The 1964 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 64th season in the major leagues, and its 65th season overall. They finished with a record of 98âÂÂ64, good enough for second place in the American League, just one game behind the first-place New York Yankees.
The White Sox could have won the American League flag in 1964. That year saw a great pennant race in the American League, with the New York Yankees finishing first by winning 99 games, the Sox only one game behind with 98, and the Baltimore Orioles third with 97, only one game behind the Sox.
A key statistic is that the Sox were a woeful 6âÂÂ12 against the Yankees that year, so literally if the Sox had just won one of those 12 losses against the Bombers, the Sox would have finished first.
A 4âÂÂ3 loss on June 14 could have been that victory, as the Sox were up 3âÂÂ1 at Yankee Stadium in the ninth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, but the Yanks made a comeback and won in the tenth inning with future Hall of Fame reliever Hoyt Wilhelm taking the loss in relief. In the first game, Sox star pitcher Juan Pizarro was expected to beat Yankee bottom of the barrel spot-starter and journeyman Bud Daley, but the Yanks won that one, too.
Another heartbreaker was a 1âÂÂ0 loss to the Yankees on June 20, a game that had been scoreless until the 11th inning, when the New Yorkers finally pushed a run across when with two outs, Elston Howard drove in Pedro Gonzales, who was pinch running for Mickey Mantle.
Then the very next day, the Sox lost to the Yankees again 2âÂÂ1 in a game that went an incredible 17 innings.
A day later, the Sox lost another one-run game to the Yanks. This time the Sox scored five runs, but ended up losing 6âÂÂ5. Any one of those games could have been a pennant-winning victory.
The Sox were generally a light-hitting club, with a team batting average of .247, good only for sixth in the ten-team American League. But their pitching was great. They ranked first in the league in shutouts, walks, and in fewest hits, runs, earned runs, and walks given up.
Outfielder Jim Landis, a veteran of the 1959 pennant winners, said that there was even more of a feeling on the 1964 club than on the 1959 club that the Sox were going to win, because the '64 squad had better pitching.
The Sox were in first place as late as September 6, and only ý game back two weeks before the end of the season before the Yanks made their move. The Sox had a strong September at 18âÂÂ10, but the Yanks were even better, winning 21 of 25.
By the end of the season, leading off was centerfielder Mike Hershberger, who batted .230 that year. Hershberger despite his light hitting, would be a starter with the Sox and the Kansas City and Oakland A's for seven straight years.
Batting second was one of the Sox' better hitters, right fielder Floyd Robinson, who batted .301 in 1964 and got some votes for MVP. Two years earlier, he had led the league with 45 doubles.
Next was shortstop Ron Hansen. Known as a good-field, no stick type of guy in later years, Hansen had his best batting average of his career in 1964 with a .261 average, so Manager Al Lopez had him batting third, and sometimes even cleanup earlier in the season. Hansen got a few votes for MVP that year too.
Veteran first baseman Bill Skowron was the Sox' cleanup hitter. The Sox got him from the Washington Senators that July, and Skowron gave the Sox some needed pop by batting .293 since the trade.
Next was Pete Ward, the Sox' Steady Eddy at third base. He batted .282 and was a slick fielder, so he got some MVP votes that year too.
Young Tom McCraw in only his second year in the bigs was the Sox' left fielder and sixth-place hitter. He batted .261 that year.
Al Weis became the Sox' second baseman that year after Nellie Fox was traded in the offseason. He batted a respectable .247 and established career highs with 81 hits and 22 stolen bases, a theft total second in the American League. Weis is better known for his later time with the New York Mets, and he would later get the game-winning RBI in game 2 of the 1969 World Series.
Not too well remembered was Sox catcher Camilo Carreon, who batted eighth. Carreon played only 37 games in the 1964 regular season with J.C. Martin doing most of the backstop duties that year, but Carreon played a lot down the stretch.
Sox 1964 starting pitchers were Gary Peters, Juan Pizarro, Joel Horlen, and John Buzhardt, and the team's top relievers were future National Baseball Hall of Fame member Hoyt Wilhelm, and Eddie Fisher.
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
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
<small>LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lynchburg</small>