1920 Chicago White Sox

BR Team Page

Record: 96-58, Finished 2nd in American League (1920 AL)

Managed by Kid Gleason

Ballpark: Comiskey Park

History, Comments, Contributions

With the 1920 Chicago White Sox chasing the first place Cleveland Indians, owner Charles Comiskey suspended eight players who were involved with throwing the 1919 World Series (see Black Sox Scandal). The Sox ended up finishing in second place, just two games behind the Indians.

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

The hitters were a strong bunch. Joe Jackson hit .382 and was among the American League leaders in many offensive categories. Eddie Collins was right behind him at .372 and also was among the leaders in several categories. Happy Felsch was fourth in the league in both doubles, triples and home runs, while Buck Weaver was fourth in the league in singles. Eddie Murphy, whose career was nearly over, hit .339 as a backup.

Kid Gleason, who managed the White Sox for five years, had his winningest season in 1920.

Standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
Cleveland Indians	98	56	.636	--
Chicago White Sox	96	58	.623	2
New York Yankees	95	59	.617	3
St. Louis Browns	76	77	.497	21½
Boston Red Sox	72	81	.471	25½
Washington Senators	68	84	.447	29
Detroit Tigers	61	93	.396	37
Philadelphia Athletics	48	106	.312	50

Further Reading

• Jacob Pomremke: "Epilogue: Offseason 1919-20", in Jacob Pomrenke, ed.: Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2015, pp. 310-314. ISBN 978-1-933599-95-3
• Don Zminda: Double Plays and Double Crosses: The Black Sox and Baseball in 1920, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, MD, 2021. ISBN 978-1-5381-4232-5