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- The White Sox finished flat, dropping their final two games to Kansas City 5-0 and 11-3 at Comiskey Park. The finale was a dreadful affair that drew boos from the sparse crowd of 4,611 as the home team never appeared in the game. Bert Campaneris opened with a single. As Dick Green stepped up to bat, Joe Horlen threw to first as Campaneris took off for second. But first baseman Tom McCraw had no play as neither Ron Hansen or Don Buford covered second base. It went downhill from there as the cellar-dwelling Athletics made the Pale Hose pay for their lackluster effort with seven runs tallied in the opening frame. The two losses cost Chicago a chance at sole possession of second place as the club finished in a tie with Baltimore.
- An optimist would see the second-place finish as a miracle for the White Sox as the players - individually and as a team - would almost totally undistinguishable during the campaign, the sole exception being Eddie Fisher, the bullpen whiz. If one wishes to challenge these statments, then they should consider the following tale of the 1965 White Sox woe: (1) No regular hit as high as .300, (2) No starting pitcher won more than 14 games, (3) nobody drove in more than 80 runs, (4) a total of 17 complete games by the mound staff, (5) Gary Peters, a 20-game winner last year, had a 11-10 record and finshed only one of his 30 starts, (6) an outfield defense that was among the poorest in the league, (7) an infield defense that, at best, was mediocre-to-average, and (8) a team total of 54 stolen bases, or as many as Looie Aparicio used to steal in a busy year. These are the facts, and yet the Chisox finished twenty games over .500. How did they do it? They did it with a superior bull pen and they did it because Manager Al Lopez, though severely disappointed, refused to give up.
- Manager Al Lopez denied a report that he intends to quit as manager of the White Sox, but he left the open the possibility that he might do so later. The report had Lopez stepping down because of ill health and turning the job over to Mayo Smith, a scout with the Yankees the past three years. "I have not made up my mind what I'm going to do," Lopez said from his Tampa, Fla. home. "I have no intention of quitting, but then again I'm not gong to say I might not. I had a physical in Chicago three or four weeks before the end of the season. Everything was okay. I feel fine. There is nothing wrong with my health," added Lopez....Pitcher Tommy John (9-6), acquired from Cleveland in last winter's big, three-club trade, was the biggest and most pleasant surprise of the pitching staff. John is going to play winter ball in Puerto Rico. He'll be with the San Juan club which will be managed by White Sox coach Charlie Metro.
