1978 Chicago White Sox season

1978 Chicago White Sox
1978 Chicago White Sox
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Comiskey Park
City	Chicago, Illinois
Owners	Bill Veeck
General managers	Roland Hemond
Managers	Bob Lemon, Larry Doby
Television	WSNS-TV
Radio	WMAQ (AM); (Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall)

The 1978 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 78th season in Major League Baseball, and its 79th overall. They finished with a record of 71–90, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 20.5 games behind the first-place Kansas City Royals.

Offseason

November 28, 1977: Rich Hinton was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[1]
December 5, 1977: Brian Downing, Chris Knapp, and Dave Frost were traded by the White Sox to the California Angels for Bobby Bonds, Thad Bosley and Richard Dotson.^[2]

Regular season

Larry Doby replaced Bob Lemon as manager of the White Sox in 1978. Doby was the second African-American to lead a major league club.

Opening Day lineup

Season standings

v
t
e
AL West
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Kansas City Royals	92	70	.568	—	56‍–‍25	36‍–‍45
Texas Rangers	87	75	.537	5	52‍–‍30	35‍–‍45
California Angels	87	75	.537	5	50‍–‍31	37‍–‍44
Minnesota Twins	73	89	.451	19	38‍–‍43	35‍–‍46
Chicago White Sox	71	90	.441	20½	38‍–‍42	33‍–‍48
Oakland Athletics	69	93	.426	23	38‍–‍42	31‍–‍51
Seattle Mariners	56	104	.350	35	32‍–‍49	24‍–‍55

Record vs. opponents

1978 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	7–8	4–6	8–1	9–6	7–8	2–8	7–8	5–5	6–9	11–0	9–1	7–4	8–7
Boston	8–7	—	9–2	7–3	7–8	12–3	4–6	10–5	9–2	7–9	5–5	7–3	3–7	11–4
California	6–4	2–9	—	8–7	6–4	4–7	9–6	5–5	12–3	5–5	9–6	9–6	5–10	7–3
Chicago	1–8	3–7	7–8	—	8–2	2–9	8–7	4–7	8–7	1–9	7–8	7–8	11–4	4–6
Cleveland	6–9	8–7	4–6	2–8	—	5–10	5–6	5–10	5–5	6–9	4–6	8–1	1–9	10–4
Detroit	8–7	3–12	7–4	9–2	10–5	—	4–6	7–8	4–6	4–11	6–4	8–2	7–3	9–6
Kansas City	8–2	6–4	6–9	7–8	6–5	6–4	—	6–4	7–8	6–5	10–5	12–3	7–8	5–5
Milwaukee	8–7	5–10	5–5	7–4	10–5	8–7	4–6	—	4–7	10–5	9–1	5–5	6–4	12–3
Minnesota	5–5	2–9	3–12	7–8	5–5	6–4	8–7	7–4	—	3–7	9–6	6–9	6–9	6–4
New York	9–6	9–7	5–5	9–1	9–6	11–4	5–6	5–10	7–3	—	8–2	6–5	6–4	11–4
Oakland	0–11	5–5	6–9	8–7	6–4	4–6	5–10	1–9	6–9	2–8	—	13–2	6–9	7–4
Seattle	1–9	3–7	6–9	8–7	1–8	2–8	3–12	5–5	9–6	5–6	2–13	—	3–12	8–2
Texas	4–7	7–3	10–5	4–11	9–1	3–7	8–7	4–6	9–6	4–6	9–6	12–3	—	4–7
Toronto	7–8	4–11	3–7	6–4	4–10	6–9	5–5	3–12	4–6	4–11	4–7	2–8	7–4	—

Notable transactions

April 1, 1978: Royle Stillman was released by the White Sox.^[3]
April 1, 1978: Bob Coluccio was released by the White Sox.^[4]
July 17, 1978: Guy Hoffman was signed as an amateur free agent by the White Sox.^[5]

Draft picks

June 6, 1978: 1978 Major League Baseball Draft
- Britt Burns was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round.^[6]
- Bobby Meacham was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 14th round of the 1978 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[7]
- Gary Gaetti was drafted by the White Sox in the 3rd round of the secondary phase, but did not sign.^[8]

Roster

1978 Chicago White Sox

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

14 Larry Doby
21 Bob Lemon

Coaches

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
Alan Bannister, DH, OF, SS,2B	49	107	16	24	3	2	0	8	11	12	.224	3
Kevin Bell, 3B	54	68	9	13	0	0	2	5	5	19	.191	1
Ron Blomberg, DH,1B	61	156	16	36	7	0	5	22	11	17	.231	0
Bobby Bonds, RF, DH	26	90	8	25	4	0	2	8	10	10	.278	6
Thad Bosley, OF	66	219	25	59	5	1	2	13	13	32	.269	12
Jim Breazeale, 1B, DH	25	72	8	15	3	0	3	13	8	10	.208	0
Harry Chappas, SS	20	75	11	20	1	0	0	6	6	11	.267	1
Mike Colbern, C	48	141	11	38	5	1	2	20	1	36	.270	0
Henry Cruz, OF	53	77	13	17	2	1	2	10	8	11	.221	0
Mike Eden, SS,2B	10	17	1	2	0	0	0	0	4	0	.118	0
Marv Foley, C	11	34	3	12	0	0	0	6	4	6	.353	0
Ralph Garr, LF, DH	118	443	67	122	18	9	3	29	24	41	.275	7
Joe Gates, 2B	8	24	6	6	0	0	0	1	4	6	.250	1
Lamar Johnson, 1B, DH	148	498	52	136	23	2	8	72	43	46	.273	6
Larry Johnson, C, DH	3	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	.125	0
Don Kessinger, SS,2B	131	431	35	110	18	1	1	31	36	34	.255	2
Chet Lemon, CF, RF, DH	105	357	51	107	24	6	13	55	39	46	.300	5
Bob Molinaro, OF, DH	105	286	39	75	5	5	6	27	19	12	.262	22
Junior Moore, DH,3B, LF	24	65	8	19	0	1	0	4	6	7	.292	1
Bill Nahorodny, C,1B, DH	107	347	29	82	11	2	8	35	23	52	.236	1
Wayne Nordhagen, DH, RF, LF, C	68	206	28	62	16	0	5	35	5	18	.301	0
Jorge Orta, 2B	117	420	45	115	19	2	13	53	42	39	.274	1
Greg Pryor, 2B, SS,3B	82	222	27	58	11	0	2	15	11	18	.261	3
Ron Schueler, PR	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Eric Soderholm, 3B, DH	143	457	57	118	17	1	20	67	39	44	.258	2
Tom Spencer, OF	29	65	3	12	1	0	0	4	2	9	.185	0
Mike Squires, 1B	46	150	25	42	9	2	0	19	16	21	.280	4
Rusty Torres, OF	16	44	7	14	3	0	3	6	6	7	.318	0
Claudell Washington, OF	86	314	33	83	16	5	6	31	12	57	.264	5
Team Totals	161	5393	634	1423	221	41	106	595	409	625	.264	83

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
Francisco Barrios	9	15	4.05	33	32	0	195.2	180	93	88	13	87	79
Ross Baumgarten	2	2	5.87	7	4	0	23.0	29	15	15	3	9	15
Britt Burns	0	2	12.91	2	2	0	7.2	14	12	11	2	3	3
Rich Hinton	2	6	4.02	29	4	1	80.2	78	38	36	5	30	48
Ken Kravec	11	16	4.08	30	30	0	203.0	188	104	92	22	96	154
Jack Kucek	2	3	3.29	10	5	1	52.0	42	23	19	5	29	30
Lerrin LaGrow	6	5	4.40	52	0	16	88.0	85	47	43	9	38	41
Mike Proly	5	2	2.74	16	6	1	65.2	63	24	20	4	12	19
Ron Schueler	3	5	4.30	30	7	0	81.2	76	50	39	10	41	39
Steve Stone	12	12	4.37	30	30	0	212.0	196	110	103	19	85	118
Pablo Torrealba	2	4	4.71	25	3	1	57.1	69	37	30	6	44	23
Steve Trout	3	0	4.03	4	3	0	22.1	19	10	10	0	11	11
Jim Willoughby	1	6	3.86	59	0	13	93.1	95	41	40	6	21	36
Wilbur Wood	10	10	5.20	28	27	0	168.0	187	103	97	23	75	69
Rich Wortham	3	2	3.05	8	8	0	59.0	59	24	20	1	23	25
Team Totals	71	90	4.21	161	161	33	1409.1	1380	731	660	128	604	710

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Oaks	American Association	Joe Sparks
AA	Knoxville Knox Sox	Southern League	Tony LaRussa and Joe Jones
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Gordon Lund

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Knoxville, Appleton^[9]

Notes

^ "Rich Hinton career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
^ "Richard Dotson career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
^ "Royle Stillman career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
^ "Bob Coluccio career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
^ "Guy Hoffman career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
^ "Britt Burns career stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
^ "Bobby Beacham: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
^ "Gary Gaetti career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
^ Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-96-371897-6.

References

1978 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

[1] "Rich Hinton career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

[2] "Richard Dotson career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

[3] "Royle Stillman career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

[4] "Bob Coluccio career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

[5] "Guy Hoffman career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

[6] "Britt Burns career stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 8, 2010.

[7] "Bobby Beacham: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.

[8] "Gary Gaetti career stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.

[9] Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-96-371897-6.

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