1970 Chicago White Sox season

The 1970 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 70th season in the American League, and its 71st overall. They finished with a 56–106 record, their third-worst in 114 seasons of Major League Baseball, and finished in last position in the American League West, 42 wins behind the first-place Minnesota Twins.

Manager Don Gutteridge was fired September 1 with the team 49–87. Bill Adair served briefly as interim manager before Chuck Tanner, manager of the White Sox' Class AAA affiliate in Hawaii, came to the mainland to assume the position with the parent club. Tanner went 3–13 to close 1970 and remained skipper on the South Side through 1975.

The White Sox drew a paltry 495,355 fans to Comiskey Park, the lowest total in Major League Baseball.

In 1970, the White Sox hired organist Nancy Faust, who was a fixture at Comiskey and its successor, U.S. Cellular Field, for 40 years.

This was their last season of 100 losses or more until 2018, when they reached the century mark on the final day of the season.

Offseason

• October 15, 1969: Woodie Held was released by the White Sox.
• December 18, 1969: Pete Ward was traded by the White Sox to the New York Yankees for Mickey Scott and cash.
• January 17, 1970: John Tamargo was drafted by the White Sox in the 4th round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft (secondary phase), but did not sign.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

• Walt Williams, RF
• Luis Aparicio, SS
• Carlos May, LF
• Bill Melton, 3B
• John Matias, 1B
• Buddy Bradford, CF
• Syd O'Brien, 2B
• Duane Josephson, C
• Tommy John, P

Notable transactions

• June 4, 1970: 1970 Major League Baseball draft
• Lee Richard was drafted by the White Sox in the 1st round (6th pick).
• Goose Gossage was drafted by the White Sox in the 9th round.
• September 11, 1970: Lee Maye was selected off waivers by the White Sox from the Washington Senators.

Roster

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

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

Farm system

<small>LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Duluth-Superior, GCL White Sox</small>

Notes

The White Sox' only worse records have been 49 wins against 102 losses in 1932, and 51 wins against 101 losses in 1948.

References

• 1970 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference