White Sox History: Past Rookie of the Year winners

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CHICAGO – OCTOBER 28: Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen waves to fans from a double-decker bus during a ticker-tape parade for the White Sox baseball team October 28, 2005 in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series in 88 years after beating the Houston Astros in a four-game sweep. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images) /

The MLB 2018 Rookie of the Year Awards were announced on Monday and unfortunately, White Sox rookie Daniel Palka did not win.

While the White Sox outfielder and power hitter qualified for the award, he didn’t finish in the top. Instead, the award went to Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna, Jr. instead. And, their wins were not without controversy.

Instead of revisiting the controversy of the 2018 selections, let’s take a good look at the Rookie of the Year winners who were White Sox players. Six men have won the award while wearing the black and white pinstripes, and they were all very deserving of the award.

The six awards ties the storied Chicago franchise with two others in the AL: the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox. Only the Oakland A’s with seven winners and the New York Yankees with 9 winners have more ROY winners.

Following the White Sox are the teams with five winners, the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins. The Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians both have four winners. The Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays each have three. The Los Angeles Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, and Texas Rangers all have two ROY winners. At the bottom is the Houston Astros with one ROY. This leaves four winners who were on teams that are no longer a part of the AL – the Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Dodgers.

When the award was first given, only one player received it for the first two years. Jackie Robinson won the first award in 1947 when he played for Brooklyn. Alvin Dark won it in 1948; he was a right-handed shortstop for the Boston Braves.

Robinson set the stage for the Rookie of the Year award as Dodgers rookies have won the award 17 times. This is the most winners in one team in the MLB. The Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves have the second and third most winners in the NL.

As a fun little trivia tidbit, the ROY award was originally named for J. Louis Comiskey who owned the White Sox.

CHICAGO, IL – MAY 23: Paul onerko #14 of the Chicago White Sox had his number retired before the start of the game against the Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field on May 23, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images) /

The first Venezuelan native inducted into the Hall of Fame was also the first Rookie of the Year to wear a Chicago White Sox uniform.

Luis Aparacio debuted at Comiskey Park in game one of the 1956 season with a single and he never looked back.

Aparacio won the Rookie of the Year vote with 22 of the 24 available first-place votes. The other two votes went to Rocky Colavito of the Cleveland Indians and Tito Francona of the Baltimore Orioles. In the NL, all 24 votes went to Frank Robinson.

The 5’9 Aparacio was a phenom in his rookie season – and throughout his career. That first year with the Sox, he played in 152 games with 583 plate appearances. He wasn’t much of a home run hitter, but that’s ok.

Aparacio could run, and he led the league as a rookie in stolen bases with 21. He bested that number every year until 1967 at age 32, when he stole 18. In 1959, he stole a career-high and league-high 56 bases.

He had several other notable stats. “Little Louie” walked 34 times and struck out 63. His slash that first season was .266/.311/.341.

Compare that to Ohtani’s stats in 2018. He played in 93 games and stole 10 bases. Granted, he was pitching in some of those games. He walked 37 times and struck out 102 times – and hit 22 home runs. His rookie slash was .285/.361/.564.

Aparacio is in well-deserved elite company. Only five AL Rookie of the Year winners have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. He shares this honor with Rod Carew of the Twins, Carlton Fisk of the Red Sox (and White Sox for short time), Eddie Murray of the Orioles, and Cal Ripkin, Jr of the Orioles.

CHICAGO – SEPTEMBER 1993: A general view of the field and scoreboard at Comiskey Park circa September 1993 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

The next Rookie of the Year winner might not be a household name with modern White Sox fans, but he should be.

In 1963, Gary Peters was the best rookie player in the AL and he just happened to be an outstanding starting pitcher. He finished his rookie season with an ERA of 2.33 in 41 games and 30 starts.

Pitchers were completely different animals in the 1960s. And, Peters shows why. Before his rookie season in 1963, he had four cups of coffee with the Sox, pitching in 21 innings between 1959 and 1962. Then, in his rookie season, he threw 243 innings. It’s rare to see today’s pitchers not named Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Clayton Kershaw, or Justin Verlander reach 200 innings. And, rookie pitchers never throw anything near 200 innings. Michael Fulmer, the most recent ROY pitcher, only threw 159 innings in 2016. I 2013, Jose Fernandez threw 172.2 innings in his rookie season.

Throughout his career, Peters did not earn many other awards. But, the ones he did win were notable. He won the ERA title twice – in 1963 and in 1966 with an ERA of 1.98. Along with those two ERA titles, he was also named the All-Star team in 1964 and 1967. Remember, he was a contemporary of remarkable pitchers like Bob Gibson (who had an ERA title in 1968 with a 1.12) and Sandy Koufax who had ERA titles in 1962-1966 – his best was 1.73 in ’66.

He never won a Cy Young Award, but he finished in the top 10 in MVP votes in three of his seasons. Peter’s career ERA in 14 seasons was 3.25. He played 11 years in Chicago and three with the White Sox.

Interestingly, Peters biggest competition for the ROY award was his teammate, Pete Ward who received 30% of the votes. Peters won 50% of the votes. Jimmie Hall of the Twins received the remaining 20%.

23 Jul 1995: A wide general view of the baseball diamond at Comiskey Park taken during a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago, Illinois. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel /Allsport /

It only took three years until the White Sox had their next Rookie of the Year Award winner.

This time, it was outfielder Tommie Agee who came to the Sox via three-team trade that involved the White Sox, Cleveland Indians, and Kansas City Athletics. Interestingly, Rocky Colavito – who lost out to Aparacio in the ROY vote in 1956 – was involved in the complicated trade.

Agee made his debut with the Indians in 1962, but he only played in five games that season. In the following two seasons with the Indians, he played in 26 games. After the trade to Chicago, the Sox put him in 13 games. But, in 1966, he played in 160 games and hit .273/.326/.447 with 22 home runs, eight triples, and 27 doubles. He also stole 44 bases and walked 41 times. He did strikeout 127 times.

In the 1966 season, he was an All-Star, voted into 8th in the MVP race, and won a Gold Glove for his work in center field. He followed up that season with another All-Star performance despite his stats dropping off to .234/.302/.371 with 14 home runs.

Agee didn’t stay with many teams for very long. He played two full seasons with the Sox and was then traded to the Mets, where he played from 1968 to 1972. In 1973, his final season in the MLB he played for the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals.

The other players who were in the running for the ROY award were Jim Nash of the Kansas City Athletics, Davey Johnson of the Orioles, and George Scott of Boston. Agee received 16 of the first place votes.

Agee died in 2001 at the age of 58.

Designated hitter Ron Kittle of the Chicago White Sox swings at the ball. /

The 1970s were not kind to the White Sox. The team hovered around the .500-mark and didn’t see any time in the playoffs.

The 80s saw better baseball come to the South Side. And Ron Kittle was part of it for a little while. The outfielder received the Rookie of the Year Award in 1983.

His best season was his rookie season, while despite striking out a league-leading 150 times, he had a slash of .254/.314/.504 with and 35 home runs, 100 RBI, and 19 doubles. Along with the ROY award, Kittle also went to the All-Star Game.

The next Rookie of the Year winner – Ozzie Guillen – won it in 1985. Then, he spent 13 years in the White Sox pinstripes.

After a few seasons with the Orioles, Braves, and then Devil Rays, he returned to Chicago to manage the Sox from 2004 until 2011. During this time, he led them to World Series in 2005 making him the first Latino manager to win a World Series. That same year, he was selected as the Manager of the Year by the BBWAA.

Back in 1985, Guillen proved to be a solid player on defense and offense. He finished the season with 491 at-bats and a slash of .273/.291/.358 with 21 doubles, 9 triples, and 7 stolen bases. As the short stop, he had a fielding percentage of .980 and a range of 4.50.

TORONTO – APRIL 12: Manager Ozzie Guillen #13 of the Chicago White Sox smiles against the Toronto Blue Jays during their MLB game at the Rogers Centre April 12, 2010 in Toronto, Ontario.(Photo By Dave Sandford/Getty Images) /

His competition for Rookie of the Year include Teddy Higuera and Ernie Riles of the Brewers. On the NL side, Vince Coleman of the Cardinals took top honors.

During his career with the Sox, Guillen was a three-time All-Star and he won a Gold Glove Award. His career slash was similar to his rookie season: .264/.287/.338. He never became a power hitter, but he could get on base. In his first seven years with the Sox, he played in an average of 154.7 games, making him a reliable presence in the middle infield.

He only played 12 games in 1992 after hyper-extending his knee in a collision with Tim Raines in a game against the Yankees. At the time, Guillen was one of the best short stops in the league.

Guillen hasn’t managed in the MLB since his final season with the Miami Marlins in 2012. The team did not go well. With the trend of hiring new faces as managers, Guillen might not get another chance, which is too bad. His aggressive style of playing and managing was fun to watch.

CHICAGO, IL – JULY 23: JoseAbreu #79 of the Chicago White Sox hits a double in the 1st inning against the Kansas City Royals at U.S. Cellular Field on July 23, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

In 2014, two of the best players ever to man first base were on the team. As Paul Konerko closed out his career, Jose Abreu‘s was just beginning.

With the biggest shoes to fill, Abreu did it with style and power. So much so that he easily took home the trophy for Rookie of the Year.

CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 26: Jose Abreu #79 of the Chicago White Sox holds the 2014 rookie of the year award before the game against the Kansas City Royals on April 26, 2015 at U. S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois.The game was a continuation of a suspended game from April 24, 2015. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images) /

Entering the MLB at age 27, Abreu showed that Sox fans had nothing to worry about as Paulie would have a worthy replacement. His rookie slash was an eye-popping .317/.383/.581. He hit 36 home runs and 107 RBI.

Abreu’s rookie season was nothing short of amazing. He was named an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award, and finished fourth in the MVP vote. He has yet to replicate the success he had that first year in Chicago, but he has been consistent at the plate and on first. His career slash is .295/.353/.516 – not too bad.