White Sox All-Time Team v.2012

Moving right along, we're looking at the White Sox team, version 2012.  You can check out last year's team here. 

In addition to our normal review, we had to add a position player and two starting pitchers (continuing on our quest to make these teams congruent).

The White Sox All-Time team boasts a strong infield, a couple of Hall of Fame starting pitchers and one of the greatest relievers of all-time in Hoyt Wilhelm.  What I also found interesting is that this team is has a bunch of guys that had abnormally long careers - five guys that played 19 years or more and one guy that played in five different decades (one of two players to be able to make that claim... outfielder Minnie Minoso and reliever Nick Altrock).


Minoso made this year's edition over Shoeless Joe Jackson.  We removed Jackson in light of the fact that he was a pre-1920 player who only spent 6 seasons (two partial seasons) with the White Sox.  In fact, he spent more time with the Clevaland Naps/Indians than the White Sox.  The only reason he's known as a White Sox is because of the Black Sox scandal of 1919; every season that saw him earn MVP votes were played as a member of the Naps/Indians (so his best year's were spent in Cleveland). 

There were two other pre-1920 names on last year's team that we considered and kept.  Eddie Collins - considered an all-time top 5 second baseman by most - spent 12 years with the White Sox and Ed Walsh, the all-time leader in ERA, spent 13 of his 14 seasons with the White Sox. 

For the position player, we went with Nellie Fox - this was a fairly easy decision for us as the Hall of Famer just missed the cut last year.  We did consider Luis Aparicio but Fox was the clear-cut favorite, in our opinion. 

For the extra starting pitchers, we looked the Cy Winners - Jack McDowell, Early Wynn, Lamarr Hoyt.  We also looked at the guys at the top of the leaderboards; namely, Ted Lyons, Red Faber, Billy Pierce and Mark Buehrle.  In the end, we went with Hall of Famer Ted Lyons and seven-time all-star, Billy Pierce who rank first and fourth in franchise wins, respectively.  Red Faber, who is a Hall of Famer, lost points because he came up pre-1920 but that's not the only reason we went with Pierce.  The southpaw amassed 1,796 strikeouts as a member of the White Sox (1,999 for his career) and a 123 adjusted ERA (better than Faber).  Faber would be the popular pick and we wouldn't argue but the post-1920 rule came into play and we felt that Pierce was a great pick.

Here's our team.  Go ahead and tell us what you think.

C - Carlton Fisk
1B - Paul Konerko
2B - Eddie Collins
SS - Luke Appling
3B - Robin Ventura
IF - Nellie Fox
OF - Harold Baines
OF - Minnie Minoso
OF - Magglio Ordonez
DH - Frank Thomas
SP - Ted Lyons
SP - Ed Walsh
SP - Wilbur Wood
SP - Billy Pierce
RP - Hoyt Wilhelm