What player would you most like to have seen play for Sox?

[SoxFan1]

Please elaborate using statistics.

Pitchers/hitters now > pitchers/hitters then. There's my statistics.

[Gregory Pratt]

No arguing with that.

[GoodAsGould]

The players Id like to see who play now most in a whitesox uniform are Hanley Ramirez, Grady Sizemore, Nick Markakis, and Johnny Cueto.

[TLAK]

Players I’d like to have seen play for the White Sox but never did.

 

The Orlando Cabrerra of 2007.

The Nick Swisher of 2006.

The Ken Griffey of 1997.

The Jim Thome of 2002.

The Javier Vazquez of 2001.

…

 

[Soxfest]

Reggie Jackson

[The Beast]

I wish I could have seen...

 

Sammy Sosa (I wish I was old enough to remember seeing him play with the Sox---I wish the Sox never traded him and that he did wonderful things for us.)

Roger Clemens (We got Navarro instead.)

Mike Sirotka (I always thought he was exciting to watch.)

Frank Thomas (1993, 1994 seasons)

Eric Gagne (We drafted him at one point.)

Ichiro Suzuki

John Lackaff (A guy from my area drafted by the Sox at one point.)

Kevin Dubler (Who knows if he'll ever make it, I just covered him as a reporter for my high school's newspaper.)

Michael Jordan (I was too young to care about baseball then.)

The wasted draft picks on the kids of the White Sox, so then I could laugh at them. (Williams, Guillen, Schaffer?)

Alex Rodriguez (Meh. He still pisses me off to this day.)

Josh Hamilton (Today's Josh Hamilton or the Hamilton of 1999.)

Mark Prior (A healthy Prior)

[Kyyle23]

I wish I could have seen...

 

Sammy Sosa (I wish I was old enough to remember seeing him play with the Sox---I wish the Sox never traded him and that he did wonderful things for us.)

Roger Clemens (We got Navarro instead.)

Mike Sirotka (I always thought he was exciting to watch.)

Frank Thomas (1993, 1994 seasons)

Eric Gagne (We drafted him at one point.)

Ichiro Suzuki

John Lackaff (A guy from my area drafted by the Sox at one point.)

Kevin Dubler (Who knows if he'll ever make it, I just covered him as a reporter for my high school's newspaper.)

Michael Jordan (I was too young to care about baseball then.)

The wasted draft picks on the kids of the White Sox, so then I could laugh at them. (Williams, Guillen, Schaffer?)

Alex Rodriguez (Meh. He still pisses me off to this day.)

Josh Hamilton (Today's Josh Hamilton or the Hamilton of 1999.)

Mark Prior (A healthy Prior)

 

I dont really understand this one? Do you wish Sirotka stayed? Stayed Healthy? Were you unable to watch him for some reason?

 

As Sox fans, we got to see the best of Mike, he really never pitched in the majors again

 

[The Beast]

I wish he stayed healthy and that we held onto him instead of dealing him for the fat f***.

[ChWRoCk2]

Favorite players always has been Griffey, so my answer is Griffey.

 

Must say it has been pretty bittersweet thus far watching him play in a Sox uniform.

[southsider2k5]

Lynn Nolan Ryan.

[greg775]

Brett was damn good in his prime and after his prime. George Brett was a difference maker. We'd have done the same thing as the Royals did with him, make 2 World Series. They won one; we'd have won one or two.

[almagest]

We've had this argument before. Ruth was a fat white man who annihilated the pitching of other fat white men. Bonds > Ruth. As is Aaron, and eventually Rodriguez will be as well.

Ruth also played in the dead ball era for a large part of his career, and played in parks much larger than those of today. His slugging percentage would be higher, and he'd have quite a few more home runs if he played in today's parks:

 

As impressive as Ruth's 1921 numbers were, they could have been more so under modern conditions. Bill Jenkinson's 2006 book, The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, attempts to examine each of Ruth's 714 career home runs, plus several hundred long inside-the-park drives and "fair-foul" balls. Until 1931 in the AL, balls that hit the foul pole were considered ground-rule doubles, and balls that went over the wall in fair territory but hooked foul were ruled foul. Many fields, including Ruth's home Polo Grounds, had exceptionally deep center fields--in the Polo Grounds' case, nearly five hundred feet. The author concluded that Ruth would have been credited with 104 home runs in 1921, if modern rules and field dimensions were in place.

 

Also mentioned in that article is that the White Sox were second in the bidding for Ruth -- how different would this franchise have been if we were able to get him?

Edited August 4, 2008 by almagest

[whitesoxfan101]

Ruth also played in the dead ball era for a large part of his career, and played in parks much larger than those of today. His slugging percentage would be higher, and he'd have quite a few more home runs if he played in today's parks:

 

 

 

Also mentioned in that article is that the White Sox were second in the bidding for Ruth -- how different would this franchise have been if we were able to get him?

 

Your points hold merit on Ruth, as the rules of his time cost him a lot of home runs. But at the same time, had he played today, his off the field actions would get him killed by the media, he wouldn't hit nearly as well with how much better the pitching is, he had the advantage of facing ONLY white/American players, and he would have some problems now IMO. I think Ruth could be an everyday player today, which is moreso a statement as to how great and ahead of his time he was when he played, but he wouldn't have done nearly the same kinds of things had he played now.

 

The interesting thing though, to me, is the old foul pole rule. For years in the early 1900's, this rule was like the DH rule is now, because in the AL a ball off the foul pole was a ground rule double, and in the NL it was a home run. The foul pole rules in all star games and world series were actually determined by what league's park the game was at I think. How strange, Ruth probably would have a few extra homers had the Yankees just been an NL team. He'd probably still have the all time home run record if not for the rule that a ball that landed in foul ground was a foul ball, even if it went over the wall in fair ground.

Edited August 4, 2008 by whitesoxfan101

[RME JICO]

Lynn Nolan Ryan.

Is that so Robin doesn't get put in a head lock and punched in the face?

[moneyman6544]

Rod Carew

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Bob Gibson

[whitesoxbrian]

Darrin Jackson

[BaseballNick]

Babe Ruth

Roberto Clemente

Willie Mays

Bob Gibson

and I wish I could've seen Joe Jackson when he was here.

 

[greg775]

Where's the love for George Brett? I saw him whack a ball off the right field upper deck facade on the first pitch of a game at Comiskey one year. The Royals got four runs in the first inning thanks in part to Alan Bannister throwing the ball over Jim Spencer's head into the stands. The Sox got five in the first before a full house and won a memorable thriller.

George Brett was a great great hitter and would have been great in Comiskey playing with his brother, Ken.

Edited August 5, 2008 by greg775