1976 Chicago White Sox

 Last season, the White Sox embarrassed themselves in historic fashion when they broke the single season record for losses with 121 defeats. The former record holder was the expansion New York Mets of 1962. Other such terrible teams in baseball history have some sort of excuse for why their team of grown men paid to play baseball were so bad, but the White Sox have no such convenient excuse. They were neither a brand new team nor had they sold off all their best players in preparation of scrapping their franchise (think Cleveland Spiders lore). They just sucked.

Now that the Sox had taken possession of such an infamous distinction, you'd think this would be the singular low point in franchise history. What could possible be worse than losing the most games? Well, this is the White Sox, and there are a few contenders for the title of the lowest point. An easy choice would be the 1919 Black Sox team that threw the World Series for gambling purposes, as are the "Disco Demolition Night" team of 1979. But may I suggest another embarrassing moment that is unique to the White Sox: 1976.

The 1975 White Sox were miserable, and ownership was broke. There was a very real possibility that the franchise would be sold and sent off to Seattle (while the Athletics would take over the AL Chicago market with yet another move of their own from Oakland). Instead, the AL allowed Bill Veeck to return to buy the White Sox and keep them right where they are. Veeck implemented various changes, from changing out the horrible AstroTurf for real grass at Comiskey Park, to changing the uniform colors from red (seriously, in a league with the Red Sox, where did the White Sox get the nerve to wear red?) to navy blue with an old-timey baseball feel. However, that was far from the most notable decision made for the look of the uniform.

On August 8th, the White Sox took to the field for the first game of a double header with something "special" in store. Instead of regular baseball pants like every team in the league wore, the Sox went out wearing shorts. When asked why the shorts, Bill Veeck responded "Why not?" Player reactions varied from amused to comical. A total of three games that season featured the White Sox exposing their legs, and they went 2-1. The season overall couldn't quite match that .667 winning percentage as manager Paul Richards could only work a 64-97 record out of his players, 25.5 games behind the division winning Royals and the worst in the league.

Rich "Goose" Gossage will go on to have a proud Hall of Fame career that included multiple all star nods (including this season), 3 pennants and a World Series championship...but taking the field in shorts with the entire world watching was not quite one of those moments. His 135 Strikeouts made him the only White Sox pitcher to go over 100.

Every regular starter for the Sox had a losing record in 1976. Ken Brett was the only one with 10 Wins, and joined Gossage and Johnson as the ones who would hit 200+IP. Bart Johnson pulled off 3 Shutouts.

The bullpen and other callups in '76. Some featuring that striking shorts look as well. Hamilton and his 10 Saves didn't quite pull of the Closer status in the Bot, but the '76 White Sox didn't have many situations to call Save situations anyway.
In case you're wondering, the most anyone on the 2024 White Sox saved was only 9...

The season wasn't a complete joke for the White Sox. Their best moment this year came when Blue Moon Odom took the mound on July 28 to face his former team in Oakland (his 2nd start since the Sox acquired him), he was dealing like it wasn't the final season of his career. He gave up 0 hits through 5 innings, taking a 2-1 lead into the 6th where after a leadoff walk, Francisco Barrios relieved him. He gave up a couple walks of his own over the next 4 innings but no hits, as the duo combined for a no-hitter.

Orta was the star of a bad offense. Leading the team with 24 Stolen Bases, 72 RBI and just 14 Home Runs.

In addition to having one of the most Chad names of the 70's, Brohamer has the distinction of being the only man in Major League history to hit a Home Run while wearing shorts.

Other regulars. You can see Ralph Garr try his hardest to look good with shorts on, but thankfully the White Sox gave up on the practice after three attempts. Best to keep the "alternate" concept to the uniform to just the jersey style. Garr was the only regular to hit .300.
Jim Spencer also managed to hit 14 Home Runs to tie Orta for the team lead. 

The bench. These guys could challenge the 2024 roster, but not much else.

Minnie Minoso was already an all time great for Chicago. He also hadn't played since 1964. In 1976 he was on the coaching staff, but with the season a lost cause, decided to suit up for publicity reasons for a few games for the hell of it. This wouldn't be the last time he did this, but it would be where he'd get his final career Hit.