Name: Tony Phillips
Rank: 104
Position: LF
Years With White Sox: 1996-1997
Tony Phillips signed with the White Sox as a free agent on January 20, 1996. His tenure on the south side got off to a rocky start when he left spring training, vowing to retire rather than play for such a paltry salary. While general manager Ron Schueler told the media Phillips left camp because of a “family matter,” former teammates Dusty Baker and Dave Stewart convinced Phillips not to retire and he returned to the Sox 48 hours later.
His next moment of controversy came in May, when, after being berated by a Brewer fan who Phillips claimed was using racial slurs, he pulled himself out of the game, switched to street clothes, and headed to the County Stadium bleachers to confront him. Despite punching the fan in the face twice, Phillips managed to avoid not only arrest, but also suspension.
Later in the season, he had one final dust-up with Sox management, after a reporter complained that Phillips was playing a Pearl Jam CD too loudly. “The way I was brought up in baseball, our clubhouse is the players’ clubhouse,” Phillips said. “We live here for eight months. The writers are here for a couple of hours a day. For them to come in here and dictate what we do in our clubhouse is not right.”
In between all of those controversies, Phillips found time to produce. He put up a .277 average, with an unbelievable .404 OBP.
Phillips returned in 1997 and once again found himself feuding with a member of the media. In what may have been his lasting contribution to the White Sox clubhouse, he got into a confrontation with Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, causing Mariotti to leave the clubhouse for good, earning Phillips the ever-lasting love of his teammates. His time with the Sox was short, though, as he was traded, along with Chad Kreuter, to the Angels on May 18 for Jorge Fabergas and Chuck McElroy.
Phillips’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: