By Woodrow Carroll
In spite of taking two of three games from the Tampa Bay Rays to conclude a 10-game road trip, the Chicago White Sox returned home badly bruised after losing eight of 10 road games. The Sox fell to 44-52 with the return home to play a 10-game schedule against Miami, Minnesota, and the New York Mets.
At the all-star break, the Sox record was 42-44. The Sox were swept in Oakland, three games, and in Kansas City, four games.
Strange as it may seem, the finest run in White Sox history started with an incredible road trip.
By 1951, the White Sox had gone through three decades of frustration.
Never higher than third place in the American League standings since 1920, not a lot was expected of the 1951 Sox. It turned out the prognosticators were wrong.
Paul Richards was in his first year as White Sox manager in 1951. A nice start by Sox’ standards had the team with a 12-9 record on the way to an 11-game road trip.
Imagine the shock of what followed!
The White Sox won all 11 games on that road trip. When the team returned to Chicago at the conclusion of the road trip, then Chicago mayor Martin Kennelly greeted the team at Union Station.
Three victories over the St. Louis Browns at home made it 14 straight for the Sox before the winning streak ended.
Everything continued upbeat for the White Sox into June, including a 32-11 record and 4.5-game lead in the American League. The White Sox were the talk of baseball.
Reality can be cruel. For the 1951 White Sox reality was in the form of the New York Yankees.
The 1951 Yankees had everything from Joe DiMaggio to Mickey Mantle and were in the third year of five-consecutive World Series championships. The Yankees inserted themselves into the AL race, and, the White Sox started to fall back.
In spite of being blessed with future stars such as Nellie Fox, Billy Pierce, and Minnie Minoso, the Sox lacked staying power in 1951. The team finished in fourth place with an 81-73, 17.5 games behind the first-place Yankees; still, a successful season.
That 1951 White Sox team was the start of a run of 17 consecutive winning seasons. The franchise closed out the decade of the 1950s by winning the American League pennant in 1959. The 1951 White Sox were the first in club history to reach the Million mark in attendance by attracting 1,328,234 to Comiskey Park.