Chicago Sports Legends: The Chicago White Sox

While baseball fans wait to find out exactly how the 2020 MBL season will unroll, we continue to look at great players from all of Chicago’s sports franchises. Today, the Chicago White Sox are up to bat. It’s been 15 years since the team won the World Series, here’s hoping that youth and a few trades can get the South Siders back into the playoff hunt after many years of forgetful seasons. 

Frank Thomas: One of baseball’s all-time great sluggers, Frank Thomas, aka The Big Hurt, spent 15 years as a first baseman and designated hitter for the White Sox. The seventh pick in the 1989 draft, Thomas quickly made a name for himself with his crushing power at the plate.  By 1993, Thomas joined Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Fox, and Ted Williams as the only players to hit .300 with more than 100 RBI, runs and walk in and over 20 home runs in three consecutive seasons. That same year and again in 1994, The Big Hurt was named American League MVP. At the end of the century, Thomas struggled a bit before reclaiming his former glory in the 2000 season, where he won AL Comeback Player of the Year with 43 home runs and 143 RBI. In 2005, Thomas was injured and didn’t play in the post-season that ultimately led to the White Sox’ World Series victory. He remains the leader for the team in many categories, including career home runs (448) and RBI (1,465). In 2014, Thomas was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Shoeless Joe Jackson: Every team has its share of controversy, and the White Sox are no exception. Yes, Shoeless Joe and seven other players from the 1919 White Sox agreed to fix the World Series and accept money for losing. For their participation in the fix, that era’s team, known as The Black Sox, was expelled from baseball. But let’s not forget what the outfielder did at the plate. Shoeless Joe holds the third-highest career batting average in league history at .356. Jackson came to the White Sox in 1915 from Cleveland, and by 1917, the South Side team were World Series champions with Jackson hitting .307 and the team defeating the New York Giants. The controversial 1919 World Series loss to the Cincinnati Reds saw Jackson make 12 base hits, a then record for the World Series. In addition, he committed no errors and threw out a runner at the plate. Jackson and seven other members of the team were accused of taking $5,000 each to blow the series. A grand jury looked into the allegations in 1920, and the next year acquitted the eight players of wrongdoing. Nonetheless, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned the players for life, making them ineligible for the Hall of Fame. 

Paul Konerko: Returning to the modern era, it’s easy to see why Konerko appears in many lists of greatest White Sox players of all time. Traded by the Reds to the Sox in 1998, Konerko proved to be a consistent hitter and dependable fielder from the get-go. With a .279 batting average and a total of 439 home runs as a player. Konerko’s stats across the board are solid. Still, it was his play throughout the 2005 Championship season that forever made him a favorite amongst Sox fans. That team became only the fifth to stay in first place throughout the entire 162-game season, with Konerko hitting 40 home runs. Throughout the playoffs and into the World Series against the Houston Astros, Konerko stayed hot at bat, hitting the first grand slam in the team’s World Series history in Game 2. By his retirement in 2014, Konerko was a six-time All-Star, World Series champ, and had his No. 14 White Sox retired by the team. 

Tune in tomorrow when we take a look at more great Sox players throughout the decades.

ERIC KAPLAN AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO