Saturday, January 11, 2014

1978 Topps Baseball #66 - Chicago White Sox


  • After a good year in 1977 good things were expected of the Chicago White Sox in 1978. Unfortunately several of the "South Side Hit Men" like Oscar Gamble and Richie Zisk left the team and their replacements didn't hit as well. The White Sox went from 90 game winners to 90 game losers. Manager Bob Lemon went from AL Manager of the Year in 1977 to being replaced by Larry Doby on June 30. The team went from being 4th in batting average and 2nd in home runs to 7th in batting average and 8th in home runs.
  • Team Record: 71-90, .441, 5th in AL West, 20.5 games behind Kansas City
  • Managers(s):
    • Bob Lemon 34-40
    • Larry Doby 37-50
  • Attendance: 1,491,100 (8th in AL)
  • Team Batting: .264 (7th in AL)
  • Team Home Runs: 106 (8th in AL)
  • Team Stolen Bases: 83 (10th in AL)
  • Team ERA: 4.21 (12th in AL)
  • Team Fielding: .977 (10th in AL)
  • AL All Stars: Chet Lemon (OF)
  • Award Winners: none
  • League Leaders: none 
  • Batting Leader: Chet Lemon (.300)
  • HR Leader: Eric Soderholm (20)
  • RBI Leader: Lamar Johnson (72)
  • Stolen Base Leader: Bob Molinaro (22)
  • Victory Leader: Steve Stone (12)
  • Losses Leader: Ken Kravec (16)
  • Saves Leader: Lerrin LaGrow (16)
  • Best ERA (starters): Ken Kravec (4.08)
  • Best ERA (relievers): Jim Willoughby (3.86), Mike Proly (2.74). Proly had the better ERA but he made some starts along with his relief appearances.
  • Players who could have had 1978 White Sox cards (over 100 AB for position players, over 40 innings pitched for pitchers):
    • Claudell Washington - OF - (pictured with Oakland) .264, 6 HR, 31 RBI in 86 games
    • Bob Molinaro - UT - (rookie card 1979) .262, 6 HR, 27 RBI in 105 games
    • Greg Pryor - IF - (rookie card 1979) .261, 2 HR, 15 RBI in 82 games
    • Thad Bosley - OF - (pictured with California) .269, 2 HR, 13 RBI in 66 games
    • Mike Squires - 1B - (rooke card 1979) .280, 0 HR, 19 RBI in 46 games
    • Mike Colbern - C - (rookie card 1979) .270, 2 HR, 20 RBI in 48 games
    • Bobby Bonds (pictured with California) had 90 at bats (.278, 2 HR, 8 RBI) for the White Sox at the beginning of the 1978 season before being traded to the Texas Rangers
    • Jim Willoughby (pictured with Boston) 1-6, 13 saves, 3.86 ERA in 59 games 
    • Rich Hinton (no card) 2-6, 1 save, 4.02 ERA in 29 games (4 starts)
    • Mike Proly (rookie card 1979) 5-2, 1 save, 2.74 ERA in 14 games (6 starts)
    • Rich Wortham (rookie card 1980) 3-2, 3.05 ERA in 8 starts
    • Pablo Torrealba (pictured with Oakland) 2-4, 1 save, 4.71 ERA in 25 games (3 starts)
    • Jack Kucek (no 1978 card) 2-3, 1 save, 3.29 ERA in 10 games (5 starts)


1 comment:

  1. And Larry Doby thus became not only the second black player in the majors, but also the second black manager in the majors.

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