The 1994 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 94th season in the major leagues, and their 95th season overall. They led the American League Central, 1 game ahead of the second place Cleveland Indians with a record of 67–46, when the season was cut short by the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike.

Michael Jordan

After retiring from the National Basketball Association, Michael Jordan surprised the sports world by signing a contract with the Chicago White Sox. He was invited to spring training and was sent to the Birmingham Barons on March 31, 1994.^[1] Jordan has stated this decision was made to pursue the dream of his late father, who had always envisioned his son as a Major League Baseball player.^{[citation needed]}

Offseason

October 13, 1993: George Bell was released by the Chicago White Sox.^[2]
December 15, 1993: Julio Franco was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[3]
December 22, 1993: Tim Raines signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[4]
December 28, 1993: Ron Coomer was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Isidro Marquez.^[5]
February 8, 1994: Carlos Lee was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent.^[6]
January 26, 1994: Dane Johnson was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[7]
March 1, 1994: Scott Sanderson was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[8]
March 21, 1994: Paul Assenmacher was traded by the New York Yankees to the Chicago White Sox for Brian Boehringer.^[9]
March 29, 1994: Mike Huff was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays for Domingo Martínez.^[10]

Regular season

July 15, 1994: During a game against the White Sox, Indians outfielder Albert Belle's bat was confiscated by umpire Dave Phillips.^[11] It was the result of White Sox manager Gene Lamont believing that the bat was corked. During the game, Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley removed a ceiling tile in his manager's office and clambered on top of an 18-inch-wide (460 mm) cinder block.^[12] He replaced the corked bat with a conventional bat but the bat had Paul Sorrento's name on it. Belle was suspended for seven games.^[11]

By Friday, August 12, the White Sox had compiled a 67-46 record through 113 games. They were leading the AL Central Division and had scored 633 runs (5.60 per game) and allowed 498 runs (4.41 per game).^[13] Their hitters had also struck out just 568 times: the fewest in the Majors. While their pitchers combined for just 20 saves, they did have 9 shutouts, tying the Oakland Athletics for the most in the Majors, and hit only 17 batters: the fewest among all 28 teams.^[14]

Season standings

v t e AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	67	46	0.593	—	34–19	33–27
Cleveland Indians	66	47	0.584	1	35–16	31–31
Kansas City Royals	64	51	0.557	4	35–24	29–27
Minnesota Twins	53	60	0.469	14	32–27	21–33
Milwaukee Brewers	53	62	0.461	15	24–32	29–30

v t e Division leaders	W	L	Pct.
New York Yankees	70	43	0.619
Chicago White Sox	67	46	0.593
Texas Rangers	52	62	0.456

v t e Wild Card team (Top team qualifies for postseason)	W	L	Pct.	GB
Cleveland Indians	66	47	0.584	—
Baltimore Orioles	63	49	0.562	2½
Kansas City Royals	64	51	0.557	3
Toronto Blue Jays	55	60	0.478	12
Boston Red Sox	54	61	0.470	13
Minnesota Twins	53	60	0.469	13
Detroit Tigers	53	62	0.461	14
Milwaukee Brewers	53	62	0.461	14
Oakland Athletics	51	63	0.447	15½
Seattle Mariners	49	63	0.438	16½
California Angels	47	68	0.409	20

Record vs. opponents

1994 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	—	4–2	8–4	2–4	4–6	3–4	4–1	7–3	4–5	4–6	7–5	4–6	3–3	7–2
Boston	2–4	—	7–5	2–4	3–7	4–2	4–2	5–5	1–8	3–7	9–3	6–6	1–5	7–3
California	4–8	5–7	—	5–5	0–5	3–4	6–4	3–3	3–3	4–8	3–6	2–7	6–4	3–4
Chicago	4–2	4–2	5–5	—	7–5	8–4	3–7	9–3	2–4	4–2	6–3	9–1	4–5	2–3
Cleveland	6–4	7–3	5–0	5–7	—	8–2	1–4	5–2	9–3	0–9	6–0	3–2	5–7	6–4
Detroit	4–3	2–4	4–3	4–8	2–8	—	4–8	6–4	3–3	3–3	5–4	6–3	5–7	5–4
Kansas City	1–4	2–4	4–6	7–3	4–1	8–4	—	5–7	6–4	4–2	7–3	6–4	4–3	6–6
Milwaukee	3–7	5–5	3–3	3–9	2–5	4–6	7–5	—	6–6	2–7	4–1	4–2	3–3	7–3
Minnesota	5–4	8–1	3–3	4–2	3–9	3–3	4–6	6–6	—	4–5	2–5	3–3	4–5	4–8
New York	6–4	7–3	8–4	2–4	9–0	3–3	2–4	7–2	5–4	—	7–5	8–4	3–2	3–4
Oakland	5–7	3–9	6–3	3–6	0–6	4–5	3–7	1–4	5–2	5–7	—	4–3	7–3	5–1
Seattle	4–6	6–6	7–2	1–9	2–3	3–6	4–6	2–4	3–3	4–8	3–4	—	9–1	1–5
Texas	3–3	5–1	4–6	5–4	7–5	7–5	3–4	3–3	5–4	2–3	3–7	1–9	—	4–8
Toronto	2–7	3–7	4–3	3–2	4–6	4–5	6–6	3–7	8–4	4–3	1–5	5–1	8–4	—

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

April 4, 1994: Pete Rose Jr. was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[15]
April 12, 1994: Atlee Hammaker was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.^[16]
April 21, 1994: Steve Sax was released by the Chicago White Sox.^[17]

Roster

1994 Chicago White Sox

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

33 Gene Lamont

Coaches

18 Terry Bevington (first base)
41 Jackie Brown (pitching)
6 Walt Hriniak (hitting)
17 Doug Mansolino (third base)
15 Joe Nossek (bench)
55 Dewey Robinson (bullpen)

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
Joey Cora, 2B	90	312	55	86	13	4	2	30	38	32	.276	8
Julio Franco, 3B,1B	112	433	72	138	19	2	20	98	62	75	.319	8
Craig Grebeck, 2B,SS,3B	35	97	17	30	5	0	0	5	12	5	.309	0
Ozzie Guillén, SS	100	365	46	105	9	5	1	39	14	35	.288	5
Joe Hall, OF	17	28	6	11	3	0	1	5	2	4	.393	0
Dann Howitt, OF,1B	10	14	4	5	3	0	0	0	1	7	.357	0
Darrin Jackson, RF,CF	104	369	43	115	17	3	10	51	27	56	.312	7
Lance Johnson, CF	106	412	56	114	11	14	3	54	26	23	.277	26
Ron Karkovice, C	77	207	33	44	9	1	11	29	36	68	.213	0
Mike LaValliere, C	59	139	6	39	4	0	1	24	20	15	.281	0
Norberto Martin, 2B,SS,3B	45	131	19	36	7	1	1	16	9	16	.275	4
Bob Melvin, C	11	19	3	3	0	0	0	1	1	4	.158	0
Warren Newson, RF,LF	63	102	16	26	5	0	2	7	14	23	.255	1
Dan Pasqua, OF,1B	11	23	2	5	2	0	2	4	0	9	.217	0
Tim Raines, LF	101	384	80	102	15	5	10	52	61	43	.266	13
Frank Thomas, 1B,3B	113	399	106	141	34	1	38	101	109	61	.353	2
Ron Tingley, C	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	0
Robin Ventura, 3B	109	401	57	113	15	1	18	78	61	69	.282	3
Bob Zupcic, OF,3B	32	88	10	18	4	1	1	8	4	16	.205	0
Team Totals	113	3942	633	1133	175	39	121	602	497	568	.287	77

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	12	8	3.45	24	24	0	161.2	147	72	62	16	63	108
Paul Assenmacher	1	2	3.55	44	0	1	33.0	26	13	13	2	15	29
Jason Bere	12	2	3.81	24	24	0	141.2	119	65	60	17	80	127
Dennis Cook	3	1	3.55	38	0	0	33.0	29	17	13	4	17	26
José DeLeón	3	2	3.36	42	0	2	67.0	48	28	25	5	36	67
Alex Fernandez	11	7	3.86	24	24	0	170.1	163	83	73	25	54	122
Atlee Hammaker	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	1.1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Roberto Hernández	4	4	4.91	45	0	14	47.2	44	29	26	5	20	50
Dane Johnson	2	1	6.57	15	0	0	12.1	16	9	9	2	12	7
Kirk McCaskill	1	4	3.42	40	0	3	52.2	51	22	20	6	26	37
Jack McDowell	10	9	3.73	25	25	0	181.0	186	82	75	12	44	127
Scott Ruffcorn	0	2	12.79	2	2	0	6.1	15	11	9	1	5	3
Scott Sanderson	8	4	5.09	18	14	0	92.0	110	57	52	20	13	36
Jeff Schwarz	0	0	6.35	9	0	0	11.1	9	10	8	0	16	14
Team Totals	67	46	3.96	113	113	20	1011.1	964	498	445	115	401	754

Awards and records

Lance Johnson, American League record, Led American League in triples for four consecutive seasons (1991–1994)^[18]
Frank Thomas, Silver Slugger Award

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Nashville Sounds	American Association	Rick Renick
AA	Birmingham Barons	Southern League	Terry Francona
A	Prince William Cannons	Carolina League	Dave Huppert
A	South Bend Silver Hawks	Midwest League	Mike Gellinger
A	Hickory Crawdads	South Atlantic League	Fred Kendall
Rookie	GCL White Sox	Gulf Coast League	Mike Rojas

Notes

References

1994 Chicago White Sox at Baseball Reference

1994 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Detroit New York Toronto
AL Central	Chicago Cleveland Kansas City Milwaukee Minnesota
AL West	California Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Atlanta Florida Montréal New York Philadelphia
NL Central	Chicago Cincinnati Houston Pittsburgh St. Louis
NL West	Colorado 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

Seasons (123)
1900s	1900 · 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021 2022 2023