Knoxville Sox

Southern League (1972-1979)

Background

The Knoxville Sox were the Class AA farm club of the Chicago White Sox in the Southern League for much of the 1970’s. The ballclub won Southern League crowns in 1974 and 1978.

The Knox Sox are perhaps most noteworthy today for providing the first managerial job for Tony La Russa in 1978.

La Russa stayed just half a season in Knoxville before White Sox owner Bill Veeck promoted him to Chicago’s Major League coaching staff in mid-season 1978. Today he is the 3rd winningest manager in Major League Baseball history.

Most of the core of the Chicago White Sox 1983 American League pennant-winning club came up through Knoxville during the late 1970’s. This included:

• Pitcher Britt Burns (K-Sox ’78-’79)
• Pitcher Richard Dotson (K-Sox ’78-’79)
• 1983 Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt (K-Sox ’77 & ’79)
• Future Hall-of-Famer Harold Baines (K-Sox ’78)
• 1983 American League Rookie-of-the-Year Ron Kittle (K-Sox ’79)

1980: White Sox Out, Blue Jays In

In September 1979, Knox Sox owner Neal Ridley announced that the team would become an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays for the 1980 season. The team changed its name to the Knoxville Blue Jays shortly thereafter.

Voices

“When I got to the White Sox, [Farm Director] Paul Richards said ‘Alright boy, who are you going to be hiring for your managers?’ And I said ‘Well, Tony La Russa wants to manage and we all know him in the organization.’ I wanted Tony for the Appleton job in the Midwest League.

I got him on the phone and he said ‘John Schuerholtz has offered me Jacksonville. If you give me the same deal, I’ll go to Knoxville. I said ‘Done’. And that was Tony’s first managing job. The rest is history.”

– Charlie Evranian, Chicago White Sox Assistant Farm Director, 1978 (2018 FWiL Interview)

Photo courtesy of Donn Seidholz

“[Charlie’s] full of it. You know who did that? Roland Hemond. Rollie put Tony in Knoxville.

[Tony] was one of the absolute best managers in any field that I’ve ever run into. I’ll tell ya … I’ve worked for a lot of people. I worked for Warren Buffett for years. Tony is one of those few people that you’d walk across hot coals for anything he wanted you to do. He would find something good that every guy did on the team regardless of whether we won or lost. So you walked out of that ballpark – and you could have lost 15-to-nothing – and you thought ‘I did some good things, I did a  bad thing, but, like, there’s a future.'”

–Donn Seidholz, Third Baseman, 1974-1979 (2019 FWiL intervew)

In Memoriam

Joe “Moose” Gates (K-Sox ’78), who won the 1978 Southern League batting title with a .332 average, passed away on March 28, 2010 at age 55.

Manager Jim Napier (K-Sox ’73-’75 and ’77) died on February 11, 2018. He was 79 years old.

Jim Bouton (K-Sox ’77), author of the taboo-shattering memoir Ball Four, died on July 10, 2019 at age 80. New York Times obituary.

Downloads

8-25-1975 K-Sox vs. Montgomery Rebels Game Notes

2019 FWiL Interview with Knoxville Sox third baseman Donn Seidholz

Links

“For Opening Day“, Wayne Christeson, Chapter 16 Writers’ Community, 3/31/2017

Southern League Media Guides

Southern League Programs

###