Tag / Fernando Valenzuela

by admin

#98 – Esteban Loaiza

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Name: Esteban Loaiza

Rank: 98

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2003-2004, 2008

Esteban Loaiza signed with the White Sox as a free agent on January 24, 2003, with the hopes of shoring up the back end of the rotation.  He quickly became the ace of the staff, setting career highs in wins, ERA, innings pitched, and strike outs.  When the All Star Game made its way to US Cellular Field, he was selected as the starting pitcher for the American League.  By season’s end, he had tied Fernando Valenzuela’s single season win record by a Mexican-born pitcher with 21 and found himself finishing in second place for the AL Cy Young Award.

Loaiza came back down to Earth somewhat in 2004, as his ERA jumped back up from 2.90 to 4.86.  He was selected to his second straight All Star team, but, later that month, he was traded to the Yankees for Jose Contreras and cash.

Loaiza returned to the White Sox in 2008 after being cut by the Dodgers.  He signed on June 4, made 3 relief appearances, and spent 6 weeks on the disabled list before being released, ending his White Sox, and major league, career.

Loaiza’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

Book 17 (of 52) – Split Season: 1981

Split Season: 1981 - Fernandomania, The Bronx Zoo, and The Strike That Saved Baseball - Jeff Katz

Split Season: 1981 – Fernandomania, The Bronx Zoo, and The Strike That Saved Baseball – Jeff Katz

Change was afoot in Major League Baseball as the 1980s were getting underway.  1980 saw the Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Series.  Heading in to 1981, new ownership took over on the south side of Chicago, while the Cubs would be sold mid-season.  On the field, things looked good, as Fernando Valenzuela took Los Angeles, and the rest of the nation, by storm, Dave Winfield headed to New York, and Carlton Fisk changed the color of his socks from Red to White.  Behind the scenes, though, the owners and the players were headed for a seemingly unnecessary strike, one which would stop baseball for 2 months in the middle of the season, the first in-season work stoppage.

Jeff Katz brings all of the details that led to the 1981 strike, causing the 1981 season to be split into 2 halves and adding a division playoff for the first time.  The owners, along with commissioner Bowie Kuhn, wanted to turn back the clock and punish teams for signing free agents.  The players, behind union head Marvin Miller, would have none of it and, despite what the owners were led to believe, were willing and able to stick together.

Baseball resumed in August, after 713 games were lost, and the season ended with the Dodgers topping the Yankees in the fall classic.  A revised version of the free agent compensation that the owners fought for was put in place, and was scrapped in the next round of negotiations when it backfired, just as the union claimed it would.