2003 Chicago White Sox

The White Sox won the West Division in 1993 and led the newly formed Central Division in 1994, when a players' strike ended the season prematurely. In 1983 Chicago had ended a 24-year playoff drought by winning the West Division. Leading the team were sluggers Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, Ron Kittle, and Greg Luzinski, and pitchers Rich Dotson and LaMarr Hoyt, who both won 20 games. Before 1983 the team's last postseason appearance came in 1959, with a squad featuring Luis Aparicio, Nellie Fox, and Early Wynn.

Chicago fielded several powerful teams during the early 1900s, winning World Series championships in 1906 and 1917. But the club's success was marred soon afterward by the most infamous affair in major league history—the Black Sox scandal. Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven teammates were banned from baseball for life for their role in throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

The White Stockings were established in 1900 when owner Charles Comiskey moved his minor league team, the St. Paul Saints, to Chicago. In April of that year the team was officially renamed the White Sox and a year later the team became a charter member of the American League. (A team called the Chicago White Stockings, originally formed in 1870, became the National League Chicago Cubs.)

Chicago won four AL pennants and two World Series titles from 1901 through 1919. For their first World Series championship, pitchers Ed Walsh and Doc White led the White Sox over the crosstown rival Cubs in 1906. One of the era's workhorses, Walsh was the last major league pitcher to win at least 40 games in one season. The White Sox moved into the newly opened Comiskey Park in 1910 where several great batsmen led the White Sox to prominence from 1915 to 1919. Hitters Eddie Collins and Joe Jackson powered the team's offense while pitcher Eddie Cicotte and catcher Ray Schalk starred defensively during Chicago's World Series championship in 1917.

Capturing the pennant again in 1919, the White Sox were heavily favored to defeat the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. To the surprise of many, however, the Reds won the best-of-nine series. The White Sox returned to the top of the AL the next year but with eight games left in the season a grand jury convened to investigate rumors that Jackson and several others had agreed to play poorly during the 1919 series in exchange for $100,000. Though found not guilty by the court, several players admitted their involvement with gamblers and the eight Black Sox (as they became derisively known) were banished for life from professional baseball by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Chicago then dropped to the bottom of the league.

Although Hall of Fame members Luke Appling, Ted Lyons, and Al Simmons put together outstanding individual performances, 40 years would pass before Chicago won another AL pennant. During the 1950s Chicago again became a power in the AL. From 1952 through 1958 Chicago regularly placed among the top three teams, but always behind the East Coast powerhouse New York Yankees. In 1959, Manager Al Lopez guided the White Sox to the pennant with a lineup starring shortstop Luis Aparicio, second baseman Nellie Fox, and pitcher Early Wynn. But the team fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

Chicago posted three consecutive second-place finishes from 1963 through 1965 but never topped the AL again until 1983, when the White Sox assembled their best team since the Black Sox scandal. The White Sox won their division on the hitting of outfielders Baines and Kittle, catcher Fisk, and designated hitter Luzinski. Kittle was named AL rookie of the year, pitcher LaMarr Hoyt won the AL Cy Young Award, and Tony LaRussa was named the AL manager of the year. The White Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series.

After second-place finishes in 1990 and 1991, the White Sox won another West Division title in 1993, this time under manager Gene Lamont. First baseman Frank Thomas won his first of two consecutive AL most valuable player awards, and pitcher Jack McDowell earned the AL Cy Young Award, but Chicago again lost out in the AL Championship Series. Major league expansion in 1994 placed Chicago in the new AL Central Division.

The Chicago White Sox had expectations to make the playoffs in 2003, but even with a strong pennant push in the American League Central, the Sox faded during the last few weeks of the season and failed to qualify for the postseason. Realizing that changes needed to be made, management decided to fire former manager Jerry Manuel the day after the season ended. Manuel was replaced by former White Sox shortstop and fan favorite Ozzie Guillen, who brings an optimistic and high energy personality to the club.

Guillen will try to revive the franchise and bring back the glory days that the club experienced when he was on the roster with former greats Carlton Fisk, Jack McDowell, Albert Belle, and Frank Thomas (who is still on the team) by duplicating the franchise's playoff appearances in 1983, 1993, and 2000. The 2004 edition of the White Sox, who will be opening their 14th season at U.S. Cellular Field (which was formerly named Comiskey Park and is located on the south side of Chicago, Illinois), will be led by offensive stalwarts Thomas, Paul Konerko, Magglio Ordonez, and pitcher Esteban Loaiza, who won a team high 21 games and made a run at the Cy Young award.

The Sox will be making a strong push in 2004 to compete with the two-time defending A.L. Central champions Minnesota Twins and will also be trying to finish with a better record than the cross-town rival Chicago Cubs, who will both be making visits to U.S Cellular Field. While in Chicago, don't forget to check out the historic Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs), Soldier Field (home of the Chicago Bears) and the United Center, commonly referred to as the "House that Michael Jordan built (the home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks).