Sporcle Saturday: Beefy dinger lads
Amidst the excitement of Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter last week, I was remiss in highlighting Jose Abreu’s steady climb up the White Sox all-time home run leaderboard. On August 22 against the Cubs, Abreu took Rowan Wick deep on a hanging curveball to give the Sox a 5-2 lead.
That home run was career number 188, and good for sole possession of fifth place on the Sox’ all-time list. He has, of course, hit a few since then and entering Friday evening’s game against the Royals, is 23 behind fourth place. Assuming we all make it to 2021, there’s a good chance we see him firmly ensconced in third place all-time by the All-Star break.
Let this Sporcle, then, be a celebration in Abreu’s consistent bashing abilities: Abreu is in fifth: who are the other 24 players who share the top-25 career home runs in Sox history? How many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- As the list is just 25, I’ve allotted only 7 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I’ve provided the number of home runs, the tenure of the player in question (counting multiple stints), and their defensive position.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The average triple-slash from the players on this list: .267/.341/.461
- Abreu is also closing in on fifth place in the hit by pitch category: he sits at 82; the very next player ahead of him is also the next player ahead of him on the home run list.
- In case you’re curious, the active Sox player closest to cracking the White Sox top-25 is Tim Anderson who sits in 40th place with 71 dingers. I’d say it’s likely he cracks the list sometime next season.
*Credit to Grant Brisbee for coining (as far as I know) the phrase “beefy dinger lad”
(Image credit: Carl Skanberg)
Author
24/25
Going on a deep dive of the 1952-1963 Catcher now.
24/25
Missed the 3B from the 60s
That’s the only one I missed. I forget his name on all of these quizzes.
25/25 2:40 with a few extra moments to get the 2008-11 OF; that’s not all that great of list.
Boomer and i both got 25. He had 5:35 remaining- i had 5:18 remaining. Im 10 years older than him his thumbs are quicker apparently. Lol
Didn’t know you and Boomer were that far apart in age! I always kind of assumed you were within a couple of years of one another.
Nope im 40 hes 31. 9.5 year difference. Although i act younger than he does. Lol
So Boomer is a millennial?
Yes sir! Lol
My son got 20/25. Pretty good for a 12 year old. Missed
25/25 with 5:38 left. They certainly don’t have a home run history from the early years. Until Melton hit over 30 in 1971, the single season record was 29, by Gus Zernial.
They sure do not. But just think, if the Sox had kept him he hit 33 for the Athletics the year he was traded (for
Heck, the franchise didn’t even have someone hit 25 or more until everybody’s favorite, Zeke Bonura, hit 27 in 1934. From franchise inception through 1980 there were only 14 instances and 11 unique guys to get 25+ home runs in a single season. Whoof.
How many of the current players will be added to that list in the next few years? Anderson, Moncada, Eloy, Robert at least. But I doubt we’ll see Madrigal on there!
I didn’t realize
Assuming Moncada returns to form after his illness next season, he gets there in 2022. Anderson is probably next year; a really big year from Eloy probably gets him there in 2021, too, which would make for a fun season!
25/25 with 5:47 left.
Most of this list features guys who came to the Sox after Jerry Reinsdorf bought the club. The team had been in business for eighty years as largely Dingerless Wonders, so all of these guys are very memorable to me.
Dick Allen had his number retired by the Phillies this week. Had he stayed with the Sox through just the rest of the 1974 season, he would have made this list. Had he stayed until the end of his career, he would have passed Dunn.
Tied, 25/25 with 5:47 left.
23/25. Missed the same two most others did.