Books and articles about Ted Lyons

Lyons never pitched in the minor leagues and never pitched in a World Series, but 21 seasons of yeoman work for the seldom-contending White Sox earned his 1955 election by the BBWAA to the Hall of Fame. He attended Baylor University with plans for a law career, but his college pitching made him a sought-after prospect. Upon graduation in 1923, he turned down an offer from the A's to sign with Chicago for $300 a month and a $1,000 bonus. He joined the team in St. Louis on July 2 and relieved in the first ML game he ever saw, retiring the three Browns he faced.

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By the next season he was a regular starter, and in 1925 he led the AL in victories (21) for a fifth-place team. He repeated as AL win leader in '27 and won 22 in 1930. In 1925-30, he averaged nearly 19 wins a season, although the White Sox never finished in the first division. Late in 1925, in a game that Chicago uncharacteristically won 17-0, he held the Senators to no hits for 8-2/3 innings. On August 21, 1926 he no-hit the Red Sox, winning 6-0.

Then, in 1931, he injured his arm and lost his fastball. His manager, Donie Bush, pronounced his arm "dead." But Lyons developed a knuckleball and was soon pitching effectively again. In 1936, he helped pitch the club to its first finish in the AL first division (third) since he had joined the team 14 years earlier.

His most important weapon was excellent control. Never a strikeout pitcher, he walked only 1,121 batters in 4,161 innings pitched over his career, and at one point in 1939 he hurled 42 consecutive innings without issuing a base on balls.

In 1939 White Sox Manager Jimmie Dykes began pitching him once a week, always on Sunday, to save his arm and to take advantage of Lyons's tremendous popularity to draw large crowds. The Sunday-only pattern continued through 1942, with Lyons's .634 winning percentage (52-30) the best for any four-year section of his career. In 1942 he led the AL in ERA (2.10) while completing all 20 of his starts and winning 14.

In the fall of '42, the 41-year-old lifelong bachelor joined the U.S. Marines, spending part of his three-year hitch in combat. In 1946 he returned to the White Sox and pitched five more complete games, winning only one, his 260th. Thirty games into the season he replaced Dykes as White Sox manager. His managerial record through 1948 was 185-245, with the main criticism being that he was too easy-going to enforce discipline. He later coached and scouted before retiring in 1966 to help his sister JO x x manage a Louisiana rice plantation. (RL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » October 6, 1923: Against the Indians, Chicago rookie Ted Lyons (2–1) picks up his first two wins in the majors, both in relief. Lyons tosses four 2/3 inning in the opener and three innings in the nitecap as the White Sox sweep, 6–3 and 7–6. They're his only wins this year. » September 19, 1925: In the 2nd game of a twinbill, the White Sox take a 15–0 lead against Washington after five innings, but Chicago P Ted Lyons will have to pitch to 18 different batters as Senators manager Bucky Harris juggles his lineup and sends in pinch hitters. With a no-hitter going, Lyons continues to bear down. Finally, with two out in the 9th, Washington's Bobby Veach gets a base hit to break the no-hitter. The final is 17-0 for Lyons with Tom Zachary taking the loss. Washington outfielder Sam Rice's streak of nine hits in a row is stopped, but he will end the season with 182 singles, an American League record until 1980. Washington takes the opener, 3–2, behind Dutch Ruether. » August 21, 1926: It takes Ted Lyons just 67 minutes to no-hit the Red Sox 6-0 for Chicago. » May 7, 1927: At Comiskey Park, Lou Gehrig christens the new RF pavilion by parking a 9th inning grand slam there, off Ted Lyons. It's the 1st homer in the remodeled park. The Yankees coast to an 8–0 win behind Herb Pennock. » June 15, 1927: At Philadelphia, Ted Lyons overcomes a 1st inning grand slam by Al Simmons to beat the A's, 6–4. The Chicago ace wins his 12th, tops in the American League, and his 9th straight. Lyons hits a two run triple in the 8th to break a 4–4 tie. » June 19, 1927: Cleveland's Joe Shaute pitches a 4-hit, 3–2 win over the White Sox to snap Ted Lyons 9-game win streak. Lyons has two hits and a run in the loss. » June 23, 1927: With the help of a 3rd inning triple play, the Tigers down the White Sox, 6–5, in 11 innings. Ted Lyons loses again, to reliever Earl Whitehill. » September 9, 1928: Chicago's Alex Metzler breaks up a pitching duel Ted Lyons and Willis Hudlin by cracking an 8th inning pinch homer off tie Cleveland, 1–1. The Sox get one more, then explode for eight runs in the 9th inning to coast, 10–1. This is Metzler's 3rd and last roundtripper of the year and he will tie Bill Barrett for the team lead. His 55 RBIs will be 2nd on the Sox. » May 19, 1929: In the 4th inning at Detroit, fleet White Sox CF Johnny Mostil, 2-time American League SB leader, breaks his right leg tripping over home on the uncontested front end of a double steal. The injury ends his ML playing days at the age of 33. Mostil missed most of the 1927 season following a suicide attempt in spring training in Shreveport. Ted Lyons wins for the Sox, 10–3, making two hits and scoring twice. » May 24, 1929: Chicago's Ted Lyons and Detroit's George Uhle go 21 innings before the Tigers get a run to win 6–5 in the longest game—3 hours and 31 minutes—ever seen to date at Comiskey Park. Uhle is the winner, tossing 20 innings, with Vic Sorrell pitching the bottom of the 21st. Lyons, the loser, goes the distance and gives up 24 hits. Charlie Gehringer drives in Roy Johnson with a sac fly for the final run. No pitcher has matched either Lyons' or Uhle's marathon effort since. Les Mueller, in 1945, will come the closest. » September 6, 1930: In the first game of a doubleheader, Ted Lyons of Chicago beats Wes Ferrell of Cleveland, ending Ferrell's winning streak at 13. Only two bases on balls are issued in the doubleheader. » April 13, 1933: Browns OF Sammy West goes 6-for-6 in an 11-inning victory over the White Sox. He has 5 singles and a double, all off Ted Lyons. » May 18, 1934: At Comiskey Park, Jimmie Foxx tees off against Ted Lyons and hits the first home run to ever land in the CF bleachers. Hank Greenberg will match Double X in 1938, then no one will reach the bleachers until Alex Johnston in 1970. Chicago still wins, 5–4. » June 23, 1935: At Chicago, the White and Red Sox divide a pair, the Pale Hose winning the opener, 4–2, then losing 8–2. Ted Lyons takes the opener, beating Wes Ferrell, then Boston hands Johnny Whitehead his fifth straight defeat. Whitehead had started his major league career with eight straight wins. » July 28, 1935: Ted Lyons ties a major-league record with two doubles in the same inning while beating the Browns 14-6. » July 31, 1936: Behind Lefty Grove and Jimmy Foxx, the visiting Red Sox top the White Sox, 7–3. Grove wins his 13th on seven hits, while Double X bangs his 30th homer, a triple and double. Boston sub Moe Berg adds a triple, double, and single off Ted Lyons. » May 22, 1938: Chicago P Ted Lyons tops the host Senators, 9–2, for his 200th win. » June 18, 1938: White Sox P Ted Lyons makes his first error since 1934. The streak covers 84 games, 32 putouts and 140 assists. He also loses to Boston, 4–3. » May 11, 1939: Ted Lyons hurls the White Sox to a 3–2 win over Boston, handing rookie Woodrow Rich his first loss. Chicago makes just four hits. Jimmie Foxx hits his 5th homer, a solo in the 9th, for Boston. » June 2, 1940: The Red and White Sox split a doubleheader in Boston. Ted Lyons wins the opener, 6–0, for his 225th career victory. It is his 4th win this season. The Red Sox come back in the nitecap, 10–8, when Jimmie Foxx cracks his 13th homer of the year in the 9th inning into the LF screen with Ted Williams on base. Boston stays two games ahead of Cleveland, which split today with the A's. » June 21, 1942: Ted Lyons wins his 250th career game, 6-5 over the Red Sox. A week later he will beat New York's Red Ruffing to match the Yankee hurler's 251 career wins. The White Sox veteran will finish the season with 20 complete games in 20 starts, lead the AL with a 2.10 ERA, then enter the Marine Corps at age 42. » August 23, 1942: Seven of 16 games played today are shutouts. A near-miss is by White Sox veteran Ted Lyons. Taking a regular Sunday start, he wins his 256th career game, a 3-hitter 3–1 complete game victory over Cleveland. » May 19, 1946: The oldest star to go into the military was the White Sox P Ted Lyons, who finished each of the 20 games he started in 1942. Lyons continues to pitch on the first five Sundays of the 1946 season. Although the 46-year-old former Marine has an ERA of 2.32, he loses three of his four starts including today's opener to Washington, 4–3. The Nats Johnny Niggeling beats Ed Lopat in the nitecap, 7–1, as Mickey Vernon cycles for the Nationals. » May 24, 1946: Ted Lyons, 45 years old, gives up the mound to replace Jimmie Dykes as Chicago White Sox skipper. He is 1-4 but has an ERA of 2.32. The last 28 games he pitched, dating back to 1941, were complete. » July 16, 1948: There are three managerial changes today. Ben Chapman is fired by the Phillies (though owner Carpenter insists he was "not fired" saying "I'd like to make it clear that there is a difference between not firing a man and concluding business with him.") and Dusty Cooke takes over on an interim basis. Eddie Sawyer, with no ML experience as player or manager, will get the job after Cooke goes 8–6. But the big news is from New York. The Giants remove Mel Ott and replace him with Leo Durocher, who obtains his release from Brooklyn. The Dodgers bring back mild-mannered Burt Shotton who replaced Durocher once before. In a newspaper poll over the winter, an overwhelming majority voted for the gentlemanly Shotton to replace The Lip. The changes today portend those at the end of the season: Bucky Harris of the Yankees, Ted Lyons of the White Sox, and Steve O'Neill of the Tigers will be released. » January 21, 1953: The Hall of Fame passes over Joe DiMaggio in his first year of eligibility and elects P Dizzy Dean and OF Al Simmons to Cooperstown. Dean gathers 209 votes while Simmons' total of 199 is one more than needed. Also joining DiMag, who finished 8th in the voting, are in order Bill Terry, Bill Dickey, Rabbit Maranville, Dazzy Vance, Ted Lyons, Chief Bender (9th) and Gabby Hartnett (10th). All will eventually make it.