Three White Sox Players Who Could Have Their Numbers Retired Next
Following Ozzie Guillen's celebration, these three former Chicago White Sox players could be next in line to have their numbers retired.
Video Transcript
The Chicago White Sox got a series win over the Cleveland Guardians this weekend in what was just an all-around great weekend for the White Sox.
It included Saturday night, Ozzie Guillen night, honoring the legendary manager Ozzie Guillen, the former White Sox shortstop, a three-time MLB All-Star, a Gold Glove Award winner, Rookie of the Year, oh-five World Series champion.
He had his number thirteen retired by the White Sox, immortalizing him in White Sox history.
They gave out Ozzie Guillen jerseys at the ballpark and fully celebrated him and got a win.
He becomes the thirteenth number retired in White Sox history, but it got me thinking, who's next for the Sox?
Who could be a candidate to have their jersey number retired in the near future?
And three candidates stood out above the rest.
Number one, number seventy-nine, Jose Abreu.
The case is pretty simple.
He's one of only four players in White Sox history to win the AL MVP award.
Nellie Fox, Frank Thomas, they have their numbers retired.
Abreu was the AL Rookie of the Year in twenty fourteen, a three-time All-Star, MVP in twenty twenty.
He hit thirty home runs five times, drove in a hundred runs six times, led the American League in RBIs twice, and in nine seasons, Jose Abreu, over fourteen hundred hits, over three hundred doubles, and almost two hundred and fifty career home runs.
Tenth in hits all-time, third in home runs all-time, just the face of the White Sox organization for very, for a very long time.
I think he belongs next to Paul Konerko and Frank Thomas as the greatest hitters in White Sox history.
I think he deserves to have number seventy-nine retired, a number that is fully associated with him.
If the White Sox decide go b- to go back to the two thousand and five train, I think they might wanna consider A.J.
Pierzynski as well.
Maybe not the guy that has numbers that jump off the page, not a Hall of Fame player, but a really underrated career.
Over two thousand hits for Pierzynski, over one thousand of them came with the White Sox.
He had almost two hundred doubles, over a hundred home runs in a White Sox uniform as well.
And it's really hard to ignore what he means as an ambassador for the organization right now, kind of what he's done for the White Sox and the brand since his playing days have ended.
He is a guy that is, solely affiliated with the White Sox organization.
He is an iconic member of that two thousand and five team, and, I think it would be a cult classic kind of fan favorite honor for Pierzynski to have number twelve retired by the White Sox.
There's a case there.
And the third player that jumps out to me, Chris Sale, number forty-nine.
Now, yes, Chris Sale was a World Series champion with the Red Sox.
Yes, he won his Cy Young with the Atlanta Braves, but him pitching as well as he has recently, pitching his way into Cooperstown only strengthens the argument.
Sale, a five-time All-Star with the White Sox, drafted by the White Sox, debuted with the White Sox, finished top five in AL Cy Young with the White Sox for four straight seasons.
He also led the American League two hundred seventy-four strikeouts back in twenty fifteen, an all-time franchise record.
This is one of the best pitchers of a generation, a Hall of Famer, and a Hall of Famer who came up, was developed, and shined in a White Sox uniform.
I think that there is a very good case to be made there, and there's precedent.
Carlton Fisk's number seventy-two is retired by the White Sox despite the fact that he was more decorated and just as successful in his career with the Boston Red Sox.
So they've done it before.
Sale is pitching his way towards Cooperstown, and number forty-nine has become, an iconic Chicago White Sox number because of his tenure with the team.
That could be the next one to be retired.
So weigh in in the comments.
Let us know here at White Sox Roundtable who you think, Abreu, Pierzynski, Sale, someone else.
Who's next to have their Chicago White Sox number retired?
