The city of Chicago is about to say goodbye to one of the best players in the long history of Chicago baseball. Overshadowed by the retirement of New York Yankee legend and Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter, Paul Konerko‘s retirement has gone relatively unnoticed by the main stream world of sports. Konerko may not be a super star like Jeter, who deserves all the grandeur he is getting, but he deserves to receive a sendoff.
Konerko might well go down as one of the greatest players in White Sox history. He may not have Hall of Fame stats, but he was a tremendous player. As a fan of the Chicago Cubs, I was an admirer of his. He played the game with pride, integrity. I have no problem admitting that I enjoyed his career, even if he was a member of the cross town rivals.
Konerko had an 18 year career, 16 of which were spent with the White Sox where he hit 432 home runs and knocked in 1383 runs all while hitting .281. While those are pretty good stats, the greatest moment of his career came in 2005 when he captained the White Sox to a World Series Championship. The first, and only, baseball championship Chicago has seen in nearly 100 years. As a Cubs fan, I may not have enjoyed the championship as much as White Sox fans did, okay, not nearly as much; but knowing that Chicago was the city of Champions in baseball for one year made me happy.
What can I say, I love baseball. Not just the Cubs, but the game itself. I enjoy players from other teams, root them on, hope they have success. Cubs legends like Ryne Sandberg, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Sammy Sosa and so on, will always be near the top. But there is also room for love for players like Konerko.
Tonight at U.S. Cellular Field, the Chicago White Sox are doing just that. They are celebrating the career of Konerko and everything that he has done for the team, and the city of Chicago. The pregame ceremony will include the retiring of his number 14 jersey.
In the world of baseball, is Konerko a player that deserved to have his jersey retired while technically still an active player? Probably not. But in terms of what he meant to the city of Chicago, and especially the White Sox, this was the right move. He was a very good player, he brought a World Series championship to a team and a city that forgot what that felt like, and might go down as the most beloved player in the team’s entire history.
From this Cubs fan, allow me to say thank you to Paul Konerko for playing baseball in the greatest city on the planet. Thank you for bringing Chicago a championship. Thank you, for bringing enjoyment to millions of fans in Chicago for the past 16 years.