1939 Chicago White Sox season

The 1939 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 39th season in major league baseball, and its 40th season overall. They finished with a record of 85–69, good enough for fourth place in the American League, 22 games behind the first place New York Yankees.

1939 Chicago White Sox
League	American League
Ballpark	Comiskey Park
City	Chicago
Owners	J. Louis Comiskey, Grace Comiskey
General manager	Harry Grabiner
Managers	Jimmy Dykes
Radio	WBBM (Pat Flanagan, John Harrington) WCFL (Hal Totten) WJJD (Charlie Grimm, Lew Fonseca) WGN (Bob Elson)
← 1938 Seasons 1940 →

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	106	45	.702	—	52‍–‍25	54‍–‍20
Boston Red Sox	89	62	.589	17	42‍–‍32	47‍–‍30
Cleveland Indians	87	67	.565	20½	44‍–‍33	43‍–‍34
Chicago White Sox	85	69	.552	22½	50‍–‍27	35‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers	81	73	.526	26½	42‍–‍35	39‍–‍38
Washington Senators	65	87	.428	41½	37‍–‍39	28‍–‍48
Philadelphia Athletics	55	97	.362	51½	28‍–‍48	27‍–‍49
St. Louis Browns	43	111	.279	64½	18‍–‍59	25‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

1939 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	8–14	11–11	10–12	11–8–1	18–4	16–6	15–7
Chicago	14–8	—	12–10	12–10	4–18	11–11	18–4	14–8–1
Cleveland	11–11	10–12	—	11–11	7–15	18–4	16–6	14–8
Detroit	12–10	10–12	11–11	—	9–13	11–11	14–8–1	14–8
New York	8–11–1	18–4	15–7	13–9	—	18–4	19–3	15–7
Philadelphia	4–18	11–11	4–18	11–11	4–18	—	13–9–1	8–12
St. Louis	6–16	4–18	6–16	8–14–1	3–19	9–13–1	—	7–15
Washington	7–15	8–14–1	8–14	8–14	7–15	12–8	15–7	—

Opening Day lineup

• Marv Owen, 3B
• Hank Steinbacher, RF
• Gee Walker, LF
• Luke Appling, SS
• Mike Kreevich, CF
• Joe Kuhel, 1B
• Eric McNair, 2B
• Ken Silvestri, C
• Johnny Rigney, P

Roster

1939 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers 19 Harry Boyles 26 Clint Brown 18 Bill Dietrich 48 Jess Dobernic 14 Vallie Eaves 45 Vic Frazier 17 Art Herring 24 Jack Knott 27 Thornton Lee 16 Ted Lyons 34 Johnny Marcum 29 Johnny Rigney  6 Eddie Smith 34 John Whitehead		Catchers 35 Tony Rensa 36 Norm Schlueter 14 Ken Silvestri 15 Merv Shea Infielders  4 Luke Appling 28 Ollie Bejma  5 Jimmy Dykes 37 Johnny Gerlach 37 Jackie Hayes  2 Bob Kennedy  3 Joe Kuhel 47 Eric McNair  2 Marv Owen		Outfielders  8 Mike Kreevich  9 Rip Radcliff 12 Larry Rosenthal 46 Hank Steinbacher  7 Gee Walker Other batters  6 Tommy Thompson		Manager  5 Jimmy Dykes Coaches 33 Jimmy Austin 38 Muddy Ruel 25 Monty Stratton 22 Bill Webb

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

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Luke Appling, SS	148	516	82	162	16	6	0	56	105	37	.314	16
Ollie Bejma, 2B	90	307	52	77	9	3	8	44	36	27	.251	1
Jimmy Dykes, 3B	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Johnny Gerlach, 3B	3	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	0
Jackie Hayes, 2B	72	269	34	67	12	3	0	23	27	10	.249	0
Bob Kennedy, 3B	3	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.250	0
Mike Kreevich, CF, 3B	145	541	85	175	30	8	5	77	59	40	.323	23
Joe Kuhel, 1B	139	546	107	164	24	9	15	56	64	51	.300	18
Eric McNair, 3B, 2B, SS	129	479	62	155	18	5	7	82	38	41	.324	17
Marv Owen, 3B	58	194	22	46	9	0	0	15	16	15	.237	4
Rip Radcliff, RF, 1B, LF	113	397	49	105	25	2	2	53	26	21	.264	6
Tony Rensa, C	14	25	3	5	0	0	0	2	1	2	.200	0
Larry Rosenthal, RF, CF	107	324	50	86	21	5	10	51	53	46	.265	6
Norm Schlueter, C	34	56	5	13	2	1	0	8	1	11	.232	2
Ken Silvestri, C	22	75	6	13	3	0	2	5	6	13	.173	0
Hank Steinbacher, RF	71	111	16	19	2	1	1	15	21	8	.171	0
Tommy Thompson, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	0
Mike Tresh, C	119	352	49	91	5	2	0	38	64	30	.259	3
Gee Walker, LF	149	598	95	174	30	11	13	111	28	43	.291	17

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	SB
Harry Boyles, P	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Clint Brown, P	61	19	0	4	0	0	0	3	4	3	.211	0
Bill Dietrich, P	25	37	5	8	3	0	1	2	4	12	.216	0
Jess Dobernic, P	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0
Vallie Eaves, P	2	6	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	.333	0
Vic Frazier, P	10	7	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.286	0
Art Herring, P	7	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	0
Jack Knott, P	25	53	3	8	0	0	0	1	0	18	.151	0
Thornton Lee, P	33	91	8	15	3	0	0	4	4	18	.165	0
Ted Lyons, P	21	61	5	18	3	0	0	8	5	7	.295	0
Johnny Marcum, P	38	57	7	16	0	0	0	12	5	1	.281	0
Johnny Rigney, P	35	80	4	16	4	0	0	7	2	18	.200	0
Eddie Smith, P	29	52	5	6	1	0	0	3	9	15	.115	0
John Whitehead, P	7	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	.000	0
Team Totals	155	5279	755	1451	220	56	64	679	579	502	.275	113

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

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K
Harry Boyles	0	0	10.80	2	0	0	3.1	4	4	4	0	6	1
Clint Brown	11	10	3.88	61	0	18	118.1	127	58	51	8	27	41
Bill Dietrich	7	8	5.22	25	19	0	127.2	134	81	74	15	56	43
Jess Dobernic	0	1	13.50	4	0	0	3.1	3	6	5	0	6	1
Vallie Eaves	0	1	4.63	2	1	0	11.2	11	7	6	1	8	5
Vic Frazier	0	1	10.27	10	1	0	23.2	45	27	27	0	11	7
Art Herring	0	0	5.65	7	0	0	14.1	13	9	9	1	5	8
Jack Knott	11	6	4.15	25	23	0	149.2	157	71	69	13	41	56
Thornton Lee	15	11	4.21	33	29	3	235.0	260	121	110	15	70	81
Ted Lyons	14	6	2.76	21	21	0	172.2	162	71	53	7	26	65
Johnny Marcum	3	3	6.00	19	6	0	90.0	125	66	60	14	19	32
Johnny Rigney	15	8	3.70	35	29	0	218.2	208	103	90	10	84	119
Eddie Smith	9	11	3.67	29	22	0	176.2	161	83	72	11	90	67
John Whitehead	0	3	8.16	7	4	0	32.0	60	30	29	4	5	9
Team Totals	85	69	4.31	155	155	21	1377.0	1470	737	659	99	454	535

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	St. Paul Saints	American Association	Babe Ganzel
A1	Shreveport Sports	Texas League	Homer Peel
B	Anniston Rams	Southeastern League	Pee-Wee Wanninger
C	Longview Cannibals/White Sox	East Texas League	John Fitzpatrick
C	Greenville Lions	Alabama–Florida League	Paul Kardow and Howard Taylor
D	Jonesboro White Sox	Northeast Arkansas League	Dutch Welch, Bevo Beavers and Frank Grube
D	Grand Forks Chiefs	Northern League	Johnny Mostil
D	Lubbock Hubbers	West Texas–New Mexico League	Salty Parker

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lubbock^[1]