1977 Chicago White Sox season

1977 Chicago White Sox
Major league affiliations
American League (since 1901) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Comiskey Park (since 1910) Chicago, Illinois (since 1901)
1977 information
Owner(s)	Bill Veeck
Manager(s)	Bob Lemon
Local television	WSNS-TV
Local radio	WMAQ (AM) (Harry Caray, Lorn Brown, Jimmy Piersall, Mary Shane)
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The 1977 Chicago White Sox season was a season in American baseball. The team finished third in the American League West, 12 games behind the Kansas City Royals.

Offseason

White Sox owner Bill Veeck tried a new philosophy during the offseason: figuring that if he could not compete with the bigger spending clubs for free agents, he would "rent" them, even if only for one year. With this strategy in mind, he traded for Richie Zisk (who had one year remaining on his contract) and Oscar Gamble (also in the final year of his contract), hoping that he would be able to continue the practice financially.

Notable transactions

• October 6, 1976: Minnie Miñoso was released by the White Sox.
• October 21, 1976: Phil Roof was traded by the White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later. The Blue Jays completed the deal by sending Larry Anderson to the White Sox on January 5.
• November 26, 1976: Eric Soderholm was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.
• December 5, 1976: Royle Stillman was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.
• December 10, 1976: Goose Gossage and Terry Forster were traded by the White Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Richie Zisk and Silvio Martínez.
• January 11, 1977: Mark Esser was drafted by the White Sox in the 8th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft.
• January 26, 1977: Blue Moon Odom was released by the White Sox.
• February 15, 1977: Fritz Peterson was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.

Regular season

On April 7 in Toronto, the White Sox played the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game in Blue Jays history.

The White Sox, who came to be called the "South Side Hitmen", were in solid contention for most of the season, battling the division-winning Royals and Minnesota Twins most of the way. moved into first place in the AL West on July 1 and remained there until August 12. Their primary weapon was their power hitting. As a team, the White Sox hit 192 home runs, a record which lasted until 1996. Their displays of power caused fans to cheer for "curtain calls," where players came out of the dugout after hitting a home run to acknowledge those cheers. Some Royals players greatly resented this, and called such behavior "bush" and "unprofessional." The climax of this came on August 5, when White Sox pitcher Bart Johnson and Royals catcher Darrell Porter had a fistfight in a game at Kansas City.

Opening Day lineup

• Ralph Garr, Left field
• Alan Bannister, Shortstop
• Jorge Orta, Second base
• Richie Zisk, Right field
• Jim Spencer, First base
• Oscar Gamble, Designated hitter
• Eric Soderholm, Third base
• Chet Lemon, Center field
• Brian Downing, Catcher
• Ken Brett, Pitcher

Season standings

AL West	W	L	GB	Pct.
Kansas City Royals	102	60	--	.630
Texas Rangers	94	68	8	.580
Chicago White Sox	90	72	12	.556
Minnesota Twins	84	77	17.5	.522
California Angels	74	88	28	.457
Seattle Mariners	64	98	38	.395
Oakland Athletics	63	98	38.5	.391

Notable transactions

• April 5, 1977: Bucky Dent was traded by the White Sox to the New York Yankees for Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt, Bob Polinsky (minors), and $200,000.
• August 20, 1977: Steve Staniland (minors) was traded by the White Sox to the St. Louis Cardinals for Don Kessinger.
• August 31, 1977: The White Sox traded players to be named later to the St. Louis Cardinals for Clay Carroll. The White Sox completed the deal by sending Nyls Nyman to the Cardinals on September 2, and sending Dave Hamilton and Silvio Martínez to the Cardinals on November 28.

Roster

1977 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers 51 Larry Anderson 46 Francisco Barrios 34 Ken Brett 34 Clay Carroll 43 Bruce Dal Canton 37 Dave Frost 26 Dave Hamilton 24 Bart Johnson 33 Don Kirkwood 45 Chris Knapp 27 Ken Kravec 55 Jack Kucek 36 Lerrin LaGrow 47 Silvio Martínez 50 Steve Renko 32 Steve Stone 51 John Verhoeven 52 Randy Wiles 28 Wilbur Wood		Catchers 16 Brian Downing 11 Jim Essian 20 Bill Nahorodny Infielders  7 Alan Bannister  8 Kevin Bell 10 Jack Brohamer  1 John Flannery 23 Lamar Johnson 30 Don Kessinger  1 Tim Nordbrook  6 Jorge Orta 12 Eric Soderholm  3 Jim Spencer 19 Mike Squires		Outfielders  5 Bob Coluccio 38 Henry Cruz 25 Tommy Cruz 17 Oscar Gamble 48 Ralph Garr 25 Jerry Hairston 44 Chet Lemon  5 Bob Molinaro 15 Wayne Nordhagen 18 Royle Stillman 22 Richie Zisk Other batters 20 Nyls Nyman		Manager 21 Bob Lemon Coaches 14 Larry Doby 29 Bobby Knoop  9 Minnie Miñoso 31 Stan Williams

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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	Essian, JimJim Essian	114	322	88	.273	10	44
1B	Spencer, JimJim Spencer	128	470	116	.247	18	69
2B	Orta, JorgeJorge Orta	144	564	159	.282	11	84
3B	Soderholm, EricEric Soderholm	130	460	129	.280	25	67
SS	Bannister, AlanAlan Bannister	139	560	154	.275	3	57
LF	Garr, RalphRalph Garr	134	543	163	.300	10	54
CF	Lemon, ChetChet Lemon	150	553	151	.273	19	67
RF	Zisk, RichieRichie Zisk	141	531	154	.290	30	101
DH	Gamble, OscarOscar Gamble	137	408	121	.297	31	83

Other batters

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
Johnson, LamarLamar Johnson	118	374	113	.302	18	65
Downing, BrianBrian Downing	69	169	48	.284	4	25
Brohamer, JackJack Brohamer	59	152	39	.257	2	20
Nordhagen, WayneWayne Nordhagen	52	124	39	.315	4	22
Stillman, RoyleRoyle Stillman	56	119	25	.210	3	13
Kessinger, DonDon Kessinger	39	119	28	.235	0	11
Coluccio, BobBob Coluccio	20	37	10	.270	0	7
Bell, KevinKevin Bell	9	28	5	.179	1	6
Hairston, JerryJerry Hairston	13	26	8	.308	0	4
Nahorodny, BillBill Nahorodny	7	23	6	.261	1	4
Flannery, JohnJohn Flannery	7	2	0	.000	0	0
Nyman, NylsNyls Nyman	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitchers

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Barrios, FranciscoFrancisco Barrios	33	231.1	14	7	4.12	119
Stone, SteveSteve Stone	31	207.1	15	12	4.51	124
Kravec, KenKen Kravec	26	166.2	11	8	4.10	125
Knapp, ChrisChris Knapp	27	146.1	12	7	4.80	103
Brett, KenKen Brett	13	82.2	6	4	5.01	39
Renko, SteveSteve Renko	8	53.1	5	0	3.54	36
Frost, DaveDave Frost	4	23.2	1	1	3.04	15

Other pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Johnson, BartBart Johnson	29	92	4	5	4.01	46
Kucek, JackJack Kucek	8	34.2	0	1	3.63	25

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Hamilton, DaveDave Hamilton	55	4	5	9	3.61	45
Kirkwood, DonDon Kirkwood	16	1	1	0	5.18	24
Martínez, SilvioSilvio Martínez	10	0	1	1	5.57	10
Dal Canton, BruceBruce Dal Canton	8	0	2	2	3.75	9
Carroll, ClayClay Carroll	8	1	3	1	4.76	4
Anderson, LarryLarry Anderson	6	1	3	0	9.35	7

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

• Richie Zisk, starter, outfield

Farm system

See also: Minor league baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Oaks	American Association	Joe Sparks
AA	Knoxville Knox Sox	Southern League	Jim Napier
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Gordon Lund
Rookie	GCL White Sox	Gulf Coast League	Joe Jones

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: GCL White Sox

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, N.C.: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3. 
• 1977 Chicago White Sox team page at Baseball Reference
• 1977 Chicago White Sox team page at www.baseball-almanac.com