Name: Marvin Freeman
Rank: 258
Position: P
Year With White Sox: 1996
Marvin Freeman joined the White Sox after being claimed on waivers from the Rockies on August 31, 1996. He appeared in 1 game for the White Sox, starting and giving up 3 runs in 2 plus innings in a game the White Sox eventually won 13-5 over the Red Sox. It wound up being his final major league appearance. He left the team as a free agent following the season.
Freeman’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:
Name: Chris Snopek
Rank: 263
Position: 3B
Years With White Sox: 1995-1998
Chris Snopek joined the White Sox organization in 1992 when he was drafted in the 6th round. He worked his way up through the system and made his major league debut on July 31, 1995, going 2 for 3 in the White Sox 6-4 win over the Royals. Snopek bounced up and down over the next 2 seasons and had already made the club as a backup infielder in spring training in 1997, when something horrible happened.
On March 21, 1997, in an exhibition contest against the Red Sox, third baseman Robin Ventura broke and dislocated his right ankle in an awkward slide into home. Suddenly, Chis Snopek found himself as the starting third baseman, at least until Ventura returned sometime after the All Star break. “We have to find out if Snopek can play,” GM Ron Schueler said at the time. “Our people really like him. This is the time to find out if they’re right.” However, it took less than three weeks for manager Terry Bevington to begin playing Tony Phillips at third against right-handed pitchers, leaving Snopek to rot on the bench.
Snopek got back in the lineup when Phillips was traded and kept it until Ventura returned in late July, having hit .223 with five home runs and 35 runs batted in and committing 15 errors. He was sent back to Triple A on August 8th. “Every day he got a question about replacing Robin, and that was tough on him,” said Schueler. “He was trying to hit home runs like they expected Robin to hit and that frustration carried over to his defense.”
After the season, Snopek went to Venezuela to play winter ball and, hopefully, rediscover his stroke. After hitting .380, he returned to the White Sox in spring training of 1998 hoping to get another crack at replacing a White Sox legend, this time shortstop Ozzie Guillen. While he lost out to rookie Mike Caruso for the starting role, Snopek did make the team as a reserve and, despite struggling at the plate once again, he stayed with the big league club until August 31, when he was traded to the Red Sox for a minor leaguer. “It was a total shock,” Snopek said. “But it’s an opportunity for me to go to Boston and show them what I can do.”
Snopek’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →
Name: Ehren Wassermann
Rank: 265
Position: P
Years With White Sox: 2007-2008
Ehren Wassermann joined the White Sox organization when he signed as an amateur free agent on July 16, 2003. He finally made his way to the big leagues during the lost season of 2007, making his major league debut on July 20 in a loss to the Red Sox after being called up to replace the injured Nick Masset. Wasermann pitched well out of the bullpen for the disappointing 2007 squad, putting up a 2.74 ERA in 33 games.
While the White Sox bounced back into contention in 2008, Wassermann’s game fell apart. His ERA jumped over 5 runs to 7.78 in 24 games. This earned him a return trip to Triple A Charlotte, where he also spent the entire 2009 season. Following that season, Wassermann was granted free agency, but he never pitched in the major leagues again.
Wassermann’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
7 seasons after his last major league appearance, former Cub phenom Mark Prior called it a career on Monday. The second overall pick in the 2001 draft, Prior quickly rose to the major leagues, making his debut on May 22, 2002, earning the victory against the Pirates. He excelled the following year, as a surprising Cubs team won their division and came within 5 outs of making their first World Series since 1945. Prior finished the year 18-6, was named to the All Star team, finished third in Cy Young award voting and was ninth in voting for the MVP award.
2003 was also the start of Prior’s injury issues. He hit the disabled list after colliding with Marcus Giles in a game in early July. Thanks to the All Star break, he only missed 3 starts, but he never pitched a full season after that point. He missed the first 2 months of the 2004 season due to an achilles injury. In 2005, he again started the season on the disabled list and went back on after suffering a broken elbow after getting hit by a line drive off the bat of Brad Hawpe. 2006 marked the third straight season that Prior would start the season on the DL, where he would stay until June 18. Less than a month later, he would return to the DL with a strained oblique suffered during batting practice. On August 10, Prior made his final start of the season, going 3 innings and picking up the loss to the Brewers. Four days later, he was placed on the DL for the third and final time that season, due to tendinitis. He would never pitch in the major leagues again.
Prior left the Cubs following the 2007 season, and, since then, he has attempted comebacks with the Padres, Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, and, most recently, the Reds, where he had to be shut down as a result of continuing shoulder problems after just 7 relief appearances in Triple A. You couldn’t help but feel for him, a once in a lifetime stud pitcher who should have led the Cubs rotation for years and, instead, flamed out after 5 seasons. Entire books could be written on what might have been, and now Mark Prior will have his summers free to read them.
Prior’s numbers in a Cub uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →
My latest desktop computer arrived in late 2007, at which point I transitioned all of my music off of my laptop. 2 iPods, 2 iPhones, and an iPad later, that computer is still my main repository of music, with iTunes updating its stats every time I listen to something.
Having already gone through cassette tapes and CDs, and digital music, it’s time to roll everything up with the Top 100 artists that I’ve listened to as of 8/21/2013, according to iTunes. Today we finally get to the top 10 and the end of this journey.
#1: The Beatles
iTunes stats: 665 plays
The boys from Liverpool used 95 different songs to make up this total. The most impressive thing is that the total should be higher, as all of the counts got reset back to zero when the remastered albums came out in 2009 and I deleted all of the old versions and ripped the remastered versions.
#2: Garbage
iTunes stats: 614 plays
I have seen this band live 4 times over the past 11 years, and look forward to doing so again in the future. There are 112 songs, many of which are live versions, that made up the total.
#3: Foo Fighters
iTunes stats: 425 plays
Only 39 songs put the Foo Fighters in third place with nobody on their tail. I saw the Foo Fighters with Weezer back in 2005 and would love to do so again.
#4: The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
iTunes stats: 307 plays
Back in 2001, during the sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the show produced a musical episode as Buffy and the Scooby Gang battled the musical demon Sweet. The following year, the soundtrack was released, and those 21 songs make up this total. One of the standouts was Amber Benson, who autographed my copy of the CD at a Wizard World appearance back in 2004.
#5: Tegan and Sara
iTunes stats: 274 plays
An even 50 songs combined to make up this total for the Canadian sisters. I saw them live back in 2005, less than a week after the Foo Fighters/Weezer show and the same day the White Sox won the ALDS against the Red Sox. It was a busy week.
Stadium Name: Comiskey Park II/US Cellular Field
Location: Chicago
Home Team: White Sox, Marlins
Years in Service: 1991 – Present
Visits: 361
On the evening of June 30, 1988, with time literally stopped, the Illinois legislature passed a bill that provided the financing for a new stadium for the White Sox, stopping them from moving to St. Petersburg, Florida. 2 and a half years later, on April 18, 1991, Comiskey Park II opened, the first new major facility built in Chicago since the erection of the Chicago Stadium in 1929. Sadly, the White Sox were destroyed by the Tigers 16-0 in the opening of their new park.
Unfortunately for the White Sox, the new Comiskey Park was also the last stadium to be built prior to the wave of retro ballparks that started with the opening of Camden Yards the following year. Because of this, there have been numerous renovations to the park, starting in 2001 with the addition of nearly 2000 seats and the relocation of the bullpens. More extensive renovations began in 2003 in preparation for that season’s All Star Game and using the money generated from selling the naming rights to US Cellular, and conrinued through 2007, when the replacement of the blue seats with green seats was completed.
In 2004, the reigning World Series champion Florida Marlins called the stadium home for a series against the Montreal Expos thanks to Hurricane Ivan, the first time the defending World Series champions had played a home game in Chicago since 1918. One year later, the stadium hosted its first World Series game, the first to be played in Chicago since 1959, as the White Sox went on to sweep the Houston Astros and win their first World Series since 1918.
I attended my first game at the new Comiskey Park on April 20, 1991, the second game in the stadium’s history. Since then, I’ve been to 360 other games at the stadium, the majority coming from 2005 on, when I became a season ticket holder. I went to both games of the 2000 ALDS, which the White Sox lost to the Mariners, both games of the 2005 ALDS, which the White Sox won against the Red Sox, both games of the 2005 ALCS, which the White Sox split against the Angels, and game 2 of the 2005 World Series. I attended game 163 of the 2008 season to break the tie between the White Sox and the Twins. and then the two ALDS games against the Rays, the first time I saw the White Sox actually end a post-season series, either in victory or defeat.
Notable regular season games I’ve seen at US Cellular Field include the September 13, 2004 game between the Marlins and the Expos, the April 16, 2005 game where Mark Buehrle defeated the Mariners in 1 hour and 39 minutes, the April 2, 2006 season opener against the Indians when the World Series championship banner was raised, the April 4, 2006 game where the players received their World Series rings, and the September 16, 2007 game where Jim Thome hit his 500th career home run against the Angels.
The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed baseball season. It is a good bet that none of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate. Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.
Most Valuable Player: Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Chris Davis
Mike Trout was my pre-season selection to win this award, but I also picked the Angels to win the American League. They dropped out of contention early, and I think the same can be said for Trout’s candidacy. My guess is Miguel Cabrera, who was having an even better year than his triple crown winning season a year ago before nagging injuries dragged him down towards the end of the year, takes home his second straight MVP.
Cy Young Award: Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Max Scherzer
My initial guess of David Price obviously did not make the cut. While books have been written about how wins are not a reliable way to track pitching effectiveness, my guess is that if you add in a 20 win season with a trip to the post-season, Max Scherzer will take home the prize.
Manager of the Year: John Farrell, Terry Francona, Bob Melvin
I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season. I imagine that Terry Francona, beloved former manager of the Red Sox, will take home the award for turning around a putrid Indians team and keeping them in contention for the majority of the year.
Rookie of the Year: Chris Archer, Jose Iglesias, Wil Myers
Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season. It is somewhat ironic, given the current value placed on young talent, that all 3 finalists for the award were traded to their current teams, one during this past season. My guess is that Wil Myers will win the award.
Stadium Name: Comiskey Park
Location: Chicago
Home Team: White Sox
Years in Service: 1910 – 1990
Visits: 12 (that I’m aware of)
Comiskey Park, the so-called Baseball Palace of the World, was the home of the White Sox from 1910 through the 1990 season. Built on a former city dump at the corner of 35th Street and Shields Avenue, the stadium opened as White Sox Park on July 1, 1910, as the White Sox lost to the St. Louis Browns 2-0. In 1913, owner Charles Comiskey renamed the stadium after himself, and Comiskey Park was born. From 1962 until 1975, the White Sox Park name was officially re-establshed, as new ownership groups tried to separate themselves from the Comiskey name. However, Bill Veeck, in his second tour of duty as owner of the White Sox, put the Comiskey Park name back on the stadium in 1976, where it remained until 1990. The final game for the old ballyard occurred on September 30, 1990, a 2-1 victory over the Mariners.
Comiskey Park was the host for 4 World Series contests, including 3 in a row from 1917-1919. The White Sox won the World Series in 1917 against the New York Giants. The Cubs, looking for a larger seating capacity, moved their home games in the 1918 series against the Red Sox to Comiskey Park. The 1919 World Series, of course, was the Black Sox scandal, where the White Sox threw the series against the Reds. The White Sox returned to the World Series 40 years later in 1959, but fell to the Dodgers. The final post-season games to be played in Comiskey Park were games 3 and 4 of the 1983 ALCS, which the White Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles.
Comiskey Park was also the host to 3 All-Star games. The first All-Star game ever, in 1933, was held in conjunction with Century of Progress Exposition being held on Chicago’s lakefront. The event returned to Chicago’s south side in 1950. The final All-Star game at Comiskey Park was in 1983, the 50th anniversary of the first game. Comiskey Park was also the frequent home of the Negro League East-West All-Star Game from 1933 to 1960.
In addition to White Sox baseball, Comiskey Park was also the home to the Chicago American Giants of the Negro Leagues, the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL, and the Chicago Sting of the NASL. Comiskey Park also hosted numerous boxing matches, including the 1937 heavyweight title match where Joe Louis defeated then champion James J. Braddock. The Beatles played two concerts at Comiskey Park in August of 1965. Other musical acts to perform there include Aerosmith, AC/DC, The Eagles, The Police, Simon & Garfunkel, and The Jacksons, who performed 3 shows during their Victory tour in October of 1984.
Looking back, I’ve been able to piece together evidence of 12 games that I attended at Comiskey Park. I know there are more, but I have not been able to pinpoint exact games yet. The most memorable game I can remember would be the final night game, on September 29, 1990, where, after the game, the lights were symbolically turned off for the final time.
Back in April, on the eve of the 2013 baseball season, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the division races and the major awards. Now that the season has come to an end the playoffs are in full swing, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded and how wrong my predictions were.
East: Rays
Nobody really predicted the Red Sox bouncing back from their miserable 2012 campaign and winning the division this year. The Rays, meanwhile, managed to beat the Rangers in the tie-breaker game and make it as the second wild card.
Central: Tigers
This one was practically a no-brainer, although the Indians did make a race of it.
West: Angels
The Angels once again made a huge splash in the free agency market and then underachieved miserably during the season. The A’s, despite their precarious stadium and underfunded roster, took the division handily.
Wild Cards: Blue Jays, A’s
Despite totally remaking their roster, the Blue Jays failed to reach the playoffs once again. The Indians and the Rays were the actual wild card teams. Overall, for the AL, I managed to get one division winner correct and 3 of the 5 playoff teams correct.
National League
With the 2013 season limping to the finish line, it became time to look forward to next year on Tuesday when the Cubs released their 2014 schedule. The north siders begin the 2014 campaign on the road against the Pirates on March 31. Their home schedule kicks off against the Phillies that weekend.
Inter-league matchups against the AL East include home dates against the Yankees, Rays, and Orioles. The Cubs will travel to Boston, Toronto, and will also make their first ever trip to new Yankess Stadium to face the Yankees. The team will also split a 4 game series against the White Sox, similar to this season, with the first 2 games at Wrigley Field and the last 2 at US Cellular Field.
Should the team find themselves in contention, they finish the year with games mostly against their Central division foes, with only 7 September games coming outside the division.