TBrown54

Santo career WAR of 71 playing in hitter friendly confines, 20 points better than Minoso's, whose 50 was 11 points higher than Baines. I randomly checked a dozen or so HOF WARs and Baines 39 was higher only than Bill Mazeroski's! Even Lou Brock's was only in 40s.

Sometimes I think Kenny and his staff may not be very good at evaluating talent.

My guess is this is not a new topic, but Minoso was one of the early A.L. black (and Cuban) stars, had four 100+ RBI seasons, averaged 18 SBs and 90 RBIs per season, lifetime batting average: .298. His lifetime WAR of 50.5 maybe not great (I am new to WAR), but exceeds other HOFers (e.g. Larry Doby). Also, Online Book of Baseball site puts him at #6 on the list of the 10 Best Hitters of the 1950s (all others on the list are HOF). He must have been a dynamo on the 1950s GoGoSox. Is this an unjust omission or is Minoso's career stats and contributions not HOF caliber?

He was at a game 2 years ago signing autographs or just making an appearance as an alumnus in 100 level concourse on third base side, if I recall. He looked great for a guy his age, about 79.

That year was 1968, and the World Series with McLain's Tigers defeating Cardinals and Gibson in seven games was an absolute classic. I had thought Bob Gibson was invincible, but it was the Tigers with Mickey Lolich (3 Ws) who prevailed. For White Sox, it was one of the bleakest seasons in franchise history.

Sox developed Norm Cash, right? And names that come to mind in 1959-60 off-season are Johnny Callison and Earl Battey? Anyone else?

Thanks for that. I had never heard of him. Glancing at Baseball Reference, it looks like he pitched well for them in '59, went 13-5 with Cleveland in '61, and lasted a decade in majors. Would have turned 83 tomorrow.

The project described below -- one of several interrelated infrastructure improvement projects to South Side railways -- would solve the problem. For more information, just Google "Belt flyover" and access The 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project web site. The project is part of Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program. Pretty impressive. "Design of Metra Rock Island connection (P2) Project P2 will build a flyover structure to connect the Metra SouthWest Service (SWS) mainline tracks to the Rock Island Line. The design (Phase II) work will begin in 2019 and is expected to continue until 2022. CREATE Program partners are seeking construction (Phase III) funding for this project. The rail improvements will allow additional Metra trains to access LaSalle Street Station and passenger rail capacity gains at Union Station."

E blanking 6

Yes to both. I should point out that there was Metra special Sox train running outbound 30 minutes after each game during first 35th Street station season, around 2011. Bad idea due to lousy product. It ended when visions of packed trains with fans clad in Adam Dunn jerseys failed to materialize. (I like this current weeknight schedule better than a 30 minute wait after a game, anyway). So fans were stuck with bad schedule; the 9:45 and 11:15 trains from Loop that were in place long before 35th Street station. Apparently, Metra/RI no longer had interest in White Sox and White Sox certainly demonstrated no interest in Metra or it would not have taken 8 years to fix it. I think JR and White Sox were stuck in 1993, when 2.7 million to new stadium meant full parking lots every game. To your other question, White Sox are facing an 8th straight season of less than 2 million fans. With inept baseball operations in front office unable to develop stars and win, the organization must explore other avenues to attract fans during down years (down decade, in this case). This category of fans -- teens and early 20s adults in Southland, many who don't yet have cars, and even some who do -- can now get to games with their friends for only about $20: $10-12 for round trip train fare and $8 ticket at gate. These pre and post game, mostly alcohol free trains with these kids can generate energy and oxygen to a wheezing franchise. For this demographic, convenient public transportation is superior way to make new fans, and this will sell more tickets and concessions. Thanks for your comment and giving me opportunity to expand.

I don't doubt that Reinsdorf pushed to acquire a quality pitcher. Instead, Kenny and company got James Shields.

The Rock Island Schedule is Fixed! Attention Southlanders: You can now catch the Rock Island back to South Side and South/SW suburbs at 10:37 on weeknights; for longer games or extra innings, next/last train is at 11:52. Past years, trains were at 9:52 and 11:22. Choices were to watch 6 innings or watch a 3 hour/3-and-half hour game followed by a long, senseless wait on 35th Street platform. Number of weeknight games I attended before 2019: zero. However, the insane Reinsdorfian cash grab fantasy of 20,000 parked cars at $20 per vehicle has been defeated and common sense has won out. This must have been a very difficult thing for JR to give up (it was like waiting for Bill Wirtz to start televising Hawks home games or JR to fire Kenny). This past Monday and Thursday, the inbound train --- three cars -- was loaded with Sox fans, most in their teens and 20s, who boarded all along the line. It was a wonderful thing to behold. The train pulls into 35th St. about 30 minutes before first pitch (perfect). I only missed the last three outs Thursday to catch the 10:37. Good game, great time. Looking forward to next home stand. GOSOX!

We don't know, so I'll play it safe and vote Kenny.

Kenny performance was excellent for two years (out of 19) in 2004-05, with the deals he made. He successfully leveraged a contender --- built and handed to him by his predecessor --- to a World Series championship. The other 17 were poor, with the last decade a disaster.

January 28, 2006: Signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent. Technically, no, but I'll add him to Kenny's resume, help him get along in the world. We must hope he can land new Executive VP of Baseball Operations position.

Yeah, he's better and he's doing stuff with the community. If he becomes a a star would be a great thing for the franchise.

The man has little to work with. White Sox only established player does not even speak to electronic media. Cubs, Bears, and Hawks all have stars that casual Chicago fan knows about. I don't think Sox have had one since Konerko.

Might be happening. Kenny might play hardball negotiating to work him down to just $20 million this time. All in!

The merciful last gasp of Kenny's ruinous All In era.

I am proudly guilty as charged. Kenny had 2 good years (out of 19). He was handed a contender built by Ron Scheuler in 2000. He failed to improve the team from 2000-03. He struck gold with the deals he made in 2004-05. Since then, White Sox are consistently near the bottom of league in attendance, after being consistently over 2 million in early 2000s. Franchise's won/loss record since 2005 is bad, but the decline of the franchise in terms of fan interest is alarming, inexcusable. In the order of which front office executive is worse, only Reinsdorf merits higher ranking than Kenny.

Including one in Buerhle's perfect game. Alas, 2009 was a 79-83 campaign, the beginning of the first decade of darkness.

Sorry, but this amazing Chris Young find has to be Kenny's bonus. It could be worth a 10 year contract extension as Executive VP of Operations, launching a second consecutive decade of misery.

Thanks, Harold. Kenny should be notified immediately of this fantastic news.

Drafted by Kenny Williams in the 6th round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA). Yeah, I was sorry to see him go. I recall some late-inning, game winning hits before they traded him to usher in the disastrous "All In" era.

Bidding opens with Courtney Hawkins. Drafted by Kenny Williams in the 1st round (13th overall) of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft