The Chicago White Sox all time all-star team
The Chicago White Sox have had some legendary players come to play for them so who is on their all-time roster at each position?
What would a team of all the greatest Chicago White Sox look like? Many have attempted to put together this before, but here is my best estimation as to what an all-time team of Southsiders would look like if we could take White Sox players from any era.
This team is based on their contributions to the White Sox, aggregating their peak seasons and full Sox careers, as well as their values as baseball legends and fan favorites.
Beginning with the catcher and going all the way around the diamond, as well as the pitching staff and manager, this list contains our all-time White Sox at each position. This list considers both their longevity and contributions to the Sox along with their positions in baseball lore.
Let us start with the catcher, manager, and designated hitter spots:
C- Carlton Fisk
He’s a little more famous for his time with the Boston Red Sox, but Carlton Fisk was nearly just as good with the White Sox and played even longer (13 years) for them. He is not only the White Sox greatest catcher in team history, he is arguably the greatest catcher in the history of the American League.
DH: Frank Thomas
If I was going to make an all-time team of everyone in the MLB who played at least 1000 games at a specific position I would put Frank Thomas at DH so it only makes sense to put him at DH on this team as well. An Honorable mention obviously goes to Jim Thome, as the White Sox have been terrible at this position once he left.
Manager: Ozzie Guillen
Ozzie Guillen managed to last 8 years as the White Sox manager, some think it lasted too long, and others (Sox fans) probably think it ended too early. The White Sox have been horrible since he left, so it’s not like they’re better without him. The main point is that he managed to win a world series, which no Sox manager had managed to do in the 88 years before him.
Honorable mentions: Tony La Russa, Al Lopez, Jimmy Dykes, and Fielder Jones.
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
LF- Minnie Minoso
Without doing much research, I always assumed Minnie Minoso was a center fielder, given that he was fast, athletic, and toolsy. While I was wrong about this, his being a corner outfielder makes the fact that he put up 52.2 WAR from 1951-1961 all the more impressive. In those 11 seasons, he was on average 3 wins more valuable than the average player, certainly making him a hall of fame player in my book.
Honorable mention: Carlos Quentin. The man could hit.
CF – Aaron Rowand
Aaron Rowand doesn’t have the credentials of many of the other players on this team, but from 2004-2005 he was an excellent White Sox player (9.4 WAR), and a member of a championship team. Who else can say that? The best reason for Rowand to be on this team is what he did defensively. Brian Anderson replaced Rowand in 2006, and he was close to Rowand in terms of defense, but he couldn’t hit as Rowand could. Recently, Adam Eaton was a pretty good outfielder and lead-off man for the Sox but his defense can’t be compared with Rowand’s.
Interestingly enough, Luis Robert is probably one of the few current White Sox players with the potential to be an all-time great at a position and he hasn’t even played an MLB game yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Robert is better than Rowand.
RF – Shoeless Joe Jackson
Fairly or not, when most people think of the White Sox they think of the 1919 Black Sox and Shoeless Joe Jackson. Jackson was primarily a left-fielder during his time with the White Sox, but he still played right occasionally and it’s the position where he spent the majority of his MLB career.
The White Sox have had all kinds of interesting people play right field for them in their history, from Michael Jordan to Bo Jackson, yet Joe Jackson amazingly stands out as one of the most interesting characters with entire movies and books dedicated to him. He’s certainly one of the most famous (or infamous?) people to play for the White Sox and of those is actually famous for things he did with the White Sox as opposed to other teams.
Jackson’s .340 White Sox batting average is the highest in team history. For those who prefer more modern stats, his 27.3 WAR is better than any other White Sox corner outfielder besides Minoso.
Honorable mentions go to Harold Baines, Magglio Ordonez, and Jermaine Dye.
The Pitching Rotation
- Mark Buehrle
- Chris Sale
- Ed Walsh
- Ted Lyons
- Eddie Cicote
On the pitching side of things, the White Sox have been historically more competent. The last White Sox player to win the Cy Young was Jack McDowell in 1993, but he won’t be included because he didn’t really deserve the Cy Young when he won it. (McDowell won for having the most pitcher “wins”, but advanced stats show he was far from being the best pitcher in the AL).
Mark Buehrle started 9 opening day games for the White Sox which is why he is listed as the No. 1 starter. Chris Sale set the White Sox single-season record for strikeouts(274) and made the all-star team five times in five years as a starter for them. I do believe he will pitch for the White Sox one day again.
Perhaps, most impressive is Ed Walsh. He had an MLB record 1.82 career ERA. He is also the last pitcher to win 40 games, doing so in 1908.
Bullpen:
Bobby Thigpen, Bobby Jenks, Hoyt Willhelm, Matt Thorton
Thigpen’s 57 saves were an MLB record for the 1990 White Sox team, which went 94-68 yet didn’t make the playoffs. The pitchers listed here would make for one dominant bullpen.
RECAP:
One takeaway from this lineup is that the White Sox are really bad at the outfield, with a few key exceptions. That said, the Sox certainly do have their all-time greats. If you compare this list with a team like the Yankees, it isn’t so bad. Frank Thomas is the Babe Ruth of the White Sox, and Paul Konerko is the Lou Gehrig.
Related Story. The Chicago White Sox are extending salaries of employees. light
Luke Appling is the Derek Jeter, Minnie Minoso is the Mickey Mantle, and Shoeless Joe is the Joe DiMaggio. Of course the White Sox are severely lacking in several positions as well, which is why the fans were upset when the team failed to land a superstar player in free agency.