The 1951

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

season was the team's 51st season in the major leagues, and its 52nd season overall. They finished with a record of 81–73, good for fourth place in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

, 17 games behind the first place

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Offseason

* November 16, 1950:

Joe DeMaestri Joseph Paul DeMaestri (December 9, 1928 – August 26, 2016), nicknamed "Froggy", was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox (1951), St. Louis Browns (1952), Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics (1953� ...

was drafted by the White Sox from the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in the 1950 rule 5 draft. * Prior to 1951 season:

Jay Porter J. W. "Jay" Porter (January 17, 1933 – October 11, 2020) was a Major League Baseball player who appeared with the St. Louis Browns (1952), Detroit Tigers (1955–1957), Cleveland Indians (1958), Washington Senators (1959), and St. Louis Cardin ...

was signed as an amateur free agent by the White Sox.

Regular season

In 1951, the White Sox began using a

bullpen car The bullpen car, also known as a bullpen cart, is used in professional baseball to bring relief pitchers into the game from the bullpen to the pitcher's mound during a pitching change. Bullpen cars were used in Major League Baseball from 1950 thro ...

. * May 1, 1951:

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

hit his first big league home run against the White Sox. The pitcher who gave up the home run was

Randy Gumpert Randall Pennington Gumpert (January 23, 1918 – November 25, 2008) was an American professional baseball pitcher, manager, scout and coach. A right-hander, he appeared in 261 games over ten seasons in Major League Baseball as a member of the ...

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* April 30, 1951:

Gus Zernial Gus Edward Zernial (June 27, 1923 – January 20, 2011) was an American professional baseball player. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball, most notably for the Philadelphia Athletics with whom he remained when they moved west a ...

and

Dave Philley David Earl Philley (May 16, 1920 – March 15, 2012) was an outfielder who played in Major League Baseball. A switch hitter who threw right-handed, he debuted on September 6, and played his final game on August 6, . He was born in Paris, Texas. ...

were traded by the White Sox to the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

as part of a three-team trade.

Minnie Miñoso Orestes "Minnie" Miñoso (, ; born Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta; November 29, 1923 – March 1, 2015), nicknamed "The Cuban Comet" and "Mr. White Sox", was a Cuban professional baseball player. He began his baseball career in the Neg ...

was traded to the White Sox by the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

, and

Paul Lehner Paul Eugene Lehner (July 1, 1920 – December 27, 1967) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a center fielder for five American League teams from 1946 through 1952. A native of Dolomite, Alabama, Lehner batted ...

was traded to the White Sox by the Athletics. The Athletics sent Lou Brissie to the Indians. The Indians sent

Sam Zoldak Samuel Walter Zoldak, nicknamed Sad Sam, (December 8, 1918 – August 25, 1966) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine seasons in the American League with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland I ...

and

Ray Murray Raymond Lee Murray (October 12, 1917 – April 9, 2003) was an American professional baseball player and manager. A catcher, he appeared in 250 games played over all or parts of six seasons for the Cleveland Indians (1948; 1950–1951), Philade ...

to the Athletics. * June 4, 1951:

Hank Majeski Henry Majeski (December 13, 1916 – August 9, 1991) was an American professional baseball player, coach and minor league manager. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball from to for the Boston Bees/ Braves (1939–41), New York ...

was traded by the White Sox to the

for

Kermit Wahl Kermit Emerson Wahl (November 18, 1922 – September 16, 1987) was an American professional baseball player. An infielder, he played all or parts of five seasons in Major League Baseball between and for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Athle ...

.Kermit Wahl
at ''Baseball-Reference'' * June 4, 1951:

and

were traded by the White Sox to the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

for

Don Lenhardt Donald Eugene Lenhardt (October 4, 1922 – July 9, 2014) was an American outfielder, first baseman, third baseman, scout and coach in American Major League Baseball. In his playing days, he stood tall, weighed , and threw and batted right-hande ...

. * July 31, 1951:

Ray Coleman Ray Coleman (15 June 1937, Leicester – 10 September 1996, Shepperton) was a British author and music journalist. Career Coleman was the former editor-in-chief of '' Melody Maker'' known for his biographies of The Beatles. Besides ''Melody ...

was selected off waivers by the White Sox from the

Opening Day lineup

* Chico Carrasquel, SS *

Floyd Baker Floyd Wilson Baker (October 10, 1916 – November 17, 2004) was an American professional baseball third baseman, who played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Browns (1943–1944), Chicago White Sox (1945–1951), Washington Senators ...

, 3B *

Al Zarilla Allen Lee "Zeke" Zarilla (May 1, 1919 – August 28, 1996) was an American professional baseball player, scout and coach. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball from to , most notably as a member of the only St. Louis Browns team to ...

, RF *

, LF * Eddie Robinson, 1B *

Phil Masi Philip Samuel Masi (January 6, 1916March 29, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. From though , he played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Boston Braves (1939–1949), Pittsburgh Pirates (1949) and Chicago White Sox ( ...

, C *

Jim Busby James Franklin Busby (January 8, 1927 – July 8, 1996) was an American center fielder and coach in Major League Baseball who played with the Chicago White Sox (1950–52, 1955), Washington Senators (1952–55), Cleveland Indians (1956–57), Ba ...

, CF *

Nellie Fox Jacob Nelson “Nellie” Fox (December 25, 1927 – December 1, 1975) was an American professional baseball player. Fox was one of the best second basemen of all time, and the third-most difficult hitter to strike out in Major League Baseball (M ...

, 2B *

Billy Pierce Walter William Pierce (April 2, 1927 – July 31, 2015) was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball between 1945 and 1964 who played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox. He was the team's star pitcher in the decade from 19 ...

, 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''

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''

Farm system

Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball''. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997

Notes

References

1951 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference
{{Chicago White Sox Chicago White Sox seasons Chicago White Sox season Chicago White