White Sox A-Z: Abbott to Appling
By Art Berke
Need a White Sox fix?
Beginning today, and continuing each Thursday, we will pay tribute to White Sox standouts of the past, highlighting a different letter of the alphabet each week.
Today we begin with seven popular Sox players whose last names begin with the letter A — Jim Abbott, Tommie Agee, Dick Allen, Sandy Alomar Jr., Wilson Álvarez, Luis Aparicio and Luke Appling.
Jim Abbott, LHP, White Sox (1995, 1998), Angels, Yankees, Brewers
A native of Flint, Michigan and a University of Michigan product, Jim Abbott was a one-of-a-kind marvel who pitched in 10 major-league seasons with four different teams despite being born without a right hand.
Jim won 87 games in his big-league career, which began with the Angels in 1989 and was highlighted by a no-hitter for the Yankees against the Indians in 1993. In 17 starts in 1995, his first tour with the White Sox, he was 6–4 with a 3.36 ERA. In 1998, he returned with a perfect 5–0 in his five starts. Overall with the Sox, he was 11–4 with a 3.63 ERA in 144 innings with three complete games over 22 starts.
His accomplishments are awe-inspiring and plentiful. In 1987, before reaching “The Show,” he won both the Sullivan Award as the nation’s best amateur athlete and the Golden Spikes Award as the top college baseball player. He was also a key member of the gold medal-winning 1988 U.S. Olympic baseball team.
Abbott’s method of fielding the ball was mesmerizing. He rested his glove on the end of his right forearm. After throwing the ball to the plate, he would slip his hand into the glove in time to field the ball. He would then put the glove between his right forearm and torso and slip his hand out of the glove in time to throw to the appropriate base.
Batting wasn’t a huge issue because of the designated hitter in the American League. His only time in the National League came in 1999 with the Brewers, his final season. He had only 24 career plate appearances with two singles and three RBI.
Jim is currently a motivational speaker and works on initiatives encouraging businesses to hire those with disabilities.
Tommie Agee, CF, White Sox (1965–67), Indians, Mets, Astros, Cardinals
On January 20, 1965, the White Sox completed a significant three-team trade with the Indians and then-Kansas City Athletics.
The players sent to Chicago from Cleveland were catcher John Romano, who was a member of the Sox’ 1959 American League championship club, left-handed pitcher Tommy John and a speedy outfielder named Tommie Agee.
Agee, after spending most of the 1965 season in Triple-A, emerged in 1966 to enjoy one of the greatest rookie seasons in franchise history — culminating in being named the club’s sole representative in the All-Star Game and the American League Rookie of the Year. He hit .273 with 22 home runs, 86 RBI and his center-field defense earned him a Gold Glove. In 1967 he was selected to his second All-Star squad.
He still ranks high among White Sox rookies in stolen bases (3rd, 44), total bases (4th, 281), runs scored (5th, 98), hits (6th, 172), home runs (8th, 22) and RBI (9th, 86).
He is also one of two Sox in history with a 20 homer/30 stolen base season (also Alex Ríos).
Following the ’67 season, with the opportunity to acquire a two-time National League batting champ, the Sox traded the Alabama-born Agee to the Mets for Tommy Davis in a four-player deal. Davis won the N.L. batting crown in both 1962 (.346) and 1963 (.326) with the Dodgers.
Agee made history in New York as a member of the “Miracle Mets” who won the 1969 World Series. In the third game of the fall classic he hit a leadoff home run in a 5–0 victory. He also made two defensive catches that saved as many as five runs. That season also saw him win his second Gold Glove.
Agee, who enjoyed a 12-year major-league career, died of a heart attack at 58 in 2001.
Dick Allen, 1B, White Sox (1972–74), Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, A’s
One of baseball’s premier, albeit controversial, players in the 1960s and 1970s, Dick Allen was a Rookie of the Year (as a third baseman with the Phillies), a seven-time All-Star, had lifetime batting average of .292, slugged 351 home runs, drove in 1,119 runs, had a .378 on-base percentage and a sterling .912 OPS in 15 major-league seasons.
Ask any Sox fan of a certain age, however, and nothing in his stellar career can compare to the Wampum, Pennsylvania native’s time with the White Sox, especially his virtuoso performance during the 1972 season. It was one of the greatest individual seasons in franchise history.
Allen helped rejuvenate the Sox, who lost 95, 94 and 106 games from 1968–70 and made a jump to a 79–83 mark in 1971 under the second-year regime of general manager Roland Hemond and skipper Chuck Tanner. After arriving in Chicago, Allen led the White Sox to an 87–67 record and a strong second place finish in 1972 behind the Oakland A’s in the American League West.
Instrumental in bringing the excitement back to Comiskey Park, all Allen did was win the A.L. MVP Award, lead the league in homers (37), RBI (113), walks (99), on-base percentage (.420), slugging percentage (.603) and OPS (1.023). And he was among the leaders in batting average (.308).
The gifted slugger was a three-time All-Star with the Sox and is one of two White Sox players to lead the majors in slugging percentage (also José Abreu). And he and Abreu are the only White Sox to lead the American League in RBI.
“In 1972, Dick Allen had one of the most remarkable seasons in baseball history, singlehandedly making the White Sox a contender,” said former Sox teammate and Hall of Famer Goose Gossage about Allen, who came one vote shy from the Golden Era veterans committee in 2014 of being voted into the Hall of Fame. “He was the greatest player I ever saw.”
Sandy Alomar Jr., C, White Sox (2001–02, 2003–04, 2006), Padres, Indians, Rockies, Dodgers, Rangers, Mets
The son of a former White Sox infielder and a brother of a Hall of Famer who also spent time in a Sox uniform, Sandy Alomar Jr. was one of baseball’s premier catchers in the 1990s.
A 20-year big-league veteran from Puerto Rico, he was the 1990 American League Rookie of the Year and a six-time All-Star with the Indians. He played in the 1995 and 1997 World Series with the American League champion Tribe and was the MVP of the ’97 midsummer classic in a year he batted .324.
During his time with the Sox, Sandy Jr. provided outstanding leadership and defensive presence, which was especially of benefit to the pitching staff. His best offensive year for the Sox was 2002 when he batted .287 with seven homers in 176 plate appearances.
The son of Sandy Sr., who wore the Sox uniform in 1968 and 1969, and brother of flashy second baseman Roberto, who was a White Sox in 2003 and 2004 and teammate of his brother‘s, Alomar Jr. has been a long-time coach in Cleveland.
Wilson Álvarez, LHP, White Sox (1991–97), Rangers, Devil Rays, Giants, Dodgers
A native of Venezuela, Wilson Álvarez arrived in Chicago along with Sammy Sosa in the controversial trade that sent Harold Baines to Texas during the 1989 season.
Two years later Álvarez, who represented his country in the Little League World Series and made his major-league debut at age 19, pitched a no-hitter against the Orioles in Baltimore in only his second major-league start.
In seven seasons with the White Sox, Álvarez recorded a 67–50 record with a 3.76 ERA and 770 strikeouts. His best seasons were in 1993 (15–8, 2.95), 1994 (12–8, 3.45) and 1996 (15–10, 4.22). In the ’93 A.L. Championship Series, Álvarez went the distance in Game 3 for the first Sox postseason win in 10 years. The next season he was named to the American League All-Star team.
Álvarez won 102 big-league games in a 13-year career.
Luis Aparicio, SS, White Sox (1956–62, 1968–70), Orioles, Red Sox
Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio, a 13-time American League All-Star (nine with the White Sox) and nine-time Gold Glove winner (seven in Chicago), was one of the star performers for the Go-Go Sox in the 1950s, succeeding fellow Venezuelan Chico Carrasquel as the Pale Hose starting shortstop.
“Little Louie,” known for his dazzling defense and base stealing ability in 18 major-league seasons, led the league in stolen bases for nine straight years (the first seven in Chicago), beginning in his rookie season, and led the majors in five of those campaigns. And he combined with fellow Hall of Famer Nellie Fox on the South Side to form one of the finest double-play combinations in baseball history. Aparicio, Fox, Jim Landis, Sherm Lollar and Early Wynn comprised the core of the 1959 AL champion Sox, who lost to the Dodgers four games to two in the World Series.
Aparicio, whose №11 is retired, had two tours with the Sox. Luis had his best overall season at the plate in ’70, finishing fourth in the league’s batting race with a .313 average while scoring 86 runs at the age of 36 and selected as an A.L. All-Star.
Sixty-one years later, Luis is one of two surviving White Sox from the ’59 World Series roster (also pitcher Ken McBride). There is a statue of Aparicio and Fox in the outfield concourse at Guaranteed Rate Field. Appropriately, they are depicted in the process of completing a double play.
As a young player in Venezuela, Aparicio had the privilege of playing with his father Luis Sr. — also an outstanding shortstop — on the local team in their hometown of Maracaibo.
Luke Appling, SS, White Sox (1930 -1950), Spent 1944 in military service
Hall of Fame shortstop Luke Appling and fellow HOF pitcher Ted Lyons, who both spent their entire major-league careers with the White Sox, were the faces of the franchise during the long Sox dry spell between the glory years of the 1910s and the Go-Go Sox of the 1950s.
Known as “Old Aches and Pains” for his constant complaining about being injured, the High Point, N.C. native who played at Oglethorpe University, pounded out out 2,749 career hits with a lifetime batting average of .310 in his 20 seasons. He also distinguished himself in the field with his speed and range and when he retired played the most games as a big-league shortstop and was the American League leader for putouts and assists.
Appling, a seven-time All-Star and two-time batting champion (1936 with a career high of .388 and .328 in 1943) had an on-base percentage of .400 or better eight times, walked 100 or more times in three seasons and had a high of 128 RBI in ’36. He had an exceptional eye, well-known for fouling off numerous pitches while waiting for his pitch of choice.
Luke is still the Sox’ all-time leader in games (2,422), at bats (8,856) and hits and ranks second in doubles (440), runs scored (1,319) and walks (1,302) and third in RBI (1,116). His №4 was retired by the White Sox In 1975.
In retirement, Appling enjoyed a successful coaching and managerial career, mostly in the minor leagues. His only major-league managerial job was at the end of the 1967 season with the Kansas City A’s. As a 75-year-old in a celebrated Old-Timers game, he smashed a home run off of Hall of Famer Warren Spahn.
“I played with him and against him, and he was the finest shortstop I ever saw,” said former major-league hurler Eddie Lopat of Appling, who died in 1991. In the field, he covered more ground than anyone in the league. As a hitting shortstop, there was no one in his class.”
