White Sox: The Mount Rushmore of third basemen

Other than middle relievers — who may never receive their full due — there is just one position in the Mount Rushmores for the Chicago White Sox that does not have a Hall of Famer. The White Sox have had some very good third basemen in their 120-year history, but none of the guys they’ve deployed at the hot corner have been deemed Cooperstown-worthy.

There were only 11 players who met the qualifying standard — half of their games at third base to go with 1,500 plate appearances as a member of the White Sox. Here are those 11:

• Floyd Baker (1945-51)
• Don Buford (1963-67)
• Joe Crede (2000-08)
• Jimmy Dykes (1933-39)
• Willie Kamm (1923-31)
• Bob Kennedy (1939-42, 1946-48, 1955-56, 1957)
• Harry Lord (1910-14)
• Bill Melton (1968-75)
• Lee Tannehill (1903-12)
• Robin Ventura (1989-98)
• Pete Ward (1963-69)

Let’s start putting faces with the mountainside.

Mount Rushmore of White Sox third basemen: Don Buford

Before Don Buford was a World Series-winning outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles, he was a very solid third baseman for the Chicago White Sox.

Buford was a star in football and baseball at the University of Southern California, but had a sparsity of professional offers in either sport. In November 1959, Buford signed with the White Sox and worked his way slowly through the farm system before making his major-league debut in September 1963.

It was worth the wait, because Buford never went back to the bus leagues. In 1964, he was a regular starter at either second or third base, was primarily at second base in 1965 and spent his final two seasons in Chicago at the hot corner.

He was a plus defender at third, created a lot of offense for a power-deprived team with his speed and was an above average producer for his era.

In 1966, Buford stole 51 bases and led the American League with 17 sacrifice bunts. But in November 1967, his days at third base were numbered when he was part of a six-player trade that sent him to the Baltimore Orioles, with shortstop Luis Aparicio returning to Chicago in the deal.

He was a solid third baseman. But when the incumbent is Brooks Robinson? Yeah, you’re moving to the outfield.

Buford spent five years in Baltimore and was part of the club that won three straight American League pennants from 1969-71 with a World Series crown in 1970.

Released by the Orioles before spring training in 1973, Buford played another four seasons in Japan before retiring.

In parts of five seasons with the White Sox, Buford hit .258 with a .688 OPS in 621 games and 2,527 plate appearances, with 26 home runs, 166 RBI, 310 runs scored and 115 stolen bases. He also had 29 triples.

Post-retirement, Buford served on coaching staffs with the San Francisco Giants (1981-84), the Orioles (1988 and 1994) and Washington Nationals (2005). He was also a minor-league manager in 1992-93, 2003-04 and 2006.

Mount Rushmore of White Sox third basemen: Bill Melton

It wasn’t until the Chicago White Sox were in their 71st season the club was able to check another item off the franchise’s to-do list. Bill Melton helped them accomplish that in 1971 when he became the first player in franchise history to win the American League home run crown.

Melton signed with the White Sox in 1964 after playing baseball and football at Citrus College in California. The 18-year-old reached the Chicago in 1968, won the third base job in 1969 and remained with the White Sox for parts of eight seasons.

He reached his zenith with the home run title and his lone All-Star selection in 1971, although he had also slugged 33 long bombs the previous season to go with a career-high 96 RBI. But a herniated disc sustained in a fall during the offseason severely limited Melton’s mobility in 1972, when he was limited to 57 games as Chicago fell short of the Oakland A’s in the AL West.

He bounced back to full-time duty in 1973, hitting 20 homers with 87 RBI, but that season Dick Allen missed more than half the season with a broken leg and any hopes of catching the A’s went down the drain again.

After a pair of subpar seasons, the White Sox traded Melton to the California Angels as part of a four-player deal. He later played with the Cleveland Indians, retiring after becoming a free agent in the fall of 1977.

With the Sox, Melton hit .258 with a .772 OPS in 976 games and 4,012 plate appearances. He had 154 homers, breaking Minnie Minoso’s all-time franchise record of 135 with a blast off Texas Rangers reliever Steve Foucault in the second game of a doubleheader on Aug. 4, 1974. That mark stood for more than a decade before it was broken by Harold Baines on July 22, 1987.

He had 535 RBI for Chicago and scored 448 runs. He got a late start in broadcasting, but has worked as an analyst on White Sox broadcasts since 2005, though he cut back on his workload beginning in 2019.

Mount Rushmore of White Sox third basemen: Robin Ventura

The race for a spot on the Chicago White Sox third base Mount Rushmore wasn’t a close one. Robin Ventura made it with ease. He combined a good bat with solid defense, earning five Gold Gloves in his 10 seasons in Chicago while being named an All-Star in 1992.

The White Sox took Ventura 10th overall in the 1988 draft after he had a legendary career at Oklahoma State University, setting a record that still stands with a 58-game hitting streak as a junior in 1987, a streak broken by future Chicago teammate Jack McDowell during the College World Series.

Ventura didn’t take long to get to the bigs. After 129 games and 563 plate appearances at Double-A Birmingham in 1989, Ventura debuted Sept. 12, 1989, and never went back to the minors save for rehab assignments.

Ventura made a comeback from a grotesque dislocated right ankle sustained in a slide into the plate in spring training in 1997, making his way back to the White Sox for the final couple of months of the season. He would need surgery on the ankle after his career ended to address atrophy in his leg muscles.

He became a free agent after the 1998 season and signed with the New York Mets. Ventura would later play for the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers before retiring after the 2004 campaign.

In parts of 10 seasons for the White Sox, Ventura hit .274 with an .805 OPS in 1,254 games and 5,310 plate appearances, belting 171 home runs with 741 RBI and 658 runs scored. He added a homer and five RBI in Chicago’s six-game loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1993 ALCS.

With no previous coaching or managerial experience, Ventura returned to the White Sox in October 2011 as their manager, replacing interim skipper Don Cooper, who had replaced Ozzie Guillen.

In five seasons under Ventura, the Sox were 375-435 with just one winning season, an 85-77 mark in his debut season of 2012. He resigned after the club was 78-84 in 2016. In 2020, Ventura returned to Oklahoma State to complete his degree and was a student assistant with the baseball program.