Chicago White Sox

Lore & Background

The White Sox originated in the Western League, founded as the Sioux City Cornhuskers in 1894, moving to Saint Paul, Minnesota, as the Saint Paul Saints, and ultimately relocating to Chicago in 1900. The Chicago White Stockings were one of the American League's eight charter franchises when the AL asserted major league status in 1901. The team, which shortened its name to the White Sox in 1904, originally played their home games at South Side Park before moving to Comiskey Park in 1910, before demolishing and rebuilding Comiskey Park in 1990, which is now known as Rate Field. The White Sox won their first World Series, the 1906 World Series against the Cubs, with a defense-oriented team dubbed "the Hitless Wonders", and later won the 1917 World Series against the New York Giants. Their next appearance, the 1919 World Series, was marred by the Black Sox Scandal in which eight members of the White Sox were found to have conspired with gamblers to fix games and lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. In response, the new Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned the players from the league for life. The White Sox have only made two World Series appearances since the scandal. The first came in 1959, where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, before they finally won their third championship in 2005 against the Houston Astros. The 88 seasons it took the White Sox to win the World Series stands as the longest MLB championship drought in the American League, and the second longest in both leagues, to the Cubs' 108 seasons.

In Their Own Story

The season's momentum shifted decisively around the All-Star break, where a winning streak prompted Doug Rader to describe the White Sox as "winning ugly." This narrative stuck, transforming into a rallying cry that defined the team's culture and even their uniform style. Ron Kittle embodied this spirit by leading the league in strikeouts with 150 while finishing third in home runs, missing the title by just three. On the mound, LaMarr Hoyt delivered a complete-game victory in Game One of the playoffs against the Kansas City Royals at Memorial Stadium on October 5. This win gave Chicago a 1–0 series lead in their first postseason game since 1959. The team's resilience was further highlighted by Floyd Bannister, who won 13 of 14 games following the All-Star break, proving that their style of play could overcome traditional metrics.

Reader's Guide

From 1901 to 2025, the White Sox have an overall win-loss record of 9,654–9,714–103 (.498).

Did You Know?

• The White Sox originated as the Sioux City Cornhuskers in 1894.
• The team's 1906 World Series win was against the crosstown Cubs.
• The 1919 World Series was fixed by eight White Sox players in the Black Sox Scandal.
• The White Sox won their third World Series in 2005, ending an 88-season drought.