In , he succeeded Al López as the Chicago White Sox' manager. The White Sox had been runners-up in the American League for three successive seasons (1963–65), averaging almost 96 victories per year, but Stanky's maiden squad won only 83 games and fell to fourth place. However, his 1967 White Sox team — built on speed and pitching but hampered by an impotent offense — contended for the pennant until the last week of the season in a thrilling four-team race. But they lost their last five games to the lowly Kansas City Athletics and Washington Senators, and finished three games behind the surprise pennant winners, the "Impossible Dream" Boston Red Sox.