1983 Chicago White Sox season

'Winning ugly' to the AL West title, the club's first postseason since 1959.

The 1983 Chicago White Sox won the American League West championship, clinching on September 17, for their first postseason appearance since the 1959 World Series and the city of Chicago's first baseball championship of any kind since that pennant twenty-four years earlier. After a winning streak around the All-Star break, Texas Rangers manager Doug Rader said the Sox 'weren't playing well, they're winning ugly', and the phrase became the team's rallying cry. Ron Kittle won the AL Rookie of the Year Award and set a club record for home runs by a rookie, LaMarr Hoyt won the AL Cy Young Award, and Tony La Russa was named AL Manager of the Year. The season ended in the ALCS, where the Baltimore Orioles beat the White Sox three games to one.

Quick Facts

Season: 1983
League: American League
Division: West
Ballpark: Comiskey Park
City: Chicago
Record: 99–63 (99, 63)
Divisional place: 1st
Owners: Jerry Reinsdorf

Facts from the source article.

Background

It was the first division title of the Jerry Reinsdorf era. The Opening Day lineup was Rudy Law, Tony Bernazard, Harold Baines, Greg Luzinski, Greg Walker, Tom Paciorek, Carlton Fisk, Vance Law and Scott Fletcher, with LaMarr Hoyt pitching; in January the Sox had traded Steve Trout and Warren Brusstar to the Cubs for Fletcher, Pat Tabler, Randy Martz and Dick Tidrow. Kittle missed the AL home run title by three homers, finished third in the league and led it with 150 strikeouts, while Floyd Bannister finished second in the AL in strikeouts and won 13 of 14 decisions after the All-Star break.