Last week, we looked at the first two regions of memories the White Sox had selected to celebrate the 25th anniversary of US Cellular Field. Today, we finish the job by looking at the last 2 brackets: Records and Milestones and Honors and More.
The Records and Milestones region spans the gamut of the 25 years the Comiskey Park II/US Cellular Field has been in service. Unlike the last 2 regions, I only attended 2 of these 8 games.
We start with the most recent game, from last October, where Chris Sale set the franchise’s single season strikeout total, doing battle against a July 2000 matchup between the Sox and Cardinals, where Frank Thomas surpassed Luke Appling as the franchise’s all time RBI leader with a first inning home run. I’ll select Thomas’ mark, as it represents a career mark over Sale’s single season record.
The second match-up is between Carlton Fisk breaking Bob Boone’s career record for games caught on June 22, 1991 against Bobby Jenks tying the MLB record for consecutive batters retires with 41, a mark that would be broken by teammate Mark Buehrle 2 years later.
Next, we have the first interleague game between the White Sox and the Cubs on June 16, 1997 versus Jim Thome’s 500th home run, a walk-off against the Angels on September 16, 2007, which just so happened to also be Jim Thome bobblehead day. How can you beat that kind of drama?
The final battle is between Jack McDowell, picking up his 20th win of the year on September 8, 1992, against Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on July 23, 2009. Buehrle easily takes this one.
Finally, we have the Honors and More region, where I’ve attended at least 5 of the events in the running.
The first match-up is the afternoon in 2010 when Frank Thomas’ #35 was retired going up against the dedication of the Harold Baines statue in 2008.
Next, we have the dedication of the Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox statues in 2006 versus the Minnie Minoso statue dedication in 2004.
The next match-up is the August 2010 game where the city’s world champions were honored following the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup battling the Rolling Stones concert that took place in September of 2002, the last concert to date at the ballpark.
Finally, we have the dedication of Championship Plaza in April 2008 going up against the All Star game in 2003.
None of these match-ups have anything to do with something on the field, so I don’t know how you choose one statue dedication over another.