# 1938 Chicago White Sox season

The 1938 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 38th season in the major leagues and their 39th season overall. They finished with a record of 65–83, good enough for fifth place in the American League, 32 games behind the first place New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* December 2, 1937: Vern Kennedy, Tony Piet, and Dixie Walker were traded by the White Sox to the Detroit Tigers for Mike Tresh, Marv Owen and Gee Walker.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 53 | .651 | — | 55‍–‍22 | 44‍–‍31 |
| Boston Red Sox | 88 | 61 | .591 | 9½ | 52‍–‍23 | 36‍–‍38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 86 | 66 | .566 | 13 | 46‍–‍30 | 40‍–‍36 |
| Detroit Tigers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 16 | 48‍–‍31 | 36‍–‍39 |
| Washington Senators | 75 | 76 | .497 | 23½ | 44‍–‍33 | 31‍–‍43 |
| Chicago White Sox | 65 | 83 | .439 | 32 | 33‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Browns | 55 | 97 | .362 | 44 | 31‍–‍43 | 24‍–‍54 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 99 | .349 | 46 | 28‍–‍47 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1938 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 12–6 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 17–5 | 12–9 |
| Chicago | 6–12 | — | 9–13 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 12–10 | 13–8–1 | 10–11 |
| Cleveland | 10–12 | 13–9 | — | 12–10 | 8–13 | 18–4 | 13–9–1 | 12–9 |
| Detroit | 12–10 | 15–7 | 10–12 | — | 8–14 | 14–8 | 12–10–1 | 13–9 |
| New York | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | 13–8 | 14–8 | — | 16–5–2 | 15–7–1 | 16–6–1 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 10–12 | 4–18 | 8–14 | 5–16–2 | — | 12–9 | 6–16 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 8–13–1 | 9–13–1 | 10–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 9–12 | — | 7–15 |
| Washington | 9–12 | 11–10 | 9–12 | 9–13 | 6–16–1 | 16–6 | 15–7 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

* Jackie Hayes, 2B
* Mike Kreevich, CF
* Gee Walker, RF
* Rip Radcliff, LF
* Joe Kuhel, 1B
* Marv Owen, 3B
* Boze Berger, SS
* Luke Sewell, C
* John Whitehead, P

### Notable transactions

* June 11, 1938: Bill Cox was traded by the White Sox to the St. Louis Browns for Jack Knott.

### 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
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | SB |
| Luke Appling, SS | 81 | 294 | 41 | 89 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 42 | 17 | .303 | 1 |
| Boze Berger, SS,2B,3B | 118 | 470 | 60 | 102 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 43 | 80 | .217 | 4 |
| Merv Connors, 1B | 24 | 62 | 14 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 9 | 17 | .355 | 0 |
| Jimmy Dykes, 2B | 26 | 89 | 9 | 27 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 8 | .303 | 0 |
| Johnny Gerlach, SS | 9 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | .280 | 0 |
| Jackie Hayes, 2B | 62 | 238 | 40 | 78 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 24 | 6 | .328 | 3 |
| Mike Kreevich, CF | 129 | 489 | 73 | 145 | 26 | 12 | 6 | 73 | 55 | 23 | .297 | 13 |
| Joe Kuhel, 1B | 117 | 412 | 67 | 110 | 27 | 4 | 8 | 51 | 72 | 35 | .267 | 9 |
| Jesse Landrum, 2B | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 0 |
| Joe Martin, PR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 |
| George Meyer, 2B | 24 | 81 | 10 | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 17 | .296 | 3 |
| Marv Owen, 3B | 141 | 577 | 84 | 162 | 23 | 6 | 6 | 55 | 45 | 31 | .281 | 6 |
| Rip Radcliff, LF,1B | 129 | 503 | 64 | 166 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 81 | 36 | 17 | .330 | 5 |
| Tony Rensa, C | 59 | 165 | 15 | 41 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 25 | 16 | .248 | 1 |
| Larry Rosenthal, CF | 61 | 105 | 14 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 13 | .286 | 0 |
| Norm Schlueter, C | 35 | 118 | 11 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 15 | .229 | 1 |
| Luke Sewell, C | 65 | 211 | 23 | 45 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 20 | 20 | .213 | 0 |
| Hank Steinbacher, RF, CF | 106 | 399 | 59 | 132 | 23 | 8 | 4 | 61 | 41 | 19 | .331 | 1 |
| Tommy Thompson, 1B | 19 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .111 | 0 |
| Mike Tresh, C | 10 | 28 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | .241 | 0 |
| Gee Walker, RF, LF | 120 | 442 | 69 | 135 | 23 | 6 | 16 | 87 | 38 | 32 | .305 | 9 |
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | SB |
| Harry Boyles, P | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .125 | 0 |
| Clint Brown, P | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 0 |
| Sugar Cain, P | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | 0 |
| Bill Cox, P | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 0 |
| Bill Dietrich, P | 8 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .063 | 0 |
| Gene Ford, P | 4 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .167 | 0 |
| Frank Gabler, P | 18 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | .238 | 0 |
| Jack Knott, P | 20 | 40 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 19 | .125 | 0 |
| Thornton Lee, P | 34 | 97 | 14 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 23 | .258 | 0 |
| Ted Lyons, P | 24 | 72 | 9 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 9 | .194 | 0 |
| Johnny Rigney, P | 38 | 55 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 17 | .145 | 0 |
| Monty Stratton, P | 27 | 79 | 17 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 9 | .266 | 0 |
| John Whitehead, P | 32 | 60 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 15 | .100 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 149 | 5199 | 709 | 1439 | 239 | 55 | 67 | 657 | 515 | 489 | .277 | 56 |

### 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 | 4 | 5.22 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 29.1 | 31 | 27 | 17 | 2 | 25 | 18 |
| Clint Brown | 1 | 3 | 4.61 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 13.2 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| Sugar Cain | 0 | 1 | 4.58 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 19.2 | 26 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 6 |
| Bill Cox | 0 | 2 | 6.94 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 11.2 | 11 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 5 |
| Bill Dietrich | 2 | 4 | 5.44 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 48.0 | 49 | 33 | 29 | 7 | 31 | 11 |
| Gene Ford | 0 | 0 | 10.29 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14.0 | 21 | 16 | 16 | 1 | 12 | 2 |
| Frank Gabler | 1 | 7 | 9.09 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 69.1 | 107 | 74 | 70 | 12 | 34 | 17 |
| George Gick | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jack Knott | 5 | 10 | 4.05 | 20 | 18 | 0 | 131.0 | 135 | 70 | 59 | 8 | 54 | 35 |
| Thornton Lee | 13 | 12 | 3.49 | 33 | 30 | 1 | 245.1 | 252 | 123 | 95 | 12 | 94 | 77 |
| Ted Lyons | 9 | 11 | 3.70 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 194.2 | 238 | 93 | 80 | 13 | 52 | 54 |
| Johnny Rigney | 9 | 9 | 3.56 | 38 | 12 | 1 | 167.0 | 164 | 74 | 66 | 16 | 72 | 84 |
| Monty Stratton | 15 | 9 | 4.01 | 26 | 22 | 2 | 186.1 | 186 | 95 | 83 | 18 | 56 | 82 |
| Bob Uhl | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Whitehead | 10 | 11 | 4.76 | 32 | 24 | 2 | 183.1 | 218 | 108 | 97 | 12 | 80 | 38 |
| Team Totals | 65 | 83 | 4.36 | 149 | 149 | 9 | 1316.1 | 1449 | 752 | 638 | 101 | 550 | 432 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | St. Paul Saints | American Association | Babe Ganzel |
| A1 | Dallas Steers | Texas League | Ray Brubaker and Jim Levey |
| B | Anniston Rams | Southeastern League | Lena Styles and Ray Brubaker |
| C | Monroe White Sox | Cotton States League | Luther Harvel and Doug Taitt |
| C | Longview Cannibals | East Texas League | Harold Funk |
| D | Rayne Rice Birds | Evangeline League | John Fitzpatrick |
| D | Lubbock Hubbers | West Texas–New Mexico League | Hack Miller |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Monroe, Lubbock