Windows in Time: The White Sox Decade-by-Decade

The White Sox won the pennant in 1901, the first year of their existence and of the American League's existence. We'll never know how they might have fared against the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates--because the modern World Series was not played until 1903.

     The Sox won the pennant again in 1906. This time they went on to defeat the heavily-favored Cubs in the World Series, with future Hall of Famer Ed Walsh winning two games. 

     The period from 1901 through 1909 has produced the best cumulative regular-season winning percentage of any calendar decade in White Sox history to date.

ED WALSH

Below is a survey of the White Sox' performance for each calendar decade. This chart shows that after a sustained run of success including four pennants and two world championships through 1919, the Sox entered a long period in which mediocrity or worse was the norm and respectability or better the exception.

Years                     W.         L.         Pct.        Championships

1901 - 1909          744       575       .564         A.L. 1901; World 1906

1910 - 1919          798       692       .536         World 1917; A.L. 1919

1920 - 1929          731       804       .476         none

1930 - 1939          678       841       .446         none

1940 - 1949          707       820       .463         none

1950 - 1959          847       693       .550         A.L. 1959

1960 - 1969          852       760       .529         none

1970 - 1979          752       853       .469         none

1980 - 1989          758       802       .486         Division 1983

1990 - 1999          816       735       .526         Division 1993, 1994

2000 - 2009          857       764       .529         Div. 2000; World 2005; Div. 2008

2010 - 2019          743       876       .459         none

 

LUKE APPLING

The first ten-year stretch in White Sox annals to produce a losing record was the period from 1918 through 1927. After that, no ten-year stretch produced a winning record until 1935 through 1944. 

    The Sox' worst ten-year run of all time was from 1926 through 1935. It certainly was no reflection on the performance of Hall of Famers Luke Appling and Ted Lyons.  

 

Years                     W.         L.         Pct.        Notes

1926 - 1935          643       881       .422         One season over .500

 

    

NELLIE FOX

The White Sox' best ten-year run was from 1952 through 1961--a subset of the 17 consecutive winning seasons the South Siders posted from 1951 through 1967. This period featured the American League pennant of 1959 and the heyday of Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox, Minnie Minoso, Billy Pierce, and Early Wynn, among others.

     The Sox were so consistent during these years that their cumulative winning percentage was .568 for the ten-year runs ending in 1960, 1961, and 1963--and .567 for the periods ending in 1962, 1964, and 1965. 

  

Years                     W.         L.         Pct.         

1952 - 1961          879       669       .5678        

1954 - 1963          888       676       .5677        

1951 - 1960          874       666       .5675        

1953 - 1962          883       673       .5674

1955 - 1964          892       680       .5674

1956 - 1965          896       684       .5670

     

FRANK THOMAS

After this, the Sox and their fans endured a dry spell from the late 1960s through the 1980s (briefly relieved by the memorable division championship of 1983). 

     The last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first was a sort of golden age. Teams led by the likes of Mark Buehrle, Paul Konerko, Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, and Robin Ventura captured five division titles, one American League pennant, and the first world championship for either Chicago team since 1917.  

 

Chicago White Sox year-by-year history on Baseball-Reference.com

 

Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon.