Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Orator Paulie

Paul Konerko is no Frank Thomas – he’s a lesser hitter, slower on the basepaths, and for most of his career was nearly as bad with the glove.  However, there’s one area in which Paulie has the Big Hurt beat – words.

In short, Paulie is a natural with them; Frank is not.

During most of his time in Chicago, Frank got murdered in the press for saying things that seemed more selfish than Thomas probably intended.  Then, when Frank stopped talking, the media hammered him for being a shut-in.  Then, when Frank started saying the right things, many pundits called it a façade.  

Paulie doesn’t have that problem.  Paulie can’t lose.  Everything Paulie says, you couldn’t say it better.

While Doug Mientkiewicz and the Boston Red Sox were still fighting over possession of the 2004 World Series ball, Konerko gave it to Jerry Reinsdorf and made him cry.  

When White Sox players were saying they had no ties to 1917, Konerko knew differently.  He summed up the entire South Side situation in a few sentences after winning the World Series:

“Players come and go, rosters change from year to year, but for the fans who have been with this team forever and the people who work for the organization, this means so much… Eighty-eight years is a long time and you're playing with that weight on your shoulders.”

You don’t have to look further than the last 24 hours for an example, as Paulie said he was reluctant to become the team’s captain, an idea Ozzie floated by him.

He said, ''I'm not saying I wouldn't do it, but at this point, I would have to sit down and talk about it because on our team, everybody is on the same page. Everybody can get on everybody else, everybody can say anything they want to anybody on the team. And I think it's best like that.''

That’s about right.  Last season, the Sox were a below-average offensive bunch, but they won 99 games because everybody pitched in.  Paulie was head-and-shoulders above the rest of the team as far as production was concerned, but he didn’t do it by himself.

Given that the Sox will pay him $60 million over the next five years, that’s enough to distinguish Konerko from the rest of the team.  

And that’s also enough pressure on Konerko, who is already too hard on himself.  Look at what Derek Jeter has had to endure since becoming the Yankee captain in 2003.  The “C” can giveth (Jason Varitek’s reputation boosted his worth a few million dollars), but it can also taketh away.  And we saw how Konerko beat himself up for his dismal 2003, so let’s focus on repeating the good history (October 26, 2005) and good history only.

Speaking of saying nice things, Kenny Williams had this to say about the 2006 Sox appearing better than the 2005 team on paper to Scott Gregor of the Daily Herald:

“I think if I said this year’s team is better than the one that won the World Series, it would be a slap in the face to the team that went out and did something no Chicago team has done in 88 years. I don’t think a comparison needs to be made.”

A comparison doesn’t need to be made because when you consider everything, there is no comparison.  The 2006 White Sox could turn into the 1998 or 1927 Yankees and there’d still be no beating 2005.  

After 88 years of underachieving, Sox fans saw a team that nobody thought could do it actually do it.  It was such a stark reversal of fortune that nobody was emotionally prepared for it.  There’s simply no equivalent for that kind of euphoric disbelief.

Is the team better than 2006 on paper?  Probably.  In our hearts?  Never.  But at least we’ll be a lot happier following them from now on.