Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox. (Photo by Robert Riger/Getty Images) /
We complete the infield of our Mount Rushmore series with the four second basemen from the history of the Chicago White Sox that would be placed on such a monument.
There are two Hall of Famers at the position, making for two easy choices. The remainder of the field either were deficient defensively, offensively or — in some cases — both.
A total of 11 White Sox players met the qualifying standards of 1,500 plate appearances with half of their games with the team at second base. One of those players, Yoan Moncada, will likely be off the list by this time next year, as he has settled in at third base for the present-day White Sox.
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The 11 qualifiers include:
Gordon Beckham (2009-14, 2015)
Eddie Collins (1915-26)
Ray Durham (1995-2002)
Scott Fletcher (1983-85, 1989-91)
Nellie Fox (1950-63)
Jackie Hayes (1932-40)
Tadahito Iguchi (2005-07)
Don Kolloway (1940-43, 1946-49)
Yoan Moncada (2017-20)
Jorge Orta (1972-79)
Yolmer Sanchez (2014-20)
Mount Rushmore of White Sox second basemen: Eddie Collins
Eddie Collins was already a star and a three-time World Series champion before he came to the Chicago White Sox in December 1914. Collins was the reigning American League MVP when the Philadelphia Athletics gave him up to the White Sox for $50,000.
He was worth the investment. Collins spent 12 years in Chicago, helping the club to the 1917 World Series title, hitting .409 and stealing three bases in a six-game victory over the New York Giants.
Collins led the American League in stolen bases twice with the White Sox, in 1923 and 1924 — when he was 36 and 37 years old. His first season on the South Side, he drew a major-league high 119 walks.
The White Sox released Collins in November 1926 and he returned to the Athletics, signing as a free agent a month later. He played another four seasons in Philadelphia, setting a 20th-century record by appearing in 25 seasons.
Collins hit .331 with an .849 OPS in 1,670 games and 7,415 plate appearances with Chicago, with 266 doubles, 102 triples and 31 home runs, while scoring 1,065 runs and driving in 803. He also stole 368 bases while walking 965 times to just 205 strikeouts.
Collins finished second in the AL MVP voting in both 1923 and 1924 and was fifth in 1922. While he never led the American League in the category, Collins is baseball’s all-time leader in sacrifice hits with 512.
He was also a player-manager for the White Sox, running the club for 27 games in 1924 and taking the job full-time in 1925-26. His teams were 174-160, but never finished higher than fifth.
After retiring as a player, Collins coached for the Athletics in 1931-32 before joining the front office of the Boston Red Sox in 1933, serving as general manager until 1947 and remaining with the club as a vice president.
In 1939, Collins was one of 10 inducted as part of the inaugural class at the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was among two of that group elected in 1939, along with George Sisler. Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson and Babe Ruth were the first selected in 1936, followed by Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, Connie Mack and Cy Young in 1937 and Grover Alexander in 1938.
A cerebral hemorrhage in August 1950 left Collins partially paralyzed and with impaired vision. He died in March 1951 at the age of 63.
Mount Rushmore of White Sox second basemen: Ray Durham
The Chicago White Sox drafted switch-hitting infielder Ray Durham in the fifth round in 1990 out of Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and within five years, he was a mainstay in the lineup.
The White Sox recalled Durham in late April 1995, installed him at second base and he was as consistent as a metronome for the next 7½ seasons. An All-Star in 1998 and 2000, Durham was a plus offensive player, making up for some defensive deficiencies.
Durham was most of all durable. Three times he topped 700 plate appearances in a season for Chicago and in 2001 recorded double digits in all three extra-base hit categories (42 doubles, 10 triples, 20 home runs).
He homered while going 2-for-10 in Chicago’s 2000 ALDS loss to the Seattle Mariners and finished in the top 10 in offensive WAR in 1998.
In July 2002 and on the cusp of free agency, Durham was traded to the Oakland Athletics. He later played with the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers, retiring after his contract expired following the 2008 season.
In parts of eight seasons with the White Sox, Durham hit .278 with a .780 OPS in 1,146 games and 5,095 plate appearances. He had 106 homers and 484 RBI, scoring 784 runs while stealing 219 bases. After retiring, he returned to his native Charlotte.
Mount Rushmore of White Sox second basemen: Nellie Fox
Nellie Fox wasn’t a power-hitting behemoth. In 19 years in the majors, Fox hit only 35 home runs. He wasn’t blessed with blazing speed — he stole 76 bases and was caught more often than he succeeded.
But Nellie Fox was a great ballplayer, the backbone of the Chicago White Sox 1959 AL pennant winners and eventually a Hall of Famer. Fox was American League MVP in 1959, when he led all of baseball with 717 plate appearances, a category he led the AL in five straight seasons from 1956-60.
In the 1959 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fox hit .375.
He also led the AL in hits four times — 1952, 1954, 1957 and 1958 — and topped the circuit with 10 triples in 1960. Fox was selected to 15 All-Star Games in his 14 years with the White Sox (twice each from 1959-61), won three Gold Gloves and finished fourth in the MVP race in 1957.
Chicago got Fox in a straight-up trade with the Philadelphia Athletics for catcher Joe Tipton in October 1949, claimed the starting second base job in early June 1950 and kept it for more than a decade.
Philadelphia had signed Fox at spring training in 1944, when his father drove him to the Athletics’ camp in Frederick, Maryland, and he had a successful tryout for the club at age 16.
In December 1963, the White Sox traded Fox to the Houston Colt .45s in a three-player deal. He retired as a player after being released by Houston, by then known as the Astros, in July 1965.
He stayed with the club as a coach through the 1967 season before joining the Washington Senators coaching staff in 1968 and remaining with the club through its move to Texas to become the Rangers. Despite being recommended by Ted Williams, who was retiring after the 1972 season, Fox lost out to Whitey Herzog for the manager’s job in Texas and retired from baseball.
With the White Sox, Fox hit .291 with a .717 OPS over 14 seasons, 2,115 games and 9,493 plate appearances. He cracked 335 doubles and 104 triples with 740 RBI and 1,187 runs scored.
He died from cancer in December 1975 at the age of 47 and was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1997.
Mount Rushmore of White Sox second basemen: Yoan Moncada
Yes, Yoan Moncada is the third baseman for the Chicago White Sox. But entering the 2021 season, he has played 203 games at second base for the White Sox compared to just 181 at third. So for now, he’s considered a second baseman. That will change later this season unless something odd happens.
The White Sox acquired Moncada and three other young players in December 2016 from the Boston Red Sox in the trade that sent Chris Sale east.
Taking over at second base in mid-July 2017, Moncada remained at the spot in 2018. A move to third base in 2019 brought with it a huge uptick at the plate, as his average increased from .235 to .315 and his OPS shot up more than 200 points to .915.
In the shortened 2020 season, Moncada’s production dipped — he hit a career-low .225 with a .705 OPS in 52 games and was only 1-for-13 in the Wild-Card Series loss to the Oakland Athletics.
In four seasons with the White Sox, Moncada has hit .261 with a .787 OPS in 387 games and 1,671 plate appearances. He has 56 homers, 186 RBI and has scored 215 runs. As with many young players in this era, he swings for the downs often — he has a 30.9% strikeout rate since coming to Chicago.
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The Red Sox signed Moncada, a Cuban native, in March 2015 and he had a cup of coffee with Boston in September 2016.
