To celebrate the 25th anniversary of US Cellular Field, the White Sox are asking fans to vote for the top moment in US Cellular Field history, broken down into 4 brackets: Postseason Perks, Memorable Moments, Records and Milestones, and Honors and More. Today, we shall take a look at the first 2 groupings of these moments and decide which is the best.
The Postseason Peaks region boasts 6 entries from or related to the 2005 World Series champions plus another 2 from the team’s last division winner in 2008. The disappointing post-season appearances from 1993 and 2000 are left out altogether. As an added plus, I attended all of the games in this region.
The first match-up is a no-brainer, with Scott Podsednik’s walk-off home run to win Game 2 of the World Series pitted against Alexei Ramirez’s grand slam against the Tigers to force game 163 against the Twins for the division crown. With all due respect to Alexei, Podsednik takes this with ease.
The next battle is between the aforementioned game 163, the Blackout Game that sent the White Sox to the playoffs, against Joe Crede’s walk-off single against the Angels in Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS. While the Blackout was great fun, it was just a regular season game. Crede’s hit, following the A.J. Pierzynski drama, would have blown the roof off the place, if it had one.
Next, we have the unfair fight of Paul Konerko’s grand slam in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series versus Tadahito Iguchi’s go-ahead home run against the Red Sox in Game 2 of the ALDS. No real contest here.
The final match-up is again from Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS, when Pierzynski struck out and somehow managed to get the umpires to let him take first base, going up against the second game of the 2006 season, when the White Sox received their World Series championship rings. While the ring ceremony was indeed cool, it can’t beat the game action of one of the smartest players in baseball using his wits to outduel the opponent.
We now turn our attention to the Memorable Moments region, a more varied group of games, only 5 of which I managed to attend.
We begin with the second to last day of the 2014 season, when the White Sox honored their retiring captain with a special ceremony, doing battle against the July 7, 1999 contest against the Royals where Chris Singleton hit for the cycle. Once again, I’ll have to give the nod to Konerko.
The next match-up pits Frank Thomas, hitting the first White Sox home run at the then-New Comiskey Park on April 22, 1991 against Bo Jackson’s home run in the division-clinching game on September 27, 1993. You can’t really go wrong with either of these, to be honest.
The next battle is between Mark Buerhle’s kick save followed by a flip between the legs which Paul Konerko barehanded for the putout on Opening Day 2010 and the 10 year reunion of the 2005 champions last summer. I’ll give the nod to Buehrle.
The last match-up features the White Sox game against the Yankees on September 18, 2001, the first game after the tragedy of 9/11 versus Carlos Lee’s 10th inning walk-off grand slam off Courtney Duncan in the June 8, 2001 victory over the Cubs. While Lee’s hit is obviously the better baseball moment, the meaning of the return to the field after the attack on New York and the Pentagon have a greater meaning overall.
Coming out of these brackets, you have either Konerko or Podsednik’s home run from Game 2 of the World Series going up against Buehrle’s play against the Indians on Opening Day 2010. We’ll check out the remaining 2 regions next week.
