# 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.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAmerican 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 | 86 | 69 | .555 | 22 | 50‍–‍27 | 36‍–‍42 |
| 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 recordvte 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
## 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

| 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