Tag / Scott Radinsky

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By The Numbers – 37

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees.  By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues.  Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #37.  74 different players have donned #37 while playing in Chicago, 27 for the White Sox and 47 for the Cubs.

Selected in the fourth round of the 1985 draft, Bobby Thigpen made his major league debut for the White Sox just over a year later, wearing #58.  He switched to his more familiar #37 the following year, as he moved in to the closer role full time, replacing Bob James, and racked up 16 saves while also putting up a 7-5 record with a 2.73 ERA.  In 1988, he broke the team record for saves, with 34, while leading the league with 59 games finished.  He duplicated the effort in 1989 with another 34 saves, though with a 2-6 record and a 3.76 ERA.

Thigpen’s 1990 season was one for the record books.  He earned his first All Star nod while on his way to setting the major league record with 57 saves, while also leading the league with 77 games and 73 games finished.  On September 30, he earned his 57th save while throwing the final pitch at Comiskey Park.  After the 1990 season, Thigpen joined other major league all stars on a tour of Japan where, unfortunately, he would suffer a back injury that would plague him for the remainder of his career.

In 1991, he still managed to earn 30 saves, but his ERA jumped up to 3.49.  In 1992, he set a career high with a 4.75 ERA while earning only 22 saves, losing his grip on the closer role to both Scott Radinsky and Roberto Hernandez.  His 1993 was even worse, as his ERA jumped to 5.71 and he managed only 1 save in 25 appearances before an August 10 trade to the Phillies for former teammate Jose DeLeon.  He left as the franchise’s all time leader with 201 saves, a position he still holds today.

On the north side of town, pitcher Travis Wood was acquired by the Cubs, along with Dave Sappelt and Ronald Torreyes, in exchange for Sean Marshall.  Wearing #37, Wood was called up to the major league club in early May of 2012, replacing Chris Volstad, who started the season 0–6.  Wood went 6-13 with a 4.27 ERA in his first year as a Cub.  In 2013, Wood became the first Cub since Mordecai Brown to start a season with 9 straight quality starts and, on May 30, he hit his first career grand slam, leading to his first All-Star selection.

Wood struggled in 2014, with a 5.03 ERA in 31 starts, though he did hit his 9th career home run.  After struggling in the rotation to start the 2015 season, Wood was moved to the bullpen, where he fared much better, posting a 2.95 ERA and 4 saves in relief.  Continuing to work out of the bullpen in 2016, Wood posted a 4-0 record with a 2.95 ERA in 77 appearances.  In Game 2 of the NLDS, Wood hit a home run off of Giants’ reliever George Kontos, becoming just the second relief pitcher to homer in a postseason game., after Rosy Ryan in Game 3 of the 1924 World Series.  Wood appeared in 3 games of the 2016 World Series, giving up 2 hits and a run in 1 2/3 innings.  Following the season, he became a free agent.

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#22 – Bobby Thigpen

Name: Bobby Thigpen

Rank: 22

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1986-1993

Selected in the fourth round of the 1985 draft, Bobby Thigpen made his major league debut for the White Sox just over a year later, throwing 3 innings of mop-up relief in a 9-0 loss to the Red Sox on August 6 at Fenway Park.  He made 20 appearances over the final 2 months of the season, going 2-0 with a 1.77 ERA and 7 saves.

In 1987, Thigpen moved in to the closer role full time, replacing Bob James.  In 51 games, Thigpen racked up 16 saves while also putting up a 7-5 record with a 2.73 ERA.

Thigpen broke the White Sox team record for saves in 1988, with 34, while leading the league with 59 games finished.  He ended the year with a 5-8 record and a 3.30 ERA.  In 1989, he duplicated the effort with another 34 saves, though with a 2-6 record and a 3.76 ERA.

Thigpen’s 1990 season was one for the record books.  He earned his first All Star nod while on his way to setting the major league record with 57 saves.  He also led the league with 77 games and 73 games finished.  He ended the year with a 4-6 record and a 1.83 ERA as the surprising White Sox competed for the division title.  On September 30, he earned his 57th save while throwing the final pitch at Comiskey Park.  His year earned him 4th place in Cy Young Award voting and 5th place in Most Valuable Player considerations.

After the 1990 season, Thigpen joined other major league all stars on a tour of Japan.  Unfortunately, he would suffer a back injury that would plague him for the remainder of his career.  In 1991, he still managed to earn 30 saves, but his ERA jumped up to 3.49.

Thigpen struggled in 1992, setting a career high with a 4.75 ERA.  He earned only 22 saves, losing his grip on the closer role to both Scott Radinsky and Roberto Hernandez.  1993 was even worse, as his ERA jumped to 5.71 and he managed only 1 save in 25 appearances.  On August 10, he was traded to the Phillies for former teammate Jose DeLeon.  He left as the franchise’s all time leader with 201 saves, a position he still holds today.

Thigpen rejoined the White Sox organization in 2007, managing and coaching throughout the minor league system.  In 2013, he became the bullpen coach for the big league team, a position he held through the 2016 season.

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

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#40 – Scott Radinsky

Name: Scott Radinsky

Rank: 40

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1990-1995

Scott Radinsky was selected by the White Sox in 3rd round of the 1986 draft.  He made his major league debut on April 9, 1990, retiring the only batter he faced in a 2-1 victory over the Brewers at Comiskey Park.  He earned his first major league victory the following day.  With the surprising White Sox competing for a divisional title, Radinsky was a key component of the bullpen, going 6-1 with 4 saves in 62 appearances.  His performance enabled him to finish 9th in Rookie of the Year voting.

Radinsky improved in 1991, lowering his ERA by nearly 3 runs, to 2.02.  He finished the year 5-5 with 8 saves in 67 appearances.  1992 was more of the same, with a 2.73 ERA in 68 games.  He went 3-7 with 15 saves.

1993 saw Radinsky fall off somewhat, with his ERA jumping up to 4.28 despite earning an 8-2 record.  Despite the higher ERA, he set a career high to date for appearances and contributed to the White Sox earning their first division title in a decade.  He appeared in 4 of the 6 games in the ALCS against the Blue Jays, giving up 4 runs, 2 earned, in 1 2/3 innings pitched.

Radinsky missed the entire 1994 season while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Disease.  “Oh, it sucks to have a doctor tell you that you have cancer, but in the same breath, he told me that with aggressive treatment they can treat this particular disease,” he said.  He returned in 1995, appearing in only 46 games and with a ballooning ERA of 5.45.  Following the season, he became a free agent.

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

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#324 – Paul Assenmacher

Paul_Assenmacher_(1994_White_Sox)

Name: Paul Assenmacher

Rank: 324

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1994

When Scott Radinsky was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease following the 1993 season, he was forced to miss the entire 1994 season for treatment, leaving a left-handed hole in the White Sox bullpen.  As spring training was winding down, the White Sox acquired Paul Assenmacher from the Yankees in exchange for Brian Boehringer.

Assenmacher put up a respectable 3.55 ERA in 44 appearances before the season unceremoniously came to an early end due to the player’s strike.  That October, with the strike still in effect and the World Series cancelled for the first time, the White Sox declined to pick up Assenmacher’s $2.7 million option for 1995, making the lefty a free agent.

Assenmacher’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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