The Chicago White Sox all time all-star team
1B – Paul Konerko
First base is one of the few everyday positions that aren’t historically a problem for the White Sox. It’s been a position of great strength since 1990 as the Sox have gone from Frank Thomas to Paul Konerko to Jose Abreu. All excellent choices for this position.
Konerko gets the nod at because he started 13 consecutive opening days at first base from 2001-2013 and is better defensively than Frank Thomas (don’t worry, he’s still on the team!).To say Paul Konerko isn’t a hall of fame player (he isn’t, at least for now), is entirely different from saying he wasn’t a great player; because he absolutely was one.
Konerko had some great years before eventually passing the torch to Jose Abreu. In some aspects of the game Abreu might better than Konerko, but they’re pretty similar players and Konerko did it for a lot longer and his team did more actual winning. Abreu likely won’t pass up Konerko, however, as he may move to DH when #3 overall Sox draft pick Andrew Vaughn is ready.
2B – Eddie Collins
Eddie Collins is one of the greatest players in baseball history that doesn’t get talked about much anymore, mainly because he played so long ago. Yet he put up an incredibly 123.9 baseball-reference Wins Above Replacement, making him the 10th greatest position player in history, ahead of Alex Rodriguez and Ted Williams! He might be the greatest player to wear a White Sox uniform, even if you include guys like Ken Griffey Jr. and Tom Seaver. Unlike those guys, Collins spent a big chunk of his career with the White Sox, with 12 opening day starts at second base surpassed only by Nellie Fox.
A member of the pennant-winning 1917 and 1919 White Sox, Collins played the game in a way it isn’t played anymore with lifetime stats of 741 stolen bases, a .333 batting average, 1499 walks and just 467 career strikeouts. He would be a great candidate to hit lead-off for this team.
3B- Robin Ventura
No he wasn’t a good manager, but similar to Paul Konerko, if he had been just a little better, he would make an excellent Hall of Fame candidate. Superb defense and a powerful bat, Robin Ventura is the best third-baseman in White Sox history, with only Joe Crede and Buck Weaver as possible alternatives. Yoan Moncada may surpass him one day, but he’ll probably need at least seven-to-ten seasons like the one he had in 2019 before we can seriously consider him displacing Robin.
SS – Luke Appling
Another one of the rare strong positions for them is shortstop. The White Sox has plenty of good shortstops to choose from and Luke Appling is the best of them all. He has the highest WAR in White Sox history and his career WAR is better than Derek Jeter’s. Similar to Jeter, Appling was a great contact hitter, finishing with a .310 career average. In one season he won the batting title hitting .388 which was higher than any White Sox player had ever had in a single season.
He won two batting titles so Tim Anderson needs to win at least one more before we can put him in the same conversation. In addition to his fantastic offense, he was a plus defender and made seven all-star teams in his twenty-year MLB career (all played with the White Sox).
Honorable mentions: Luis Aparicio, Jose Valentin, Alexei Ramirez