Richmond High grad sparked ‘Go-Go Sox’
Jim Landis, who grew up in Richmond and played center field for the 1959 Chicago White Sox World Series team, died Saturday morning in Napa after a brief battle with lung cancer. He was 83.
Mr. Landis played 11 seasons in the big leagues, the first eight in Chicago, and was a two-time All-Star and spectacular runner and defender who won five straight Gold Glove Awards.
Mr. Landis didn’t suffer in his final days and watched playoff baseball games with family and friends, according to his wife, Sandy Landis. The couple celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary Friday.
“We remained very close with the White Sox people even though Jim retired many, many years ago,” said Sandy Landis, adding they continued to keep in touch with former teammates and their families as well as current team officials.
As a kid, Mr. Landis followed the Oakland Oaks and San Francisco Seals of the old Pacific Coast League. He attended Richmond High School and Contra Costa College and spent four years in the White Sox’s minor-league system and two years in the Army before reaching the majors in 1957.
Mr. Landis had a .247 career batting average and put up numbers that would be considered exceptional based on today’s advanced metrics. His career on-base percentage was.344 — .370 with a 5.7 WAR (sixth in the league) in 1959, the year the White Sox lost the World Series in six games to the Dodgers.
Two years later, he had 22 homers and 85 RBIs.
“We didn’t care about stats in our day,” Mr. Landis said in a 2016 Chronicle interview. “Just go play hard, do the best you can. I was told, ‘You’re only out there for two hours. You can’t play hard for two hours?’ That stuck with me, boy. You ran your ass off to first base even if you’re out by 20 feet. Today, you watch them lollygag.”
Mr. Landis stole 20 bases for the 1959 White Sox, second on the team to Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio’s 56. They won 35 one-run games, had more steals than homers and became known as the “Go-Go Sox.”
“I thought that was overrated,” Mr. Landis said in The Chronicle interview. “We didn’t steal that many bases, Aparicio did. We had great defense and pitching. We weren’t a good hitting club, but we hit enough at the right time.”
Mr. Landis is survived by his wife, daughters Vicki Robinson and Michele Stafford, sons Craig and Mike, and five grandchildren. Craig Landis played minor-league ball with the Giants, who drafted him 10th overall in 1977, and football at Stanford. He’s the agent for Angels center fielder Mike Trout.
Funeral arrangements for Mr. Landis are pending.