A long, long wait for White Sox fans

They may be ''winning ugly'' - in other words, not very stylishly - as a rival manager said of the Chicago White Sox. But the Sox have clinched their division title in the American League West.

So who can help sending up a cheer for one of baseball's ugly duckling teams, which has not won a championship since 1959?

Baseball-watchers know the White Sox are the only major pennant contender - in either league - to have won no title in recent years. Powerful Baltimore, which has now clinched the American League East, has appeared in numerous postseason playoffs.

In '59 the city of Chicago set off air raid sirens to mark the event. This time, of course, they didn't go quite that far, but then hardly any extra noise was needed, what with the deafening roar of the stadium crowd recently, after Chicago wrapped things up with a 4-3 victory over Seattle.

Granted, the season is not over yet. There is the slight matter of deciding the National League divisional winners, then the league playoffs, and the World Series itself. Will the White Sox go all the way?

Maybe next year the Chicago Cubs, whose last pennant came in 1945. . . .