgeson		Outfielders 26 Wes Covington 40 Mike Hershberger  1 Jim Landis 30 Dean Look  9 Minnie Miñoso 29 Al Pilarcik  3 Floyd Robinson Other batters  7 Jim Rivera		Manager 42 Al López Coaches 37 Ray Berres 34 Johnny Cooney 33 Tony Cuccinello 39 Don Gutteridge

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 Team totals 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 Team totals 86 76 4.06 163 163 33 1448.2 1491 726 653 158 523 814 Farm system Level Team League Manager AAA San Diego Padres Pacific Coast League Jimmie Reese, Whitey Wietelmann and Bill Norman A Charleston White Sox Sally League Ira Hutchinson B Lincoln Chiefs Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League George Noga C Idaho Falls Russets Pioneer League Herman Reich and George Sobek D Harlan Smokies Appalachian League Frank Parenti and Eddie Lyons D Daytona Beach Islanders Florida State League Homer Ray Wilson D Clinton C-Sox Midwest League Dick Kinaman Harlan affiliation shared with New York Yankees[6] Notes Earl Averill, Jr. page at Baseball Reference Jim McAnany page at Baseball Reference Wes Covington page at Baseball Reference Joe Ginsberg page at Baseball Reference Warren Hacker page at Baseball Reference Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 References 1961 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference