Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field
The South Side of Chicago is home to one of the premiere teams in the American League Central. The White Sox play at Guaranteed Rate Field, which first opened as Comiskey Park in 1991, and currently seats 40,615. The White Sox have won three World Series titles (in 1906, 1917 and 2005) in addition to six American League pennants, four AL Central titles, and two AL West titles. Pedro Grifol has been the manager of the White Sox since 2022.
Chicago White Sox History
The Chicago White Stockings were one of the original eight teams that formed the American League in 1901, winning the first AL pennant with an 83-53 record. In 1906, the "Hitless Wonders" had a collective batting average of .220, but went on to upset the 116-win Cubs in the first crosstown World Series, four games to two. The infamous "Black Sox" scandal, in which eight players (including stars Shoeless Joe Jackson and Eddie Cicotte) were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, led to the installation of Kenesaw Mountain Landis as the first Commissioner of Baseball. The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game took place at the original Comiskey Park in 1933, and the game was held there again in 1950 and 1983.
Bill Veeck's ownership from 1959 to 1961 and from 1976 to 1981 gave the White Sox such innovations as the exploding scoreboard, Bermuda shorts and "Disco Demolition Night." He also gave the team stability after years of threats to move the team elsewhere. In 1979, Veeck hired 34-year-old Tony La Russa, who would lead the Sox to their first AL West title in 1983. The team's longtime home of Comiskey Park closed in 1990, beginning a decade of success led by "The Big Hurt" Frank Thomas. In 2005, the White Sox swept the Houston Astros for their first World Series title in 88 years, behind manager Ozzie Guillén and such players as Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle and Orlando Hernández. August 2020 marked a special occasion, with the White Sox hosting a "home" game against the New York Yankees in Dyersville, Iowa, at a temporary stadium built where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed.
