Tag / Twins

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#250 – Scott Sullivan

ssullivanName: Scott Sullivan

Rank: 250

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2003

With the White Sox flirting with contention towards the end of August in 2003, they made a trade to bolster their bullpen, acquiring Scott Sullivan from the Reds in exchange for Tim Hummel and cash.  Sullivan pitched decently down the stretch, but the White Sox fell out of contention and finished 4 games behind the Twins.  Following the season, Sullivan became a free agent and moved on to greener pastures.

Sullivan’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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#261 – Roy Smalley

roysmalleyName: Roy Smalley

Rank: 261

Position: 3B

Year With White Sox: 1984

Roy Smalley came to the White Sox on July 18, 1984 from the Yankees in exchange for Kevin Hickey and future Cy Young award winner Doug Drabek.  The Sox took a chance that Smalley could help wake up their struggling club and help them to repeat as champions of the American League West.  He hit .239 with the Yankees, but the change of scenery didn’t end his struggles.  Smalley appeared hesitant defensively at third base and out of sync at the plate, hitting an anemic .170 in 48 games with the Sox.

The next February, the White Sox sent Smalley to the Twins, in exchange for minor leaguers Ron Scheer and Randy Johnson (no, not that Randy Johnson).  Under an unusual arrangement, the Twins had to keep Smalley for at least two years, at which point they had the option of returning him to the Sox.  Smalley ended up playing three years with the Twins before he, and the 3 years and $1.6 remaining on his contract, was shipped back to Chicago.

After adjusting things to make room for him during spring training, the White Sox made Smalley their final cut coming out of spring training.  “They’ve got a direction they are going in,” Smalley said. “It was obvious from the beginning that the direction didn’t include me.”  Despite not making the team, Smalley impressed the Sox brass.  “He’s a fine young man,” said Sox manager Jim Fregosi.  “He handled himself very well.”  The 35-year old Smalley never played in the major leagues again.

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

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#268 – Aaron Miles

xnldXs9TName: Aaron Miles

Rank: 268

Position: 2B

Year With White Sox: 2003

Aaron Miles was selected by the White Sox from the Astros in the minor league portion of the 2000 Rule V draft.  He made his major league debut for the White Sox on September 11, 2003, going 0 for 1 as a pinch hitter in the Sox loss to the Twins.  He appeared in 7 additional games for the White Sox that September, finishing with a .333 batting average.

That December, he was moved to the Rockies in exchange for Juan Uribe.

Miles’ numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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Ballpark Tour: Comiskey Park II/US Cellular Field

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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.

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2013 Final Standings

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersA miserable baseball season in the city of Chicago came to an end last weekend, with the White Sox and the Cubs combining for the most losses in the history of the teams sharing the city.  I saw less than half of the teams in the league this year, and attended on 29 games, the fewest I’ve seen since I started getting Cub season tickets back in 2002.  On the bright side, the White Sox and Cubs will both draft in the top 5 next June, which will hopefully help them both get back to the top of their respective Central divisions sooner rather than later.

That said, here’s our final look at the records in games I attended this past season.

 
TeamCity TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Cleveland Indians 4 0 1
Tampa Bay Rays 2 0 1
Chicago Cubs 2 0 1
Minnesota Twins 4 1 0.8
Kansas City Royals 3 1 0.75
Los Angeles Angels 1 1 0.5
Chicago White Sox 11 16 0.407407407407407
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by jim

Looking To Next Year

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersWith the 2013 season limping to the finish line, it became time to look forward to next year on Tuesday when the White Sox released their 2014 schedule.  The south siders begin the 2014 campaign at home against the Twins on March 31.

Inter-league matchups against the NL West include home dates against the Diamondbacks, Giants, and Padres.  The White Sox will travel to Los Angeles for yet another tilt with their opponent from the 1959 World Series and will also make their first ever trip to Colorado to face the Rockies.  The team will also split a 4 game series against the Cubs, 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.

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Ballpark Tour: Comerica Park

Comerica

Stadium Name: Comerica Park

Location: Detroit

Home Team: Tigers

Years in Service: 2000 – Present

Visits: 2

After 87 seasons at Tiger Stadium, the Tigers opened their new stadium in 2000 on a snowy afternoon against the Mariners.  In contrast to Tiger Stadium, which had been considered one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball, Comerica Park is considered to be extremely friendly to pitchers.  After years of irrelevance, the new stadium was one step leading the Tigers back to contention, which they achieved in 2006, making the World Series and being in the hunt every year since.

The White Sox were 3.5 games behind the Twins for the AL Central lead heading into a Labor Day holiday series against the Tigers in 2010.  After they split the first 2 games of the series, I decided to head up to Detroit to take in the final two games, my first trip to Comerica Park.  I had booked a room at the Caesars hotel and casino in Windsor, so I drove up to Canada and checked in prior to the night’s game back in Detroit.  I booked a round trip on a bus back to the US which dropped me off near the park, where I took in the Tigers 5-1 victory.  The next afternoon, I drove back to Detroit and stopped for the afternoon’s series finale, which the Tigers once again won.

The stadium itself was a vast improvement over Tiger Stadium.  For the first game, I sat in the upper deck behind home plate and had a good view of the entire field.  For the second game, I was right behind the White Sox dugout, which, while a bit pricey, did provide another nice view.  The only disappointment, besides the play of the south siders, was the food.  Since the Tigers owner also owns Little Caesars pizza, that is the food that is available.  I remember making it through a few bites before leaving the pizza underneath my seat for whoever wanted it.

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#289 – Jeff Carter

jeff_carter_autograph

Name: Jeff Carter

Rank: 289

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1991

Jeff Carter came to the White Sox organization in the Decmber 23, 1990 trade that sent Tim Raines from the Expos in exchange for Ivan Calderon and Barry Jones.  Carter made it to the big leagues on July 29, 1991, replacing an ineffective Greg Hibbard on the roster.  He made his major league debut 2 days later, getting the start in the White Sox 10-8 victory over the Rangers at new Comiskey Park.

Carter appeared in 4 other games over the course of the season, finishing up with 2 innings of relief in the second game of a double header against the Twins on October 3rd, which ended up being the final appearance of his White Sox, and major league, career.

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

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#290 – Jason Bourgeois

s080319_rockies-whitesox

Name: Jason Bourgeois

Rank: 290

Position: 2B

Year With White Sox: 2008

Jason Bourgeois joined the White Sox organization as a minor league free agent prior to the 2007 season.  He made his major league debut for the White Sox on September 9, 2008, pinch running for Paul Konerko in a 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays.  Bourgeois made it into 6 games during the final month of 2008 as the White Sox battled the Twins for the AL Central crown and his one claim to fame is that he became the last player to get his first major league hit at the original Yankee Stadium.

Following the season, Bourgeois became a free agent and his brief tenure on the South Side came to an end.

Bourgeois’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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#293 – Horacio Ramirez

Chicago+White+Sox+v+New+York+Yankees+C0Iftp-TclamName: Horacio Ramirez

Rank: 293

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2008

On August 8, 2008, the White Sox beat the Red Sox to remain tied with the Twins for first place in the AL Central.  The following day, they made a move to bolster their bullpen, acquiring Horacio Ramirez from the Royals for minor leaguer Paulo Orlando.

Ramirez appeared in 17 games in the final two months of the season, only 2 of which came after September 8, putting up a horrible 7.62 as the White Sox furiously battled the Twins for the division title.  Unsurprisingly, he was left off the playoff roster and, after the White Sox dropped the division series to the eventual AL champion Rays, his White Sox career came to an end.

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

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