Well, things started off looking like another disappointing, ho-hum week until Thursday, when a combination of a meeting in North plaza followed by a post-work pub crawl and the midnight showing of Batman led to 2 above average days, including the first day over 10,000 steps since April 9th. Saturday included a trip to the Cell for Grinder Bash, a party for White Sox season ticket holders.
Name: Tom Fordham
Rank: 371
Position: P
Years With White Sox: 1997-1998
Tom Fordham spent a little more than a year in the major leagues over the course of 2 forgettable seasons. He made his major league debut on August 19, 1997 and his final appearance on August 30, 1998. In between, he managed to win 1 game.
Fordham’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
Name: Wayne Tolleson
Rank: 372
Position: P
Year With White Sox: 1986
When Ken Harrelson was named general manager of the White Sox following the 1985 season, his first major move was trading Scott Fletcher and heralded prospect Ed Correa to the Rangers in exchange for Dave Schmidt and Wayne Tolleson. “Wayne Tolleson gives us a versatile infielder who’s a switch hitter and a base-stealing threat,” Harrelson said. “He has played second, short and third, and he can play any of those spots for us.”
He certainly didn’t do so for long, as Tolleson’s tenure on the south side ended on July 30, 1986, when he was sent to the Yankees along with Ron Kittle and Joel Skinner for Ron Hassey, Carlos Martinez, and a player to be named later who eventually became Bill Lindsey.
Tolleson’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:
Name: Wes Whisler
Rank: 373
Position: P
Year With White Sox: 2009
Wes Whisler managed to get in to 3 games during his brief tenure with the 2009 White Sox, and 2 of them were scoreless appearances. The third, however, was far from it, and that happened to be his one game that I managed to see live and in person. As you can imagine, he left quite an impression.
Midway through the 2010 season, he was basically given away to the Marlins, and eventually found himself back in the White Sox organization before being released earlier this spring.
Whisler’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
As we head in to the All Star Break, the White Sox are in first place and I’ve been to 20 games. Here’s the team’s records for those 20 games.
| TeamCity | TeamName | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Nationals | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Kansas City | Royals | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Boston | Red Sox | 2 | 1 | 0.667 |
| Chicago | White Sox | 12 | 8 | 0.600 |
| Seattle | Mariners | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Houston | Astros | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Toronto | Blue Jays | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Continue reading → |
Name: Raul Casanova
Rank: 374
Position: C
Year With White Sox: 2005
Raul Casanova spent parts of 9 seasons in the big leagues over the course of his 12 year career, and a grand total of 6 games as a member of the White Sox. Those 6 games (and 5 AB) happened to come in the right year, though, as he will go down in history as a member of the first World Series champion to grace the city of Chicago in 88 years.
Casanova’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season. The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.
| Team | Won | Lost |
Predicted Wins |
PredictedLosses | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL East | |||||
| New York Yankees | 49 | 32 | 95 | 67 |
After a slow-ish start, a long winning streak moved the Yankees back into first place despite an injury-ravaged pitching staff. |
| Baltimore Orioles | 44 | 37 | 63 | 99 | One of the surprises of the first half, theOrioles need only 19 second half wins to match their predicted output. |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 43 | 39 | 92 | 70 | Tampa has continued to keep things togetherwhile once again losing Evan Longoria for an extended period of time. |
| Boston Red Sox | 42 | 40 | 91 | 71 | After their collapse at the end of last season,the Red Sox have struggled to stay above .500 in the first half. |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 42 | 40 | 85 | 77 | The Blue Jays were having a strong half beforelosing nearly their entire starting rotation in one weeks time. |
| AL Central | |||||
| Chicago White Sox | 44 | 37 | 67 | 95 | While most people did not expect the White Soxto be as bad as SI did, nobody thought they would be in first place at the halfway point. |
| Cleveland Indians | 42 | 39 | 80 | 82 | The Indians have been right around where expected, a little over .500 instead of a little under. |
| Detroit Tigers | 40 | 42 | 93 | 69 | The Tigers were expected to run away and hide in this division, but they have been unable to outhit their poor pitching performance to date. |
| Kansas City Royals | 36 | 44 | 82 | 80 | Eric Hosmer’s sophomore slump has held back the developing Royals. |
| Minnesota Twins | 35 | 46 | 72 | 90 | Could this be the end of the Ron Gardenhire era? The Twins are woefully bad for the second straight year. |
| AL West | |||||
| Texas Rangers | 50 | 32 | 94 | 68 | After losing back-to-back World Series, the Rangers look to be stronger than ever. |
| Los Angeles Angels | 45 | 37 | 97 | 65 | The Angels, and new acquisition Albert Pujols, got off to a slow start before putting things together with the arrival of Mike Trout. |
| Oakland A’s | 41 | 42 | 68 | 94 | The A’s have been much better than expected in the first half. |
| Seattle Mariners | 35 | 49 | 64 | 98 | The Mariners have struggled offensively again in the first half. |
Name: Ed Correa
Rank: 375
Position: P
Year With White Sox: 1985
Ed Correa was probably my first introduction to the promising young player in Triple A who was bound to come up to the big leagues and become a huge star, only to see him flame out. Correa, as I recall, was supposed to be the next big thing who would lead the White Sox back to the post-season, but after 5 mediocre appearances during the 1985 season, he was moved, along with Scott Fletcher, to Texas for the overwhelming tandem of Dave Schmidt and Wayne Tolleson.
Correa’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:
It’s been a busy couple of days in the Chicago baseball universe. After nearly three months of futility at the hot corner, the White Sox shipped Zach Stewart and Brent Lillibridge to the Red Sox for the services of Kevin Youkilis on Sunday afternoon. Less than 24 hours later, the Cubs finally decided to call up their latest superstar-of-the-future Anthony Rizzo, now that they have successfully manipulated his free agent status.
Youkilis, whose time in Boston was brought to a premature end thanks to the emergence of Will Middlebrooks, has been fighting injuries and the suggestions that he’s not the player he once was. Even if that is true, he should be an improvement over the incumbents, who have managed to put together numbers that, to this point, have been surpassed by, among others, the Washington Nationals pitching staff. Even a broken down Youkilis should be an upgrade as the White Sox try to make a run at the AL Central crown. Orlando Hudson moves to the bench, but I would be surprised if he finishes the season with the Sox.
Meanwhile, the performance of the Chicago Cubs this season makes the White Sox third basemen look like all-stars. However, the one person putting up numbers has been buried in Des Moines, with the new leadership of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer tanking the 2012 season in the hopes of securing the 2019 season. At the end of the day, it may end up having been the correct decision, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it now for the people who have plunked down their hard earned money to watch (or not, if the empty seats and StubHub listings are to be believed) the mess that is the 2012 Cubs, who may end up with the worst record in franchise history. Now the pressure is on Rizzo to save the season and prove that he was worth the wait.
Name: Mike Bertotti
Rank: 376
Position: P
Years With White Sox: 1995-1997
Mike Bertotti made his major league debut on July 29, 1995 for the White Sox, picking up the victory against the Orioles. Less than 2 years later, he ended his career facing one batter in another White Sox victory, this time against the A’s. In between, he managed 26 other mostly mediocre appearances during parts of 3 disappointing seasons for the South Siders.
Bertotti’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: