Shane Smith is ready to represent the Chicago White Sox in the 2025 MLB All-Star Game.
Years from now, we may look back on Smith's first half of 2025 as the beginning of a long, decorated MLB career in a White Sox uniform. We also may look back on it in awe that Shane Smith was once distinguished as an All-Star.
Those one-time All-Stars can sometimes be forgotten. Whether it's because they are overshadowed by bigger stars in the same era or they end up being one-year wonders.
With the All-Star Game upon us, I wanted to look back on some of the forgotten All-Stars in Chicago White Sox history.
2017 - OF Avisaíl García
It's not that White Sox fans forget about Avisaíl García as a player, but I do think his All-Star season in 2017 has become criminally underrated and forgotten.
García was Chicago's only All-Star that year, but he would have been very deserving even if the White Sox didn't need at least one representative.
With a .330 batting average, García was third in baseball in average that season and he was the runner-up for the AL batting title. García also has respectable power figures with 18 home runs and 80 RBIs. His .885 OPS was the best of his career.
Since 2000, only nine White Sox hitters have ever had a season with 500 plate appearances (qualified) and an OPS+ over 135. They are Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordóñez, Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome, Carlos Quentin, José Abreu, Yoán Moncada...and Avisaíl García.
2010 - P Matt Thornton
For 7.5 seasons, Matt Thornton was a reliable member for the White Sox bullpen. He was a steady setup man that deserves a bit more love than he gets nowadays.
In 2010, Thornton was recognized for his play with a selection to the AL All-Star Game roster. Thornton made the team alongside Paul Konerko, showing that his selection was based on merit and not need.
For a guy that pitched over 500 games in a White Sox uniform with a 3.28 ERA and made an All-Star team, I don't think Matt Thornton gets talked about enough.
2003 - OF Carl Everett
Carl Everett is best known in Chicago for his role on the 2005 White Sox. At 34 years old, Everett replaced Frank Thomas as the everyday designated hitter after Thomas went down with a foot injury and had 23 home runs with 87 RBIs on the season.
Most White Sox fans probably forget that Everett once played in the All-Star Game wearing a White Sox uniform, though.
On July 1, 2003, the White Sox acquired Everett in a trade with the Texas Rangers. Everett had a .900 OPS and 18 home runs at the time of the deal. Chicago was hanging around .500 and looking to make a second half push towards the postseason.
Because of his strong first half with Texas, Everett was named to the AL All-Star roster. He played in the game wearing a White Sox uniform and proceeded to have a strong second half on the South Side.
1994 - P Jason Bere
Jason Bere's 5.21 career White Sox ERA makes him awfully forgettable. He burst onto the scene as a 22-year-old that had been drafted in the 36th round out of a community college.
A few years into his big league career, Bere was one of the worst pitchers in all of baseball. But at one point in time, he was an All-Star for a first place White Sox team at 23 years old.
After going 12-5 with a 3.47 ERA as a rookie in 1993 and finishing as the runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year, Bere started the 1994 season 12-2 with a 3.81 ERA. That 1994 season was later cancelled prematurely by the strike with the White Sox closing in on back-to-back division titles.
Bere's strong first half of 1994 was highlighted by an outing against the Oakland Athletics on June 13. Bere went eight innings, allowed two hits, no runs, and struck out 14.
In 1995, Bere lost 15 games with a 7.19 ERA. He was one of the worst pitchers in the sport. He was off the White Sox by 1998 and never repeated the success of his All-Star '94 campaign.
1981 - P Britt Burns
When people think about White Sox teams of the 1980s, names like Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Ron Kittle, Greg Luzinski, and LaMarr Hoyt quickly come to mind.
Britt Burns, however, is one of the most overlooked All-Stars in White Sox history, and he's much more than a one-year wonder.
From 1980-1985, Britt Burns was 70-58 with a 3.59 ERA in the White Sox starting rotation.
As a 21-year-old starting pitcher, Burns posted a 7.0 bWAR season in 1980. He then followed that up with a 2.64 ERA in 1981 and an appearance in the MLB All-Star Game at 22 years old.
To put that into perspective, that's 25 wins and 394.2 innings pitched with a 2.76 ERA over two seasons including one All-Star selection...and Burns was just 131 days older than MLB debut Paul Skenes.
As much as we hear about modern baseball being filled with young stars performing at the top of the game, Britt Burns was way ahead of his time. That often gets forgotten by White Sox fans, unfortunately.
In Game 4 of the 1983 ALCS, Burns put the White Sox on his back and pitched nine scoreless innings. Despite his dominance, the game was still tied 0-0 and White Sox manager Tony La Russa brought Burns back out to pitch the 10th. He would concede the series clinching run in that inning.
Perhaps Burns would be more memorable if he had gotten some run support and established himself as a White Sox postseason hero.
Burns also had his career cut short by a degenerative hip condition that required multiple surgeries. He was 26 when he pitched his final MLB game.