2005
After a season that saw the White Sox win their first World Series title since 1917, the Baseball Writers Association of America named Ozzie Guillén Manager of the Year. Guillén, the former Sox All-Star shortstop, guided the team to a wire-to-wire Central Division title with 99 wins; they then went 11-1 in the postseason, capping it off with a four-game sweep of Houston in the World Series.
Ozzie picked up 17 first-place votes and 105 total points to beat out Cleveland’s Eric Wedge. Wedge got six first-place votes and 71 points, while New York’s Joe Torre was third with 43 points.
2009
Norge Luis Vera, father of future White Sox farmhand Norge Vera, suffered serious facial injuries while trying to break up a fight in Santiago, Cuba. The Cuban National Series veteran needed facial reconstruction and, at 37, could have seen his career end. However, Vera returned in just two months, and was in Cuba’s starting rotation for the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
2016
Toledo stormed back to beat Northern Illinois, 31-24, in the “Chi-Town Showdown” — the first football game ever played at the new Sox Park. The Huskies, who dropped to 3-3, had led for the first three quarters of the game.
2020
Rookie Gold Glove winner Luis Robert Jr. found himself much less successful in the Rookie of the Year voting. Robert didn’t receive a single first-place vote for Rookie of the Year while another center fielder, Kyle Lewis, won unanimously. Lewis was not a superior hitter in 2020, and in fact Robert had the better WAR, 1.8 to 1.6.
2023
After eight years working his dream job as a lifelong White Sox fan, play-by-play broadcaster Jason Benetti left the club, taking the same role for division rival Detroit.
Almost certainly the most popular broadcaster on air for the White Sox over the prior two decades, it became known that owner Jerry Reinsdorf disliked Benetti’s jovial style, peppered with pop culture. But most damning was the disrespect show Benetti by marketing head Brooks Boyer, who left the impression the Homewood native was a diva.
In Benetti’s first season in Detroit, the Tigers when on an incredible hot streak to end the season and made it to the ALDS. The White Sox lost a modern-record 121 games.
