SB Nation User Blog: U-God

All-Time White Sox Second Baseman

U-God — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:37:05 -0000

While I hate to break up the new guy's stranglehold on the recent fanposts column, its Tuesday so it happens to be time for our next position vote. The first base vote drew the largest total yet (thanks everyone) and in a 66-36-2 final (who did vote for Walker?) Paul Konerko became our elected All-Time Chicago White Sox first baseman. The team roster currently consists of him, DH Frank Thomas, and Carlton Fisk. Today, I'll be covering the second sackers. WU should be happy as someone from the past is probably going to win this one. And your four choices (there wasn't a fifth worth mentioning) at second base are:

Eddie Collins

Eddie Collins is the first of two Hall of Famers on the ballot today. Collins' contract was purchased from the Philadelphia Athletics before the 1915 season. Eddie went on to play with the Sox til 1926. He won a ring in 1917 and was one of the "Clean Sox" on the 1919 team. In the last few years of his Chicago career, Collins was a player-manager for the team. Collins is second in franchise history in batting average (.331), on-base percentage (.426), fourth in both hits and runs, and first in stolen bases with 368. In his 12 year career on the South Side, Eddie put up the following numbers: 1670 games, 1,365 runs, 2,007 hits, 266 doubles, 102 triples, 31 homers, 804 RBI, and a slash-line of .331/.426/.424/.850.

Nellie Fox

Look at that mound of chaw in his mouth. Anyways, Nellie Fox is another Hall of Fame second baseman who came to us from the Philly A's. Nellie Fox is alos one of the few players to have both his number (2) retired by the Sox and have a statue out on the concourse. Nellie was a 12 time All-Star with the Sox and won the AL MVP in 1959. He also won the 1957, 1959, and 1960 Gold Gloves. Fox was well-known for being extremely difficult to strike out, and never struck out more than 18 times in one season. Fox is third in franchise history in runs and doubles, second in hits and games played, and first in triples. In his 14 seasons with the Sox, Fox posted the following numbers: 2,015 games, 2,470 hits, 1,187 runs, 335 doubles, 104 triples, 35 homers, 740 RBI, and a slash-line of .291/.349/.367/.716.

Jorge Orta

Though he lives in infamy as a Royal, Jorge started his career with us. While he was not anything fantastic with us, he was an All-Star in 1975. He played second for us for 8 seasons, and in those 673 games he posted the following numbers: 749 hits, 120 doubles, 34 triples, 57 homers, 343 RBI, 65 stolen bases, and a slash-line of .293/.349/.433/.782. Sorry, I just didn't want to have only three people to choose from.

Ray Durham

The second baseman of my childhood and eventual trade counter part for the great Jon Adkins, Ray Durham is last on our list. Durham ranks 9th in franchise history in runs, 8th in doubles, and 5th in stolen bases. Durham was a solid lead-off hitter with us and gave us the best years of his career. In his 7.5 seasons on the Sox, Ray posted the following numbers: 1,118 games, 784 runs, 1,238 hits, 248 doubles, 53 triples, 105 homers, 479 RBI, 219 stolen bases, and a slash-line of .279/.352/.430/.782.

Poll

Who is our All-Time Chicago White Sox Second Baseman?

All-Time White Sox First Baseman

U-God — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:20:59 -0000

With 67% of the vote at the time of this post, Carlton Fisk has won the race at catcher. So far, our All-Time team looks as such:

DH: Frank Thomas, C: Carlton Fisk

The next position to be covered is first base. Since Frank Thomas already won DH, I'm not going to include him in this. I know he was better as a first baseman, I even said that in the DH post. But seeing as a player can't hit twice in a line-up, he's out. With that being explained, here are your candidates for All-Time White Sox First Baseman:

Earl Sheely

Earl Sheely was the man who replaced Chick Gandil at first base after the "Black Sox" were banned for life. Sheely turned out to be a solid replacement. He walked more than twice the amount he struck out (and still ranks 7th in OBP in franchise career history), fielded ever so slightly above league-average, and finished sixth in MVP voting in 1925. He declined hard in 1927 and was lost to Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft in 1928. In his 948 games as our 1B, Earl posted the following numbers: 1,051 hits, 207 doubles, 21 triples, 41 homers, 482 RBI, and a slash-line of .305/.391/.413/.804.

Dick Allen

Dick Allen only played three seasons for the Sox, but he crushed the shit out of the ball in those three years (and was an All-Star in all three). Traded from the Dodgers prior to the 1972 season (shipping Tommy John out west), he was then sent to Atlanta 3 years and 1 day later (after leaving the team in mid-September due to fights with Ron Santo). Allen hit two inside-the-park homers against Bert Blyleven at Minnesota on July 31, 1972. Allen won the 1972 MVP award in a year he posted an OPS+ of 199 (his other two seasons they were 175 and 164). The man who many credit saving the franchise from bailing on the city posted the following numbers in his unfortunately brief stint (330 games) on the South Side: 367 hits, 71 doubles, 82 homers, 233 RBI, 33 stolen bases, and a slash-line of .309/.401/.592/.993.

Mike Squires

Mike Squires could not hit (career 78 OPS+). But much like Kark, he earns his spot on the list by being amazing defensively (and being a back-up for a large part of his career). In his 688 games at first, he committed only 23 errors and posted a .995 fielding percentage. Other than winning a Gold Glove in 1981, there isn't much else exciting to post about the guy, so here are his numbers: 386 hits, 51 doubles, 9 triples, 6 homers, 130 RBI, 45 stolen bases, and a slash-line of .263/.325/.322/.647.

Greg Walker

Our current hitting coach, Walker spent all but 14 games of his playing career with us. Walk led the league in games played in 1985 with 163. He was also alright as a fielder. But there really isn't much else to say about him, so here are his numbers: 680 games, 649 hits, 140 doubles, 18 triples, 99 homers, 380 RBI, and a slash-line of .261/.328/.451/.779.

Paul Konerko

Our captain, Kong has become one of the best hitters in franchise history since we traded Mike Cameron for him prior to the 1999 season. Since that time, he has done well enough with the bat to earn the following ranks in franchise career history: 5th in doubles, 2nd in homers, 4th in RBI, 7th in slugging, 8th in OPS, 7th in runs, and 9th in hits (all of these will be changing next season). Paulie has been an All-Star three times and was named the 2005 ALCS MVP. Injuries and some bad-luck have slowed him down recently, but that should change. Kong has posted the following numbers in his 1,286 games at first for us: 1,336 hits, 240 doubles, 266 homers, 834 RBI, and a slash-line of .280/.355/.500/.855.

Poll

Who is our All-Time Chicago White Sox (non-Frank Thomas) First Baseman?

All-Time White Sox Catcher

U-God — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:04:42 -0000

It looks like Frank Thomas has been chosen as our DH, so our first position has been filled. Next in the series is catcher. I've pruned the list down to 5 players (thanks to larry and KenWo). And on to part two.

Ray Schalk

"Cracker" was second regular starting catcher in team history, and is one of 11 players who went into the Hall as a White Sock. He played 17 seasons with the Sox, ranging from 1912-1928. Schalk was known to be one of the "Clean Sox" in the 1919 World Series, hitting .304 and drawing 4 walks. He posted a fielding percentage of .981 and was known to be one of the best defenders at his position during the Deadball Era. Another interesting stat/fact about Schalk is that he ranks 9th all-time in stolen bases in franchise history with 177, with his 30 steals in 1916 remaining a record for catchers until 1982. In his 1,757 games as a Sox catcher, Schalk posted the following numbers: 1345 hits, 199 doubles, 49 triples, 11 homers, 594 RBI, and a slash-line of .253/.340/.316/.656.

Sherm Lollar

Sherm came to the Sox as part of 9-player trade with the St. Louis Browns in 1952. Sherm was the first real power-hitter the Sox had at catcher. He was also an excellent fielder, winning the first ever Gold Glove in 1957 and three-peating in 1958 and 1959. He was also a 6 time All-Star with the Sox. in his 12 seasons with the Sox, Sherm posted the following numbers: 1,077 hits, 182 doubles, 119 homers, 17 stolen bases, 603 RBI, and a slash-line of .269/.355/.408/.763.

Carlton Fisk

Our second Hall of Famer on this list (though he's wearing the wrong hat in it), Carlton Fisk. Pudge was my mom's favorite player, that has nothing to do with anything but it gets posted because I'm writing. Fisk came over to the Sox in 1981 as a 33 year-old free agent. He would go on to play 13 seasons with us, retiring after 1993 as a 45 year-old. During one game, Deion Sanders hit a pop-up and didn't run to first. The next time Sanders came up to bat, Fisk was quoted as saying "If you don't play it right, I'm going to kick your ass right here". Fisk was a 4 time All-Star with us. The Sox retired his number 72 in 1997 and built a statue of him in 2005. This last season he returned to the Sox as an ambassador. In his 13 seasons with us, Carlton posted the following numbers at catcher: 1,177 games, 1,125 hits, 185 doubles, 194 homers, 658 RBI, and a slash-line of .266/.337/.453/.790.

Ron Karkovice

Fisk's back-up and eventual replacement in 1992, Ron Karkovice still remains a fan favorite. Ron played his entire 12 year career with the Sox. While he wasn't much with the bat (86 career OPS+), as Larry said in the last post Ron was one hell of a defender. not only did he post a .992 fielding percentage at catcher (and put in 3 flawless innings in the OF), he threw out 41.2% of all would be base-stealers foolish enough to run on him. And apparently in 1990 he hit an inside-the-park grand slame in the Twinkie Dome. In his 842 games as our catcher, Ron posted the following numbers: 569 hits, 119 doubles, 96 homers, 334 RBI, and a slash-line of .222/.290/.385/.675.

A.J. Pierzynski

Lastly, our current and beloved only to Sox fans catcher, Anthony John Pierzynski. Baseball's Villain joined us as a free agent for the magical 2005 season and became only the third catcher in franchise history to win a ring. While he lacks an arm behind the plate, he is (apparently) a fairly solid defender only comitting 10 errors with us and posting his worst fielding percentage with us this past season: a horrific .991 (I know it's a bad stat to judge with). He also holds the AL record for consecutive errorless chances with 962. A.J. always seems to be in the middle of it when something big (controversial) happens (dropped third strike in the 05 ALCS, the Barrett incident in 06, his fun with Tampa this last season, amongst others). He won the Last-Man vote to become an All-Star in 2006, thanks in large to the "Punch A.J." campaign. In his 508 games as a White Sox catcher, A.J. has done the following: 537 hits, 100 doubles, 59 homers, 224 RBI, and a slash-line of .276/.317/.420/.737.

As with the previous post, the polls close when the next post in the series goes up and feel free to criticize/give ideas as to how I can (continue? I think this one went better) improve my work on these or anything else you'd like to see added in the future posts. Thanks for reading.

Poll

Who is the Chicago White Sox All-Time Catcher?

All-Time White Sox DH

U-God — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:10:37 -0000

First off, thanks to everyone who voted yes. Feedback on what I could do to better these would be appreciated. This will be the first of my pieces for picking the best representative for the White Sox at each position, thus making an All-Time White Sox team. As it says in the headline, I'll be covering the DH first. I wanted to put up 5 players, but only found 4 even worth mentioning (even though I'm pretty sure we all know who will win). So without further ado, here are the four candidates (no, I will not give Jurassic Carl consideration).

Frank Thomas

We all know Frank Thomas. The man is the franchise leader in OBP, SLG, OPS (duh), Runs, TB, 2B, HRs, RBI, BB, K, OPS+, RC, XBH, and SF. Basically, if you could pick one player to represent the team he would probably be the choice for most of us. He played 959 games as our DH and recorded 957 hits (3 game-ending), 208 doubles, 196 homers, 643 RBI and slash-line of .278/.402/.511/.913. His numbers as a 1B are even more impressive.

Harold Baines

Eeyore before Paulie, Harold had his number retired by the Sox over a decade before he actually retired. We then signed him as a free agent and proceeded to trade him away again (pretty much ruining his chances at the HoF). He is our current first-base coach and moonlights as his own statue out on the concourse. Harold ranks third in franchise history in homers and RBI. A right fielder for the early part of his career, bad knees forced him to DH. Harold DH'd for the Sox in 602 games and here are the numbers he posted: 650 hits (30 game-ending), 134 doubles, 76 homers, 370 RBI, and a slash-line of .292/.369/.460/.828.

Greg Luzinski

After I stopped laughing at how goofy I thought this guy looked, I decided to look up some stuff on him because I've never heard of him. Apparently, Greg was born in Chicago but played the majority of his career in Philadelphia and even won a ring there in 1980. Too bad that doesn't count towards this poll. Greg DH'd for the Sox from 1981-1984. In those 512 games, he posted the following numbers: 491 hits (19 game-ending), 90 doubles, 83 homers, 311 RBI, and a slash-line of .264/.360/.450/.810.

Jim Thome

I love that picture. Anyways, The Gentleman Masher came over to the Sox around Thanksgiving of 2005 in a trade the sent the Legend and Gio Gonzalez (temporarily) to the Phillies who needed to clear room for Ryan Howard. So far he has DH'd in 398 games for us, with that number almost definitely increasing next season. He's given us the following: 372 hits (9 game-ending), 71 doubles, 108 homers, 286 RBI, and a slash-line of .266/.394/.549(!)/.943.

Now we vote, and please feel free to give feedback on what I could improve or what you would like to see in the next ones. Thanks.

Poll

Who is our Chicago White Sox All-Time DH?

Fielding an All-White Sox Team

U-God — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:21:59 -0000

So since I'm on break right now and kind of bored when I get home from work, I've been thinking about writing some fanposts where I would pick around 5 or so players at each position (by the time I get around to pitching I would figure something else out), write a little bit about each player describing them, and then put it to a vote and let everyone on here decide and choose our own All-Time White Sox All-Star team. Just curious as to if anyone would be interested in that kind of thing. I'd be starting with DH, since it will definitely be the easiest to limit the field and then progress around the team from there. I'd try to get them done in a day or two (I wouldn't let this become the Getz interview).

Poll

So would anyone be interested in this/should I do this?

2009 Predictions (As of right now)

U-God — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:15:35 -0000

I know it is way too early to make any serious predictions about stats or division races for next season right now, but since nothing else is really happening in our World of White Sox I wanted to make a fanpost about it anyways. This started with someone asking me if the Yankees should really be considered the team to beat in the AL now (and as of right now I'm tempted to say yes) and then just kind of snowballed from there. But anyways, I'm just gonna pick Division Winners and Wild Cards. Please feel free to throw up stat leaders and anything else too, regardless of if you Colin it to get the numbers or just choose to WTGTD it (of which I'm pretty much just doing the latter).

AL West- Oakland: I just think LAA lost too much so far and TEX hasn't done enough to push them past Oakland in my mind.

AL Central- Cleveland: I don't like typing that, but if they stay healthy they will be beastly.

AL East/ Wild Card- New York and Tampa: Hard to pick who gets which, but it doesn't really matter and I think Boston will be the team left out.

NL West- San Francisco: I like what they've done this off-season (other than Renteria) and their division is horseshit. Probably the most wide open division to win.

NL Central- Chicago: Another one I don't like typing, but look at the rest of the division. Unless Milwaukee gets a pitcher or St. Louis actually gets Pujols some protection the Cubs will have a pretty easy march to the post-season.

NL East- New York: Phillies missing Utley for the start of the year and not replacing Burrell makes their offense a lot less intimidating to me. And with the Mets shoring up their bullpen it just feels right to pick them. (When is Wagner due back by the way?)

NL Wild Card- Florida: It's gonna come out of the East, and I like them to improve again this year with Maybin and Miller contributing the full year.

WiIly T Signs with Cincy

U-God — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:59:27 -0000

WiIly T Signs with Cincy

Hooray!!!!

White Sox Christmas List

U-God — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:49:37 -0000

Saw this idea on a couple other sites and figured we should have our own. The idea is you pick presents for members of the organization that would be specific to the person. I can only think of two right now because I have to duck out to work, but here they are.

Q!- a punching bag in the club house

Gavin- a non-4th grader haircut

And I'm short on words, so fuck Nick Punto.

Carl's take

U-God — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:17:22 -0000

Carl's take

Weird question

U-God — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:34:38 -0000

So I thought of this last night when I was trying to go to sleep and was wondering if anyone on here could answer it. Back in the early 2000's when baseball was thinking about getting rid of two teams, what would have become of the players on those two teams? Would there be like an anti-expansion draft or would they all have become free agents? Or was it never even really discussed? Just kinda curious.