This Year’s ‘Black Sox’ Were Historically Bad

By Phil Coffin

The Chicago White Sox are wrapping up one of the worst seasons in Major League Baseball history. They were chasing the record for most losses in a season in the majors since the American League began play in 1901. And they will just miss becoming the team with the worst winning percentage in the modern game.

Here’s a look at the 10 worst teams in modern history, starting with the White Sox, how they got so bad and how long it took to recover.

2024 Chicago White Sox 39-121 .244

Like two of the other teams on this list, the White Sox have had recent success. In 2021, they won the American League Central Division in Manager Tony La Russa’s return to the South Side. But as analyst Joe Sheehan wrote in a recent newsletter, “It’s a collapse with few parallels in baseball history, and none where owner intent -- the 1910s A’s, the 2000s Marlins -- wasn’t part of the equation.”

There are plenty of other things to enjoy in Chicago besides the White Sox.Photo byDan Schlossberg

The top players on the roster regressed, top prospects never stepped forward, and the 2024 team chased the 1962 Mets with none of the allure that was attached to the Amazin’s.

The White Sox’s best player was a 31-year-old pitcher, Erick Fedde, who the season before was playing in South Korea. Chicago dealt him to the Cardinals at the trade deadline.

Two seasons before: 81-81, 61-101

Best player (season): Erick Fedde, 31, pitcher, 4.7 bWAR

Best player (career): Mike Clevinger, 33, pitcher, 17.4 bWAR

Unable to meet the challenge of the Federal League, Connie Mack peddled the best players of the Philadelphia Athletics.

1916 Philadelphia Athletics 36-117 .235

Connie Mack, owner and manager of the Athletics, constructed the American League’s first dynasty. From 1909 to 1914, the team averaged 97 victories and won four pennants and three World Series. But in 1914, Philadelphia lost the Series to the Miracle Braves and attendance plummeted nearly 40 percent as the AL and NL faced competition from the Federal League. While attendance sank, salaries spiraled upward, and Mack concluded he could no longer afford his star-laden roster. Gone were four future Hall of Famers (second baseman Eddie Collins, third baseman Home Run Baker and pitchers Eddie Plank and Charlie “Chief” Bender); after a 43-109 record in 1915, only the second losing mark in the team’s 15 seasons, the sell-off continued. What most likely looked like a historically bad .283 team in 1915 became the truly historically bad .235 team.

Two seasons before: 99-53, 43-109

Two seasons after: 55-98, 52-76

Next winning season: 1925 (88-64)

Best player (season): Amos Strunk, 26, center fielder, 4.1 bWAR

Best player (career): Napoleon Lajoie, 40, second baseman, 106.9 bWAR

1935 Boston Braves 38-115 .248

It took only three years for the 1914 Miracle Braves to fall from World Series champions to the second division. That’s where the Braves stayed until 1933, with only a single winning season in that stretch. By the time Boston began winning in ’33, buoyed by the power-hitting rookie outfielder Wally Berger, the team’s finances were in shambles, and by 1935, the team was Berger, Babe Ruth on his last legs and a bunch of nobodies. Berger led the National League in homers with 34 and RBIs with 130 (on a team that was last in the league in runs scored); the rest of the Braves hit only 41 homers and drove in 414 runs. Second on the team in homers was the 40-year-old Ruth, who played 28 games and homered six times as a drawing card who could no longer draw or hit.

Two seasons before: 83-71, 78-73

Two seasons after: 71-83, 79-73

Next winning season: 1937

Best player: Wally Berger, 29, center fielder, 5.8 bWAR

Best player (career): Babe Ruth, 40, 182.6 bWAR

1962 New York Mets 40-120 .250

Laugh at Marv Throneberry, face of the ’62 Mets, but he did have a positive Wins Above Replacement as calculated by Baseball Reference. OK, it was only 0.2, barely better than a replacement player, but it was positive. And the Mets led the league in drawing walks. But of the team’s four players with at least 2.0 WAR, only one was under 30 (25-year-old starter Al Jackson), and the six ex-Dodgers combined for a WAR of 2.5. The first season was hardly a fluke; the Mets lost at least 100 games in five of their first six seasons. But in season No. 8? They won 100 games and the World Series.

Two seasons before: None; expansion team

Two seasons after: 51-111, 53-109

Next winning season: 1969

Best player: Roger Craig, 32, pitcher, and Frank Thomas, 33, left fielder, 2.5 bWAR

Best player (career): Richie Ashburn, 35, center fielder, 64.2

1904 Washington Senators 38-113 .252

The professional teams in Washington had always been bad. Throughout the 19^th century, no matter the league, no matter the name, Washington was a losing franchise. By 1899, the Senators capped a decade of losing in the National League with a 54-98 record, better than only the hapless Cleveland Spiders. The Senators were so lackluster that they were one of four teams contracted out of the league. They were resurrected as a charter member of the American League, and still they lost: 61-72 in their first season, and they just kept getting worse until they reached their 1904 nadir. They earned their record: last in runs scored, last in ERA. Two of their starters went 5-26 (Happy Townsend) and 5-23 (Beany Jacobson), but at least they had excellent nicknames.

Two seasons before: 61-75, 43-94

Two seasons after: 64-87, 55-95

Next winning season: 1912

Best player: Casey Patten, 30, pitcher, 3.7 bWAR

Best player (career): Patsy Donovan, 39, right fielder, 18.4 bWAR

1919 Philadelphia Athletics 36-104 .257

Philadelphia fans have the reputation for being impatient and unpleasant, but consider the disappointment that is in the city’s sporting DNA. Take these Athletics. As noted above, a sterling team was dismantled after 1914 for financial reasons, and the Athletics suffered 10 consecutive losing seasons. Connie Mack built another powerhouse and won two more World Series titles, only to dismantle the team during another financial crisis. After unloading Hall of Fame pieces, the Athletics had losing records every year from 1934 to 1946. It was no better across town, where the Phillies, after following up a 1915 World Series appearance with two more winning records, managed a single winning record in the next 31 seasons (and it wasn’t much of a winning record: 78-76). The losing was not confined to baseball: The Eagles had a losing record in their first 10 seasons in the NFL, beginning in 1933. They couldn’t creep above .500 until 1943, when they combined with the Steelers to become the wartime Steagles, with a 5-4-1 record. No wonder Philly fans can be surly.

Two seasons before: 55-98, 52-76

Two seasons after: 48-106, 50-103

Next winning season: 1925 (88-64)

Best player: Cy Perkins, 22, catcher, 1.4 bWAR

Best player (career): Jimmy Dykes, 22, second baseman, 34.8 bWAR

2003 Detroit Tigers 43-119 .265

Three years after the Tigers chased the Mets’ record for losses, they were in the World Series, an unprecedented turnaround for baseball’s biggest losers. The 2006 Tigers were unlike the 2003 team in almost every way. Of the regular nine-man lineup, only outfielder Craig Monroe remained in ’06. The Tigers had added a couple of stars, outfielder Magglio Ordonez and catcher Ivan Rodriguez, shortstop Carlos Guillen nearly matched his career-best season and DH Marcus Thames had a career year. On the mound, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Cornejo, a combined 12-36 with an ERA above 5.00, had matured. But crucial improvement came from a 41-year-old veteran (Kenny Rogers) and a 23-year-old in his first full season (Justin Verlander). It also helped that the bullpen could hold a lead; the 2003 Tigers had 27 saves in all, while the 2006 team was led by Todd Jones, who saved 37 himself.

Two seasons before: 66-96, 55-106

Two seasons after: 72-90, 71-91

Next winning season: 2006 (lost in World Series)

Best player: Dmitri Young, 29, DH, 3.4 bWAR

Best player (career): Bobby Higginson, 33, right fielder, 23.1 bWAR

1952 Pittsburgh Pirates 42-112 .273

Murry Dickson had more WAR than any other player on the 1952 Pirates, but he was 35 years old and led the league in earned runs and home runs and was beginning a stretch of leading the NL in losses three consecutive years. The pitcher everyone wanted to see instead – no one more than Pirates management, including Branch Rickey – was a skinny 20-year-old who had walked 7.4 batters per inning the year before in Class D: Ron Necciai. “He had all the raw ability any pitcher ever had,” Rickey said. He started the 1952 season back in Class D, where on opening night he struck out 20 batters in a two-hit shutout. In his next start, Necciai struck out 19; three days after that, he fanned 11 of the 12 batters he faced in relief. That set up his May 13 start: 27 strikeouts (his 26^th would have ended the game, but the third strike got away from the catcher and the batter reached base). He got one more start in Class D and whiffed another 24 batters. He received a promotion to Class B and then to Pittsburgh, in August. “He could be the answer to our prayers,” catcher Joe Garagiola said. He wasn’t; Necciai went 1-6 with a 7.08 ERA and walked 32 batters in 54 2/3 innings. He was overworked and underweight, thanks to ulcers, which only got worse after he was drafted into the Army. After a medical discharge, he was ready for a comeback, injured his shoulder and retired at age 23 in 1955, by which time the Pirates had improved only to a 60-win team. But by then the Pirates had found an answer to their prayers: a 20-year-old rookie outfielder named Roberto Clemente.

Two seasons before: 57-96, 64-90

Two seasons after: 50-104, 53-101

Next winning season: 1958

Best player: Murry Dickson, 35, pitcher, 5.2 bWAR

Best player (career): Ralph Kiner, 29, left fielder, 48.0 bWAR

1909 Washington Nationals 42-110 .276

By 1909, the team had become the Nationals, but one thing hadn’t changed: They still couldn’t win. Two years earlier, however, the Nationals had found a hard-throwing kid who had grown up on a Kansas farm and in the California oil fields: Walter Johnson. At age 21 he was not yet Walter Johnson – he went 13-25 with an ERA not a whole lot above league average – but the next year he was. Washington did not make such fortuitous player moves often enough, though; they let go of a 27-year-old part-time outfielder who had by then washed out with three AL teams. In his 30s, Gavvy Cravath went on to become the NL’s pre-eminent power hitter (aided, it must be said, by the forgiving dimensions of the Baker Bowl).

Two seasons before: 49-102, 67-85

Two seasons after: 66-85, 64-90

Next winning season: 1912

Best player: Walter Johnson, 21, pitcher, 3.8 bWAR

Best player (career): Johnson, 166.9 bWAR

1942 Philadelphia Phillies 42-109 .278

The Phillies were a quarter-century into their pit of losing seasons after this nightmare. They earned ignominy: The Phillies were last in just about every offensive and pitching category. The team’s owner, no surprise, wanted to sell, but he couldn’t find a buyer, so the National League took over the franchise. Years later, Bill Veeck said he wanted to buy that team and stock it with Negro league players – Jackie Robinson’s signing was still several years away – so this would have been a groundbreaking effort. Veeck said the commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, squashed the sale. But there is scant evidence that a sale to Veeck was ever contemplated. No Veeck, no integration – and for the Phillies, no quick path to winning. They didn’t break .500 until 1949. (And they didn’t integrate until 1957.)

Two seasons before: 45-106, 50-103

Two seasons after: 64-90, 61-92

Next winning season: 1949

Best player: Tommy Hughes, 22, pitcher, 3.3 bWAR

Best player (career): Chuck Klein, 37, pinch-hitter, 46.6 bWAR

1899 Cleveland Spiders 20-134 .130

What’s the difference between 1899 baseball and 1901 baseball that makes 1901 “modern”? In 1899, there was one major league, with 12 teams, some of which had owners – frequently called magnates by the press – that controlled two teams. By 1901, there were two major leagues and no syndicate ownership. Still, the 1899 Spiders are memorable for the worst season in major league history. The 1898 Spiders were a respectable 81-68, while the ’98 St. Louis Browns were 39-111. Two teams, same owners, who concluded that stacking the St. Louis franchise was the better play, so the Spiders were decimated. (For example, a midcareer Cy Young was “assigned” to St. Louis. So were six of the eight position players.) The Spiders, predictably enough, started off poorly, at 3-9, and then they became pathetic: 11 straight losses. The team’s longest winning streak was two games, on May 20 and 21, in a heady stretch in which it won four of six games. But by mid-June, the Spiders had added a 13-game losing streak. In the first game of a home doubleheader on July 1, the Spiders beat Boston, 10-9, to “improve” to 12-48 – a .200 percentage. They lost the second game, however, and then had to finish the season on the road because the rest of the league was frustrated that their cut of the Spiders’ paltry home attendance didn’t cover their costs. What followed was a 93-game road trip and an 8-85 record. Cleveland won only one of its final 40 games, sandwiching a 5-4 victory in 10 innings over Washington between losing streaks of 24 and 16 games. (The 24-game skid began with a loss that a newspaper account attributed to “stupid playing in the seventh.” The Washington Evening Star called the Cleveland team the Wanderers.) That didn’t just finish the season, it finished the Spiders; they were contracted out of existence. But they have persisted in baseball history.

Two seasons before: 69-62, 81-68

Two seasons after: None

Next winning season: None

Best players: Ossie Schrecongost, 24, catcher, and Charlie Zimmer, 38, catcher, 0.9 bWAR

Best player (career): Lave Cross, 33, third baseman, 46.5 bWAR (traded to St. Louis after 38 games)

Phil Coffin is the newest member of IBWAA. A longtime editor at The New York Times, he is the author of When Baseball Was Still Topps: Portraits of the Game in 1959, Card by Card and A Baseball Book of Days: Thirty-One Moments That Transformed the Game, due out later this year. This timely and well-researched historical piece is used this week in place of the usual Dan Schlossberg column.