The 1980 Major League Baseball season was the Chicago White Sox' 80th in Major League Baseball, and the team's 81st season overall. They finished with a record of 70–90, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 26 games behind the first-place Kansas City Royals.

In 1979 and 1980, Bill Veeck made overtures to Denver interests. An agreement was reached to sell to Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr., who pledged to keep the club in Chicago.^[1] His offer was turned down by the owners. Veeck was forced to sell to a different investment group.^[1]

Offseason

January 29, 1980: Glenn Borgmann was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[2]

Regular season

On October 4, 54-year-old Minnie Miñoso entered a game against the California Angels as a pinch hitter for third baseman Greg Pryor. In doing so, he became the first major leaguer since Nick Altrock to play in five different decades.^[3] He grounded out against Angels pitcher Frank Tanana.^[4]

Season standings

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Kansas City Royals	97	65	0.599	—	49–32	48–33
Oakland Athletics	83	79	0.512	14	46–35	37–44
Minnesota Twins	77	84	0.478	19½	44–36	33–48
Texas Rangers	76	85	0.472	20½	39–41	37–44
Chicago White Sox	70	90	0.438	26	37–42	33–48
California Angels	65	95	0.406	31	30–51	35–44
Seattle Mariners	59	103	0.364	38	36–45	23–58

Record vs. opponents

1980 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	8–5	10–2	6–6	6–7	10–3	6–6	7–6	10–2	7–6	7–5	6–6	6–6	11–2
Boston	5–8	—	9–3	6–4	7–6	8–5	5–7	6–7	6–6	3–10	9–3	7–5	5–7	7–6
California	2–10	3–9	—	3–10	4–6	5–7	5–8	6–6	7–6	2–10	3–10	11–2	11–2	3–9
Chicago	6–6	4–6	10–3	—	5–7	2–10	5–8	5–7	5–8	5–7	6–7	6–7	6–7–2	5–7
Cleveland	7–6	6–7	6–4	7–5	—	3–10	5–7	3–10	9–3	5–8	6–6	8–4	6–6	8–5
Detroit	3–10	5–8	7–5	10–2	10–3	—	2–10	7–6	6–6	5–8	6–6	10–2–1	4–8	9–4
Kansas City	6–6	7–5	8–5	8–5	7–5	10–2	—	6–6	5–8	8–4	6–7	7–6	10–3	9–3
Milwaukee	6–7	7–6	6–6	7–5	10–3	6–7	6–6	—	7–5	5–8	7–5	9–3	5–7	5–8
Minnesota	2–10	6–6	6–7	8–5	3–9	6–6	8–5	5–7	—	4–8	6–7	7–6	9–3	7–5
New York	6–7	10–3	10–2	7–5	8–5	8–5	4–8	8–5	8–4	—	8–4	9–3	7–5	10–3
Oakland	5–7	3–9	10–3	7–6	6–6	6–6	7–6	5–7	7–6	4–8	—	8–5	7–6	8–4
Seattle	6–6	5–7	2–11	7–6	4–8	2–10–1	6–7	3–9	6–7	3–9	5–8	—	4–9	6–6
Texas	6–6	7–5	2–11	7–6–2	6–6	8–4	3–10	7–5	3–9	5–7	6–7	9–4	—	7–5
Toronto	2–11	6–7	9–3	7–5	5–8	4–9	3–9	8–5	5–7	3–10	4–8	6–6	5–7	—

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

June 3, 1980: Future University of Nebraska quarterback Turner Gill was drafted by the White Sox in the second round, 36th pick overall in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft.^[5]
June 12, 1980: Randy Scarbery was traded by the White Sox to the California Angels for Todd Cruz.^[6]
October 3, 1980: Minnie Miñoso was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[7]

Roster

1980 Chicago White Sox

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

9 Minnie Miñoso

Manager

10 Tony La Russa

Coaches

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
Harold Baines, RF	141	491	55	125	23	6	13	49	19	65	.255	2
Alan Bannister, OF,3B	45	130	16	25	6	0	0	9	12	16	.192	5
Kevin Bell, 3B,DH	92	191	16	34	5	2	1	11	29	37	.178	0
Glenn Borgmann, C	32	87	10	19	2	0	2	14	14	9	.218	0
Thad Bosley, OF	70	147	12	33	2	0	2	14	10	27	.224	3
Harry Chappas, SS,DH	26	50	6	8	2	0	0	2	4	10	.160	0
Todd Cruz, SS	90	293	23	68	11	1	2	18	9	54	.232	2
Marv Foley, C	68	137	14	29	5	0	4	15	9	22	.212	0
Lamar Johnson, 1B,DH	147	541	51	150	26	3	13	81	47	53	.277	2
Randy Johnson, DH,LF	12	20	0	4	0	0	0	3	2	4	.200	0
Bruce Kimm, C	100	251	20	61	10	0	1	19	17	26	.243	1
Rusty Kuntz, OF	36	62	5	14	4	0	0	3	5	13	.226	1
Chet Lemon, CF,DH	147	514	76	150	32	6	11	51	71	56	.292	6
Minnie Miñoso, PH	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Bob Molinaro, LF,DH	119	344	48	100	16	4	5	36	26	29	.291	18
Junior Moore, 3B,DH	45	121	9	31	4	1	1	10	7	11	.256	0
Jim Morrison, 2B	162	604	66	171	40	0	15	57	36	74	.283	9
Fran Mullins, 3B	21	62	9	12	4	0	0	3	9	8	.194	0
Wayne Nordhagen, LF,RF,DH	123	415	45	115	22	4	15	59	10	45	.277	0
Ron Pruitt, OF,DH,C,3B	33	70	8	21	2	0	2	11	8	7	.300	0
Greg Pryor, SS,3B,2B	122	338	32	81	18	4	1	29	12	35	.240	2
Ricky Seilheimer, C	21	52	4	11	3	1	1	3	4	15	.212	1
Mike Squires, 1B	131	343	38	97	11	3	2	33	33	24	.283	8
Leo Sutherland, LF,CF	34	89	9	23	3	0	0	5	1	11	.258	4
Claudell Washington, LF,RF,DH	32	90	15	26	4	2	1	12	5	19	.289	4
Team Totals	162	5444	587	1408	255	38	91	547	399	670	.272	68

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
Francisco Barrios	1	1	4.96	3	3	0	16.1	21	9	9	4	8	2
Ross Baumgarten	2	12	3.44	24	23	0	136.0	127	60	52	10	52	66
Britt Burns	15	13	2.84	34	32	0	238.0	213	83	75	17	65	133
Nardi Contreras	0	0	5.93	8	0	0	13.2	18	10	9	1	9	8
Richard Dotson	12	10	4.27	33	32	0	198.0	185	105	94	20	89	109
Ed Farmer	7	9	3.34	64	0	30	99.2	92	37	37	6	67	54
Guy Hoffman	1	0	2.63	23	1	1	37.2	38	12	11	1	19	24
LaMarr Hoyt	9	3	4.57	24	13	0	112.1	123	66	57	8	44	55
Ken Kravec	3	6	6.94	20	15	0	81.2	100	71	63	13	47	37
Mike Proly	5	10	3.07	62	3	8	146.2	136	67	50	7	67	56
Dewey Robinson	1	1	3.09	15	0	0	35.0	26	13	12	2	16	28
Randy Scarbery	1	2	4.08	15	0	2	28.2	24	14	13	1	7	18
Steve Trout	9	16	3.70	32	30	0	199.2	229	102	82	14	54	89
Rich Wortham	4	7	5.97	41	10	1	92.0	102	73	61	4	63	45
Team Totals	70	90	3.92	162	162	42	1435.1	1434	722	625	108	607	724

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Iowa Oaks	American Association	Pete Ward and Sam Ewing
AA	Glens Falls White Sox	Eastern League	Mike Pazik
A	Appleton Foxes	Midwest League	Gordon Lund
Rookie	GCL White Sox	Gulf Coast League	Duane Shaffer

Notes

References

1980 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

1980 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York Toronto
AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Chicago White Sox

Established in 1900
Based in Chicago, Illinois

Franchise

Ballparks

Culture

Lore

Rivalries

Key personnel

Chairman: Jerry Reinsdorf
General Manager: Chris Getz
Special Assistant to the GM: Jim Thome
Manager: Pedro Grifol

World Series
championships (3)

American League
championships (6)

Division championships (6)

West: 1983
1993
Central: 2000
2005
2008
2021

Wild Card berths (1)

2020

Minor league
affiliates

Charlotte Knights (Triple-A)
Birmingham Barons (Double-A)
Winston-Salem Dash (High-A)
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (Single-A)
ACL White Sox (Rookie)
DSL White Sox (Rookie)

Media

Seasons (123)
1900s	1900 · 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023