1920 Chicago White Sox season

The 1920 Chicago White Sox season was a season in American baseball.

1920 Chicago White Sox
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkComiskey Park
CityChicago, Illinois
OwnersCharles Comiskey
ManagersKid Gleason
← 1919 Seasons 1921 →

The team was in contention to defend their American League pennant going into the final week of the season. However, for all intents and purposes, the season ended on September 26, when news of the Black Sox Scandal became public.

Black Sox Scandal

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Owner Charles Comiskey suspended the five players who were still active (the sixth, ringleader Chick Gandil, opted to retire after the 1919 season).[1]

At that time, the White Sox were only a half-game behind the Cleveland Indians, but went 2–2 over their last four games to finish two games out.

They would not finish in the first division again until 1936.[2]

Historic Record in 1920

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The 1920 White Sox are one of only two teams in baseball history (The other being the 1971 Baltimore Orioles) to have four 20-game winners: Red Faber, Lefty Williams, Eddie Cicotte, and Dickie Kerr. (The '20 White Sox went one better than the '71 Orioles, in that they had four 21+ game winners.) [3]

Regular season

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Shoeless Joe Jackson finished third in AL batting average, and Eddie Collins was fifth. Along with the St. Louis Browns, the team was the first in major league history to have three players with at least 200 hits each: Jackson, Collins, and Buck Weaver.[4]

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 98 56 .636 51‍–‍27 47‍–‍29
Chicago White Sox 96 58 .623 2 52‍–‍25 44‍–‍33
New York Yankees 95 59 .617 3 49‍–‍28 46‍–‍31
St. Louis Browns 76 77 .497 21½ 40‍–‍38 36‍–‍39
Boston Red Sox 72 81 .471 25½ 41‍–‍35 31‍–‍46
Washington Senators 68 84 .447 29 37‍–‍38 31‍–‍46
Detroit Tigers 61 93 .396 37 32‍–‍46 29‍–‍47
Philadelphia Athletics 48 106 .312 50 25‍–‍50 23‍–‍56

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHA SLB WSH
Boston 12–10 6–16 13–9 9–13 13–9–1 9–13 10–11
Chicago 10–12 10–12 19–3 10–12 16–6 14–8 17–5
Cleveland 16–6 12–10 15–7 9–13 16–6 15–7 15–7
Detroit 9–13 3–19 7–15 7–15 12–10–1 10–12 13–9
New York 13–9 12–10 13–9 15–7 19–3 12–10 11–11
Philadelphia 9–13–1 6–16 6–16 10–12–1 3–19 8–14 6–16
St. Louis 13–9 8–14 7–15 12–10 10–12 14–8 12–9–1
Washington 11–10 5–17 7–15 9–13 11–11 16–6 9–12–1


Roster

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1920 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Ray Schalk 151 485 131 .270 1 61
1B Shano Collins 133 495 150 .303 1 63
2B Eddie Collins 153 602 224 .372 3 76
3B Buck Weaver 151 629 208 .331 2 75
SS Swede Risberg 126 458 122 .266 2 65
LF Joe Jackson 146 570 218 .382 12 121
CF Happy Felsch 142 556 188 .338 14 115
RF Nemo Leibold 108 413 91 .220 1 28

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Amos Strunk 53 188 45 .239 1 16
Ted Jourdan 48 150 36 .240 0 8
Fred McMullin 46 127 25 .197 0 13
Eddie Murphy 58 118 40 .339 0 19
Byrd Lynn 16 25 8 .320 0 3
Harvey McClellan 10 18 6 .333 0 5
Bibb Falk 17 17 5 .294 0 2
Bubber Jonnard 5 5 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Red Faber 40 319.0 23 13 2.99 108
Eddie Cicotte 37 303.1 21 10 3.26 87
Lefty Williams 39 299.0 22 14 3.91 128

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dickey Kerr 45 253.2 21 9 3.37 72
Roy Wilkinson 34 145.0 7 9 4.03 30
Shovel Hodge 4 19.2 1 1 2.29 5
Joe Kiefer 2 4.2 0 1 15.43 1

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
George Payne 12 1 1 0 5.46 7
Spencer Heath 4 0 0 0 15.43 0
Grover Lowdermilk 3 0 0 0 6.75 0

The White Sox became the first team to have four 20-game winners in the same pitching rotation.[5]

League leaders

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Happy Felsch

  • #4 in AL in home runs (14)

Shoeless Joe Jackson

  • #3 in AL in batting average (.382)
  • #3 in AL in slugging percentage (.589)
  • #4 in AL in runs batted in (121)
  • #4 in AL in on-base percentage (.444)

Lefty Williams

  • #2 in AL in strikeouts (128)

Notes

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  1. ^ "The New York Times: This Day in Sports". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Chicago White Sox Team History & Encyclopedia
  3. ^ "1920 Chicago White Sox Pitching Statistics".
  4. ^ "Letters to the Editor". Baseball Digest. 60 (3): 11. March 2001.
  5. ^ Stuckmeyer, Luke. "Do the 2018 Cubs have the best starting rotation in Chicago baseball history?". www.nbcsports.com. Retrieved March 11, 2019.

References

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