The Chicago White Sox had everything in 2005 and Willie Harris played one of those incredibly important roles with that amazing team.
When you think of the 2005 World Series, you remember a lot of the starting players and their incredible rotation. There was plenty of talent on that team but they also had contributions from everyone on the roster, especially in the postseason. One of those players is Willie Harris. In 2002, the Chicago White Sox sent Chris Singleton to the Baltimore Orioles for Harris. He would then go on to have a pretty nice little stint with the White Sox.
In his final year with the White Sox, 2005, he was a part of a team that won the last game of the season. The White Sox won the World Series for the first time in almost a century that year. Harris was on the team which made that the highlight year of his career. He did, however, only have a limited regular-season role because he only played in 56 games.
He was okay in the regular season. He slashed .256/.333/.314. He only hit one home run and had eight RBIs. He wasn’t a game-breaking player in the regular season by any means but he was there and every player on that team deserves to be celebrated. He only appeared in three total postseason games but was part of one of the biggest plays in team history.
Harris got the White Sox started in the 8th inning of game four with a base hit. Scott Podsednik bunted him over to second base in the very next plate appearance. He moved to third base in the next at-bat because Carl Everett grounded out to the second base, advancing Harris. Then, with two outs, Jermaine Dye solidified his World Series MVP award by singling to score Harris to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead. Harris’ run scored would hold up as the game-winner and the White Sox won game four, thus winning the World Series.
Yesterday was Harris’ birthday so that reminded us what impact he had on the team in his small role. Anyone who scores the World Series-winning run should be special to every fan of that team. Harris is just another example of everything going well for that 2005 White Sox squad. It also makes you wonder who some future unsung heroes might be for this team.