Gutteridge remembered for role on 1959 White Sox pennant winner

Don Gutteridge of Pittsburg, Kan., who died Sunday at age 96, is remembered in the Chicago Tribune today for his coaching role for the 1959 White Sox, the last White Sox team to win the pennant before Ozzie Guillen guided the 2005 team to the World Series championship:

He had been the only surviving member of the 1959 pennant winners' coaching staff — Tony Cuccinello, Johnny Cooney, Ray Berres and manager Al Lopez having preceded him in death. In fact, he was the oldest living former big-league manager or coach. Gutteridge, a second baseman, was also the last living St. Louis Brown who played in the World Series, the only Series in which the Browns appeared.

As a player, he spent 12 years in the majors with the Cardinals, Browns, Red Sox and Pirates. The White Sox hired Gutteridge to manage in their farm system, and, after stops at Colorado Springs and Memphis, he was promoted to the Sox in 1955 and named first-base coach by manager Marty Marion, a former Cardinals teammate. He kept the job through 1966, resigned along with Berres and Cuccinello after one year with then-manager Eddie Stanky, then returned when Stanky was fired and replaced by Lopez in July 1968.

When Lopez retired, for the second time, in May 1969, he recommended Gutteridge as his replacement. Friendly with the players as a coach, Gutteridge couldn't get them to respond to him as manager. The Sox finished 68-94 (60-85 under Gutteridge) in '69 and were 49-87 in early September 1970 when he and general manager Ed Short were relieved of their duties.