Name: Ron Karkovice
Rank: 72
Position: C
Years With White Sox: 1986-1997
Ron Karkovice joined the White Sox organization as their first round selection in the 1982 draft. He made his major league debut on August 17, 1986, going 1-4 in the White Sox 7-4 victory over the Brewers at Comiskey Park while catching future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. He appeared in 36 additional games, hitting .247, as the White Sox rolled to their worst record since 1980.
Karkovice broke camp with the White Sox in 1987, but was completely overmatched on offense. He appeared in 39 games, getting only 85 at bats and hitting an anemic .071. He didn’t do much better in Triple A, putting up a .183 average for Hawaii.
He returned to Triple A for 1988, but got some extended playing time in the big leagues when Carlton Fisk went down with a broken hand. In 46 games, Karkovice hit .174 and drove in 9 runs.
Karkovice stuck in the big leagues for good starting in 1989. Getting more regular playing time, he improved his average to a career high .264 while splitting time behind the plate with Fisk. 1990 was more of the same for Karkovice, as he appeared in 68 games and hit .246.
As the White Sox moved across the street to the new Comiskey Park in 1991, Karkovice had a near repeat of his 1990 season, finishing with the same average and nearly the same power numbers. In 1992, Karkovice finally supplanted Fisk and became the primary backstop. Appearing in 123 games, he hit .237 but saw his home runs increase to 13.
Karkovice appeared in a career high 128 games for the 1993 White Sox, as the team captured their first division title in a decade. He went hitless during the ALCS as the White Sox fell to the Blue Jays in 6 games. 1994 saw his offensive numbers continue to fall, as his average dropped to .213, partially due to a sore knee, before the season came to an untimely end due to the strike.
When baseball returned in 1995, Karkovice was back behind the plate for the White Sox. He appeared in 113 games and saw his average bounce back slightly to .217. 1996 was more of the same for Karkovice, as he appeared in 111 games and hit .220 with 10 home runs, before undergoing knee surgery in September.
Things went south for Karkovice and the White Sox in 1997. By the middle of May, he had been replaced as the starting catcher by Chad Kreuter. By the middle of July, he had fallen to third on the depth chart, behind the newly acquired Jorge Fabergas and veteran Tony Pena. He had requested to be released at the end of May, but was refused by general manager Ron Schueler. He finished the year with only 51 appearances and an average that had dropped to .181. He became a free agent at the end of the year, but never played in the major leagues again.
Karkovice’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
