Baseball egg

20 Greatest Chicago White Sox

20

Thornton Lee

Had a knee-high fastball and an off-speed pitch that was probably a cut fastball. For several seasons he was one of the five best pitchers in the American League.
19

Jose Abreu

The White Sox signed José to a six-year, $68 million contract before the 2014 season. In his first month in the majors he set a record for most RBI by a rookie in April. He had 29 home runs and 79 RBI at the All-Star break. Abreu received MVP votes in seven of his 11 seasons in the U.S., and in 2020 he was named American League Most Valuable Player. He became the third Cuban-born player to win the MVP, joining Zoilo Versalles and José Canseco. It’s clear that Abreu was a major league quality player years before he came to the United States. He’s one of the greatest power hitters to ever come from Cuba, and he etched his name in the record books in the U.S. too. I give him credit for another four years of All-Star level play in these rankings.
18

Fielder Jones

“He was a fiery competitor and imparted his tremendous enthusiasm to his men. He was the highly-strung type, but as cool as a lime rickey in a tight spot.” — Connie Mack (A lime rickey was a cocktail made with gin and bourbon.)
17

Ray Schalk

16

George Davis

15

Luis Aparicio

14

Doc White

13

Robin Ventura

12

Minnie Minoso

Miñoso had more than 4,000 hits in professional baseball: roughly 1,900 in Major League Baseball, 1,100 in the Mexican League and minors; and 1,000 hits in the Cuban League and the negro leagues. He’s one of nine hitters to top 4,000 professional hits. The other eight are (in order of hits): Pete Rose, Ichiro Suzuki, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Derek Jeter, Jigger Statz, Julio Franco, and Stan Musial.
11

Nellie Fox

“Nellie didn’t have a lot of natural ability. He didn’t have a great arm. He didn’t have too much speed. But he made himself a good ballplayer. The fans loved him because he was always hustling… He wanted to play every day. If I sat him on the bench, he’d pester everybody to death. He loved to play, and many times he played hurt.” — manager Al López
10

Mark Buehrle

But he had three things that worked heavily in his favor: (1) he was an excellent fielding pitcher, (2) he held runners on the base, and finally (3) Buehrle pitched very quickly. A common phrase in Chicago during his career was “When the pitcher is Buehrle, you’re going home early.”
9

Billy Pierce

“That little so-and-so is a marvel. So little, and all that speed. And I mean speed! He got me out of there on a fastball in the ninth that I’d have needed a telescope to see.” — Joe DiMaggio
8

Wilbur Wood

7

Eddie Cicotte

Eddie Cicotte was a tall right-hander who could throw anything to the plate and get batters to swing and miss. He had a two-seam fastball, a four-seam fastball that seemed to rise, a screwball, and a slider. Like most top pitchers of his era, Cicotte threw a spitball. But his favorite pitch was his knuckler, he was one of the first pitchers to master it. His best knuckler actually curved while it floated through the air with little or no spin.
6

Red Faber

Faber was a cantankerous competitor famous for his ability to suppress the powerful bat of Jimmie Foxx. In six seasons facing Red, the future Hall of Fame slugger hit a paltry .197 (12-for-61) with zero home runs. But the accomplishment that Faber was most proud of was his performance over a nine-day period in the 1917 World Series. In Game Two, he used his spitter to scramble eight hits and defeat the Giants. Four days later he started Game Four and pitched seven innings, but took the loss. He tossed two hitless innings in Game Five, earning the win in relief. Two days later, Faber pitched a complete game for his third victory as the White Sox finished off New York to claim the title. In the course of just over a week, Faber had pitched 27 innings, allowing only five earned runs, while walking only three batters.
5

Ed Walsh

“If Ed Walsh was not the greatest pitcher who ever lived, he was certainly the most valuable in his prime. He could pitch as well as anyone. But he had tremendous added value because his great strength allowed him to pitch out of turn and save a whole raft of games for other pitchers.”
4

Eddie Collins

As a player, Collins was athletic with boundless energy. His tentpole skills were hitting, toughness, and speed. Everywhere Eddie went on a baseball field, he ran. He choked up on the bat and hit the ball to the opposite field more than he pulled it. He was overshadowed as an offensive force because he arrived in the league almost precisely when Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker did. Cobb was born in December of 1886, Collins was born five months later, and Speaker was born the following April. They played in the American League together for 22 years, the last season as teammates.
3

Frank Thomas

2

Ted Lyons

Lyons was known for pitching once per week late in his career. That’s why they called him “Sunday Teddy.” He basically worked that way exclusively after the age of 33, extending his career to the age of 45, often tossing a knuckleball. Lyons made by far the most “well-rested” starts in history: 175 starts on six days of rest or more.
1

Luke Appling

A few of the best “old” shortstops in history were Hans Wagner, Bad Bill Dahlen, Willie Wells, Ozzie Smith, and Omar Vizquel. But the best was Luke Appling. “Ol Aches and Pains” was playing a very good shortstop when he was 36 years old, in fact that was his second-best season. His fifth-best season came when he was 39. Ate age 42, Appling produced a 5-WAR season.