White Sox Managers

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn announced today that the club and manager Rick Renteria had "agreed to part ways." Renteria's hiring in 2017 to guide a very young Sox team through its growing pains to eventual contender status was eerily similar to the task assigned to him by the Cubs in 2014. (That project went awry, at least for Renteria, when Joe Maddon unexpectedly became available in 2015.) 

     The White Sox did indeed become contenders in 2020, and it would seem that they are poised for bigger and better things in the next few years. Will the South Siders' next skipper be one of the usual suspects such as A.J. Hinch, Alex Cora, or Sandy Alomar Jr.--or does Hahn have his eye on a dark-horse candidate? To the disappointment of some, Hahn has already indicated that the choice will not be a blast from the past in the form of the one and only Ozzie Guillen.

     Stay tuned.

     

 

JIMMY DYKES

Below is the complete list of White Sox managers over the years.

 

 

Manager Seasons W. L. Pct. Clark Griffith 1901–1902 157 113 .581 Nixey Callahan 1903–1904 83 95 .474 Fielder Jones 1904–1908 426 293 .592 Billy Sullivan 1909 78 74 .513 Hugh Duffy 1910–1911 145 159 .477 Nixey Callahan 1912–1914 226 234 .491 Pants Rowland 1915–1918 339 247 .578 Kid Gleason 1919–1923 392 364 .519 Johnny Evers 1924 51 71 .418 Ed Walsh 1924 1 2 .333 Eddie Collins 1924–1926 174 160 .521 Ray Schalk 1927–1928 102 125 .449 Lena Blackburne 1928–1929 99 133 .427 Donie Bush 1930–1931 118 189 .384 Lew Fonseca 1932–1934 120 196 .380 Jimmy Dykes 1934–1946 899 940 .489 Ted Lyons 1946–1948 185 245 .430 Jack Onslow 1949–1950 71 113 .386 Red Corriden 1950 52 72 .419 Paul Richards 1951–1954 342 265 .563 Marty Marion 1954–1956 179 138 .565 Al Lopez 1957–1965 811 615 .569 Eddie Stanky 1966–1968 206 197 .511 Les Moss 1968 12 24 .333 Al Lopez 1968–1969 29 35 .434 Don Gutteridge 1969–1970 109 172 .388 Bill Adair 1970 4 6 .400 Chuck Tanner 1970–1975 401 414 .492 Paul Richards 1976 64 97 .398 Bob Lemon 1977–1978 124 112 .525 Larry Doby 1978 37 50 .425 Don Kessinger 1979 46 60 .434 Tony La Russa 1979–1986 522 510 .506 Doug Rader 1986 1 1 .500 Jim Fregosi 1986–1988 193 226 .461 Jeff Torborg 1989–1991 250 235 .515 Gene Lamont 1992–1995 258 210 .551 Terry Bevington 1995–1997 222 214 .509 Jerry Manuel 1998–2003 500 471 .515 Ozzie Guillén 2004–2011 678 617 .524 Don Cooper 2011 1 1 .500 Robin Ventura 2012–2016 375 435 .463 Rick Renteria 2017–2020 236 309 .433
Check out our book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports on Amazon.

 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Cub



ERNIE BANKS

      Only one man has ever played more than 2,500 games in a Cub uniform, and only one man has been granted the title "Mr. Cub." The man who fits both descriptions is the one and only Ernie Banks, who turns 80 years old today.
     Banks arrived in Chicago as a lean, wiry, and bashful 22-year-old shortstop from the Negro Leagues. On September 17, 1953, he became the first African American to appear in a game for the Cubs. Infielder Eddie Miksis obligingly lent Banks his glove (Ernie having misplaced his own), and one of the coaches well-meaningly handed Banks a book called How to Play Baseball, which was intended for Little Leaguers. "You’ll never believe this," teammate Ralph Kiner said, "but at the time Ernie never said one thing. When he joined the Cubs, he was a really quiet guy and obviously he had a lot of talent but was very raw."
     Banks was polite and deferential to a fault, and he would not speak unless spoken to. "After he hits a homer," manager Stan Hack said, "he comes back to the dugout as if he has done something wrong."
     Second baseman Gene Baker, also an African-American, joined the Cubs at the same time as Banks (the theory in those days was that if a team had one black player, it would need another to be his roommate on the road), and played alongside him for several years.
     Banks finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1954 and was third in Most Valuable Player voting in 1955, when both he and Baker were All-Stars. In 1958 and 1959, Banks became the first National Leaguer ever to win back-to-back MVP awards, despite the Cubs' also-ran status. Former White Sox skipper Jimmie Dykes quipped, "Without Ernie Banks, the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque."

     Thanks to the march of time, fans who actually saw Banks play (especially in his prime), are now in the minority--but his place in Cubs history is obvious enough for anyone to grasp. In addition to the two MVPs, Banks won a Gold Glove and was an 11-time All-Star. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He ranks first in Cubs annals in games played, at-bats, and total bases; second in hits, home runs, and runs batted in; third in doubles, and fifth in runs scored.
     As indelibly as Banks looms in the Cubs record books, what has made him more memorable--even beloved--is his almost mystical role as the perpetually sunny optimist who genuinely enjoyed coming to work each day, no matter how dismal the team was or how empty the ballpark was.
     Ernie's glass was always half full. Once he'd overcome his previous shyness, he produced a steady stream of upbeat quotes and slogans. "It's a beautiful day for baseball," he often said, regardless of the weather. "Let's play two." He made a sort of forecast, in rhyme, before each season. "The Cubs will be great in '68." "The Cubs will shine in '69." "The Cubs will be heavenly in 1970."
     He also insisted that he was both lucky and grateful to play for the Cubs, who (of course) never won anything during his long career. "How the players on those other clubs envy us!" he declared.
     Teammates and opponents couldn't help but admire Banks's constant cheerfulness even while wondering whether he was putting them on. "We'd think, what's wrong with this nut?" pitcher Moe Drabowsky said. "Let's see, Ernie Banks might have been making $80,000 a year [in the late 1950s]. I was making $6,000 a year, so if the situation were reversed, I might think the same."
     Will Rogers said he never met a man he didn't like. Banks admitted that he didn't like everyone, but he also said that anyone he disliked would never know it. "I'll kill him with kindness," he said.
     Banks was true to his word. After Leo Durocher took over as manager of the Cubs in the late 1960s, he tried every year at spring training to give away Banks's job but failed to find a suitable taker. He also rarely missed a chance to disparage Mr. Cub both privately and to reporters. Ernie went right on being Ernie. "Leo Durocher," he announced, "is the greatest manager I've ever seen."