The White Sox were the model of consistency in 1979. They took over sole possession of 5th place on Tuesday April 24th and remained there for the entire season. 2 years earlier this was a 90 win team. Fast forward 2 years later and they struggled to avoid being a 90 loss team. On July 12 the Detroit Tigers won the first game of a scheduled doubleheader against the Southsiders, 4–1, on Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park. Thousands of young fans swarm onto the field between the games, damaging the field and causing mayhem throughout the stadium. The White Sox are forced to forfeit the second game, which many fans thought was a blessing since their team was more than likely going to lose anyway. Disco Demolition day might have been the highlight/lowlight of the season, or at least what happened on the field. Off the field the highlight was hiring of Tony LaRussa to manage the team on August 2nd. LaRussa was no miracle man, but the team responded to him by going 27-27 the rest of the way. Under Don Kessinger they were an unimpressive 46-60. The White Sox got some good individual performances from youngsters Chet Lemon (.318-17-86) and Claudell Washington (.280-13-66). Mike Squires hit .264 as a part time slick fielding first baseman and Jim Morrison hit 14 homers in just 240 at bats. The White Sox young staff was improving and oddly had 4 lefties in the rotation (Kravec, Wortham, Baumgarten & Trout). Late season call-up Rich Dotson (2-0, 3.70) impressed. Ed Farmer (3-7, 2.43, 14 sv) led a bullpen that saw a lot of action. Mik Proly (3-8, 3.87) chipped in 9 saves to compliment Farmer. Ken Krave (15-13, 3.74) was a workhorse with 10 complete games in 35 starts and 250 total innings.
Editor’s Note: Tony and Jim R did a great job furnishing me with photos for the Chisox team project. A few photos required some additional research since they were a bit grainy. I found the Ed Farmer shot on a newspaper website that did a great story on his kidney transplant.
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