The 1991 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 92nd season. They finished with a record of 87–75, good enough for second place in the American League West, 8 games behind of the first place Minnesota Twins, as the club opened the new Comiskey Park on April 18.

Offseason

November 30, 1990: Jerry Willard was released by the White Sox.^[1]
December 3, 1990: Buddy Groom was drafted from the White Sox by the Detroit Tigers in the 1990 minor league draft.^[2]
December 4, 1990: Shawn Hillegas and Eric King were traded by the White Sox to the Cleveland Indians for Cory Snyder and Lindsay Foster (minors).^[3]
December 12, 1990: Charlie Hough was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[4]
December 23, 1990: Iván Calderón and Barry Jones were traded by the White Sox to the Montreal Expos for Tim Raines, Jeff Carter and a player to be named later. The Expos completed the deal by sending Mario Brito (minors) to the White Sox on February 15.^[5]
March 18, 1991: Ron Coomer was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[6]
March 31, 1991: Joe Borowski was traded by the White Sox to the Baltimore Orioles for Pete Rose Jr.^[7]

Regular season

Frank Thomas led the Major Leagues in on-base percentage with .457. He became the 38th player in history to reach base at least 300 times in one season.

New Comiskey Park

The White Sox started the season at new Comiskey Park. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 80 years at Comiskey Park. The new park was completed at a cost of US$167 million.
The stadium was the first new sports venue built in Chicago since 1929, when Chicago Stadium was built. It was also the first baseball-only park since Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) opened in 1973, and the last built before the recent wave of new "retro-classic" stadiums. However, a few design features from the old park were retained. Most notable among them is the "exploding scoreboard", which is a replica of the one installed by Bill Veeck at the old park in 1960.
Keeping up with tradition, after a White Sox player hits a home run, and eventually, at the beginning of all games, as well as after a White Sox victory, the scoreboard lights up in color and fireworks explode in the sky. The ballpark, as well as its entrance has several exterior arched windows. The Sox Shower, located in left-center field, is a place where fans can cool off during hot gamedays.
The first game at new Comiskey was on April 18, 1991, against the Detroit Tigers. Despite starting the season on the road with a 6-1 record, the White Sox lost the game by a score of 16-0.

First Game at New Comiskey

Scorecard

April 18, New Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit	0	0	6	10	0	0	0	0	0	16	19	0
Chicago	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	1
W: Frank Tanana (1-1) L: Jack McDowell (2-1)
HRs: Cecil Fielder (1), Rob Deer 2 (1, 2), Tony Phillips (2), Umpires: HP–Steve Palermo, 1B–Mike Reilly, 2B–Larry Young, 3B–Rich Garcia. Time 3:11. Attendance 42,191.

Batting

Detroit Tigers	AB	R	H	RBI	Chicago White Sox	AB	H
Phillips, dh,ss	6	2	4	3	Raines, dh	4	1
Trammell, ss	5	3	4	2	Johnson, cf	4	1
Tanana, p	1	0	0	0	Ventura, 3b	4	2
Whitaker, 2b	3	2	3	0	Thomas, 1b	4	1
Bernazard, 2b	2	0	1	0	Fisk, c	2	1
Fielder, 1b	3	2	2	4	Merullo, c	2	0
Bergman, 1b	2	0	0	0	Sosa, rf	4	0
Incaviglia, lf	3	0	0	1	Snyder, lf	3	0
Cuyler, cf	2	0	1	0	Guillen, ss	1	0
Tettleton c,rf	6	2	1	2	Grebeck, ph,ss	2	0
Deer, rf	5	2	2	4	Fletcher 2b	1	0
Allanson, c	0	0	0	0	Cora, ph,2b	2	1
Shelby, cf,lf	5	1	1	0	McDowell, p	0	0
Fryman, 3b	1	2	0	0	Drahman, p	0	0
de los Santos, 3b	2	0	0	0	Patterson, p	0	0
					Radinsky, p	0	0
					Pall, p	0	0
					Thigpen, p	0	0
Totals	46	16	19	16	Totals	33	7

Pitching

Chicago White Sox	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
McDowell, L (2-1)	2.2	5	6	6	3	0
Drahman	0.2	5	5	5	1	0
Patterson	2.2	7	5	4	1	2
Radinsky	1.0	1	0	0	0	2
Pall	1.0	1	0	0	0	2
Thigpen	1.0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	8.0	16	9	9	3	7

Detroit Tigers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Tanana, W (1-1)	9.0	7	0	0	0	3
Totals	9.0	7	0	0	0	3

1991 Opening Day lineup

Season standings

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	95	67	0.586	—	51–30	44–37
Chicago White Sox	87	75	0.537	8	46–35	41–40
Texas Rangers	85	77	0.525	10	46–35	39–42
Oakland Athletics	84	78	0.519	11	47–34	37–44
Seattle Mariners	83	79	0.512	12	45–36	38–43
Kansas City Royals	82	80	0.506	13	40–41	42–39
California Angels	81	81	0.500	14	40–41	41–40

Record vs. opponents

1991 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	6–6	4–8	7–6	5–8	4–8	3–10	4–8	5–8	3–9	4–8	9–3	5–8
Boston	5–8	—	4–8	7–5	9–4	5–8	7–5	7–6	3–9	6–7	8–4	9–3	5–7	9–4
California	6–6	8–4	—	8–5	7–5	5–7	9–4	6–6	8–5	6–6	1–12	6–7	5–8	6–6
Chicago	8–4	5–7	5–8	—	6–6	4–8	7–6	7–5	8–5	8–4	7–6	7–6	8–5	7–5
Cleveland	6–7	4–9	5–7	6–6	—	7–6	4–8	5–8	2–10	6–7	5–7	2–10	4–8	1–12
Detroit	8–5	8–5	7–5	8–4	6–7	—	8–4	4–9	4–8	8–5	4–8	8–4	6–6	5–8
Kansas City	8–4	5–7	4–9	6–7	8–4	4–8	—	9–3	6–7	7–5	6–7	7–6	7–6	5–7
Milwaukee	10–3	6–7	6–6	5–7	8–5	9–4	3–9	—	6–6	6–7	8–4	3–9	7–5	6–7
Minnesota	8–4	9–3	5–8	5–8	10–2	8–4	7–6	6–6	—	10–2	8–5	9–4	6–7	4–8
New York	8–5	7–6	6–6	4–8	7–6	5–8	5–7	7–6	2–10	—	6–6	3–9	5–7	6–7
Oakland	9–3	4–8	12–1	6–7	7–5	8–4	7–6	4–8	5–8	6–6	—	6–7	4–9	6–6
Seattle	8–4	3–9	7–6	6–7	10–2	4–8	6–7	9–3	4–9	9–3	7–6	—	5–8	5–7
Texas	3–9	7–5	8–5	5–8	8–4	6–6	6–7	5–7	7–6	7–5	9–4	8–5	—	6–6
Toronto	8–5	4–9	6–6	5–7	12–1	8–5	7–5	7–6	8–4	7–6	6–6	7–5	6–6	—

Notable transactions

April 3, 1991: Bo Jackson was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[8]
April 12, 1991: Danny Heep was signed as a free agent by the White Sox.^[9]
April 13, 1991: Steve Lyons was released by the White Sox.^[10]
May 18, 1991: Magglio Ordóñez was signed as an amateur free agent by the White Sox.^[11]
July 12, 1991: Mike Huff was selected off waivers by the White Sox from the Cleveland Indians.^[12]
July 14, 1991: Cory Snyder was traded by the White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays for Shawn Jeter and a player to be named later. The Blue Jays completed the deal by sending Steve Wapnick to the White Sox on September 4.^[13]

Roster

1991 Chicago White Sox

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

8 Bo Jackson

Manager

10 Jeff Torborg

Coaches

18 Terry Bevington (Third Base)
46 Sammy Ellis (Pitching)
36 Barry Foote (First Base)
6 Walt Hriniak (Hitting)
53 Dave LaRoche (Bullpen)
15 Joe Nossek (Bench)
? John Stephenson (Bullpen Catcher)

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
Esteban Beltre, SS	8	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.167	1
Joey Cora, 2B	100	228	37	55	2	3	0	18	20	21	.241	18
Carlton Fisk, C	134	460	42	111	25	0	18	74	32	86	.241	1
Scott Fletcher, 2B	90	248	14	51	10	1	1	28	17	26	.206	0
Craig Grebeck, 2B,3B,SS	107	224	37	63	16	3	6	31	38	40	.281	1
Ozzie Guillén, SS	154	524	52	143	20	3	3	49	11	38	.273	21
Mike Huff, OF	51	97	14	26	4	1	1	15	12	18	.268	3
Bo Jackson, DH	23	71	8	16	4	0	3	14	12	25	.225	0
Lance Johnson, CF	159	588	72	161	14	13	0	49	26	58	.274	26
Ron Karkovice, C	75	167	25	41	13	0	5	22	15	42	.246	0
Ron Kittle, 1B	17	47	7	9	0	0	2	7	5	9	.191	0
Rodney McCray, OF	17	7	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.286	1
Matt Merullo, C,1B,DH	80	140	8	32	1	0	5	21	9	18	.229	0
Warren Newson, OF	71	132	20	39	5	0	4	25	28	34	.295	2
Dan Pasqua, 1B,OF,DH	134	417	71	108	22	5	18	66	62	86	.259	0
Tim Raines, LF	155	609	102	163	20	6	5	50	83	68	.268	51
Sammy Sosa, RF,CF	116	316	39	64	10	1	10	33	14	98	.203	13
Cory Snyder, OF,1B	50	117	10	22	4	0	3	11	6	41	.188	0
Frank Thomas, DH,1B	158	559	104	178	31	2	32	109	138	112	.318	1
Robin Ventura, 3B,1B	157	606	92	172	25	1	23	100	80	67	.284	2
Don Wakamatsu, C	18	31	2	7	0	0	0	0	1	6	.226	0
Team Totals	162	5594	758	1464	226	39	139	722	610	896	.262	134

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
Wilson Álvarez	3	2	3.51	10	9	0	56.1	47	26	22	9	29	32
Jeff Carter	0	1	5.25	5	2	0	12.0	8	8	7	1	5	2
Brian Drahman	3	2	3.23	28	0	0	30.2	21	12	11	4	14	18
Tom Drees	0	0	12.27	4	0	0	7.1	10	10	10	4	6	2
Wayne Edwards	0	2	3.86	13	0	0	23.1	22	14	10	2	20	12
Alex Fernandez	9	13	4.51	34	32	0	191.2	186	100	96	16	90	145
Ramón García	4	4	5.40	16	15	0	78.1	79	50	47	13	33	40
Roberto Hernández	1	0	7.80	9	3	0	15.0	18	15	13	1	7	6
Greg Hibbard	11	11	4.31	32	29	0	194.0	196	107	93	23	58	71
Charlie Hough	9	10	4.02	31	29	0	199.1	167	98	89	21	94	107
Jack McDowell	17	10	3.41	35	35	0	253.2	212	97	96	19	84	191
Donn Pall	7	2	2.41	51	0	0	71.0	59	22	19	7	23	40
Ken Patterson	3	0	2.83	43	0	1	63.2	48	22	20	5	36	32
Mélido Pérez	8	7	5.25	49	8	1	135.2	111	49	47	15	52	128
Scott Radinsky	5	5	2.02	67	0	8	71.1	53	18	16	4	25	49
Bobby Thigpen	7	5	3.49	67	0	30	69.2	63	32	27	10	46	47
Steve Wapnick	0	1	1.80	6	0	0	5.0	2	1	1	0	4	1
Team Totals	87	75	3.79	162	162	40	1478.0	1302	681	622	154	626	923

Awards and honors

Frank Thomas – Major League Baseball Leader, On-Base Percentage (.457)

All-Star Game

Jack McDowell, pitcher, reserve
Carlton Fisk, catcher, reserve
Ozzie Guillén, shortstop, reserve

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Vancouver Canadians	Pacific Coast League	Marv Foley and Rick Renick
AA	Birmingham Barons	Southern League	Tony Franklin
A	Sarasota White Sox	Florida State League	Rick Patterson
A	South Bend White Sox	Midwest League	Tommy Thompson
A-Short Season	Utica Blue Sox	New York–Penn League	Mike Gellinger
Rookie	GCL White Sox	Gulf Coast League	Jaime García

References

External links

1991 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

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