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Both these teams from are the charter members of their respective leagues.
The White Sox started its life in a minor league – the Western League, and were then known as the Sioux City Cornhuskers. After the 1894 season, Charles Comiskey – a former Major league star in the 1880s – bought the Cornhuskers and transferred the team to St. Paul, Minnesota, where it enjoyed success.
The Western League changed it name to American League in 1900, and was still a minor league. The National League, which was a major league, allowed the American League to put a team in the city, and Cominskey’s St. Paul Saints moved to the South Side. It named itself the ‘White Stockings,’ which was what the other teams – the Cubs – was originally known as. The White Stockings won their first American League (AL) pennant the same year. AL, then, was still officially a minor league, and the following year when it became a major league, the team again won AL’s pennant, in 1901.
The Chicago Tribune began shortening the name to ‘White Sox’ in its headlines, and in 1903, the team adopted this name officially.
In 1906, they won their third AL pennant and their first World Series by stunning the Cubs. 1917 was anther great year for them. They won the Al pennant and the World Series again – a feat they never repeated in the same year until 2005, 88 years later. The White Sox were dominating the American League in 1907, and won the pennant by defeating the Boston Red Sox by 9 games. They won the World Series by beating the New York Giants, 4-2 in the best of seven series. They won the Al pennants again in 1919 and in 1959.
The White Sox nearly got hold of Babe Ruth in 1914, when the owner of the Boston Red Sox, Harrry Frazee, put him on the market. The White Sox’s offer of $60,000 was upped by the New York Giants, who landed him. The next years were lean years for the Chicago White Sox. By 1921, the White Sox had dropped down to the seventh place.
Overall, the White Sox have won the following League titles: Two West Division titles; two Central Division titles; one Western League title (as the Sioux City Cornhuskers); six AL pennants (two of them as White Stockings); and three World Series titles.
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