Today’s Immaculate Grid is asking you to name a Chicago White Sox player who won American League Rookie of the Year.
First of all, if you are a baseball nut and not playing Immaculate Grid, you should start.
It is a nice way to reminisce about players and try to figure out who played for both say, the White Sox and the Arizona Diamondbacks–which by the way is one of the other questions along with players who were on the Sox and the Marlins.
Second, the Chicago White Sox have been around since 1900, but, spoiler alert, they have had only six players win the American League Rookie of the Year. Granted, the award was first given out in 1947 and it was not separated by leagues until 1949.
Luis Aparicio was the first Rookie of the Year winner in White Sox history.
The Hall of Fame shortstop won the award after the 1956 season. He hit .266 and led the league with 21 stolen bases.
Aparicio teamed up with Nellie Fox to form a legendary infield. He finished his career with a 55.8 bWAR.
Aparicio won nine Gold Gloves with seven coming when he played on the Southside. He also made 13 All-Star Game appearances with nine coming while wearing a Sox uniform–although a couple of those appearances were when baseball had two All-Star Games in a season.
Aparicio and Fox led the Sox to the 1959 World Series. That was the team’s first World Series appearance since the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Aparicio played 10 of his 18 seasons with the Chicago White Sox. His No. 11 has been retired by the franchise and he went into the Hall of Fame in 1984.
There were some White Sox RoY winners in the 1960s to remember.
Gary Peters won the award in 1963.
Peters won AL Rookie of the Year after going 19-8 with a 2.33 ERA. His ERA was the best in the league that year.
The left-handed pitcher appeared in two All-Star Games for the Sox. He was on three teams that won 90 games that never made the postseason.
He pitched 11 of his 14 seasons at Old Comiskey Park. 91 of his 124 victories happened while in a White Sox jersey. Remember, he pitched in an era when wins for a pitcher mattered. He won 20 games in 1964 and posted a 1.98 ERA in 1966.
1098 of his 1420 career strikeouts came during his time in Chicago. He also had a career 1.19 WHIP while on the Southside. He pitched 1560 innings for the Sox.
Tommie Agee was the American League’s top rookie in 1966.
Agee only played two full seasons for the Chicago White Sox. Agee made the most of his time on the Southside with two All-Star Game appearances.
He won the AL Rookie of the Year after hitting .273 with a .447 slugging percentage and 22 home runs.
Agee was traded to the New York Mets in 1968 where he went on to become a Mets’ legend after his performance in the 1969 World Series.
There are a few RoY winners that the White Sox have had since the 1980s.
Ron Kittle won the Rookie of the Year award in 1983.
If you were a kid who was born in the early 80s, your early heroes were Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, Ron Kittle, and Ozzie Guillen–we will get to him shortly.
Kittle’s AL Rookie of the Year win was part of a magical 1983 season that saw the Sox win the AL West and make the playoffs for the first time since 1959.
Kittle hit .254 with a .818 OPS and 35 home runs that season. He also made the All-Star Game that year which was played at Old Comiskey Park. Kittle had three tenures with the Sox.
He was traded during the middle of the 1986 season to the New York Yankees. He returned to the Southside in 1989 and was traded again in 1990 to the Baltimore Orioles. He came back during the middle of the 1991 season and played two more months before he was released.
Injuries always kept Kittle from ever matching what he did in 1983.
Ozzie Guillen was the winner in 1985.
The Chicago Bears grabbed all the headlines in 1985. Guillen also had a great year only it happened on the Southside and in baseball.
Guillen won the rookie honors when he hit .273.
Guillen played shortstop on the Southside for 13 years and went to the All-Star Game three times. He won a Gold Glove in 1990. Ozzie also helped the Sox win the 1993 AL West title.
He is better known for managing the Sox to the 2005 World Series title. Despite what ESPN would have you think, the Chicago White Sox had one of the most dominant runs to a title that snapped an 88-year title drought.
Ozzie managed the team from 2004-2011 where he won 678 games.
Jose Abreu is the franchise’s most recent winner.
Abreu won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2014 with probably the best season of all the Sox Rookie of the Year winners.
Abreu’s slash line was .317/.383/.581 that season. He hit 36 home runs and drove in 107 runs. He also made the first of three All-Star appearances that season.
Abreu won the AL MVP in 2020 and will go down as one of the franchise’s all-time greatest players.
Abreu departed the franchise before this season when he signed with the Houston Astros in free agency.