Paul Konerko: A look back at a tremendous career

On November 11, 1998, after a brief stint with the Cincinnati Reds, first baseman Paul Konerko was traded to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Mike Cameron. His career up to that point had been brief stints for both the Los Angeles Dodgers, the club that drafted and called him up to the Major Leagues, and then with the Reds but for Paul Konerko the best was still to come.

This weekend, Konerko will suit up for a final time with the White Sox before calling it a career.  In total the career of Paul Konerko spanned eighteen seasons, sixteen of them spent on the Southside of Chicago.

In 1997, he made his Major League debut at the age of twenty-one with the Dodgers who called him up for six games at the end of the season in September.  His first full season would come two years later in 1999, following his trade from Cincinnati.

That year he would make his debut for the White Sox, hitting a home run in his first game with the club on the road at the King Dome in Seattle.  It would be the first of a total of 432 that he would hit in a Sox uniform.

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It would also be the first of a number of memories as well and with each passing year the number of memories would grow.  In 2002 in the midst of going through a season where he would finish with a stat line of .304/.359/.489/.857 along with 27 home runs and 104 runs batted in, he would make his first of five all star teams.

Three years later in 2005, he along with a ball club that included a frosted tipped A.J. Pierzynski and Mark Buerhle, would take home the White Sox’s first American League Pennant since 1959 and their first World Series victory since 1917.  During that year, Konerko would be one of the main catalysts in the Sox lineup and during the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels would take home that series’ MVP award.

In the seventh inning of game two against the Houston Astros, Konerko would blast a grand slam into the Chicago night that would swing the eventual World Series victory toward the White Sox.

While that was in the past, Konerko can look back on a career that was simply fantastic to watch even with the occasional injuries and hit by pitches he got up and kept swinging.  He was a nightmare for pitcher on opposing American League Central teams but to the White Sox and the fans that flocked to U.S. Cellular to watch him play he was their captain and a constant bat in the line up as well as glove in the field.

This weekend as he finishes up a career that was stellar, Paul Konerko will walk away with a career stat line of .279/.354/.487/.841.  Over his career he amassed a grand total of 439 home runs, 1,412 RBI’s, 1,162 runs, and 2,340 hits.

It is not clear whether or not his numbers will give him a shot at the Hall of Fame, but for the Southside of Chicago and White Sox fans everywhere he’ll always be a hall of famer in their eyes and the most pivotal player in the recent history of the club.

So for now, thank you for eighteen wonderful years Paul Konerko and enjoy a well deserved retirement.