Minoso Will Live On for Fans of White Sox, Baseball

March 2, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Minnie Minoso may not have reached Cooperstown, but he reached our hearts — for those of us who had the good fortune of being in his company.

Minnie died Sunday. Obituary style is to refer to a deceased male as “Mr.” The formality doesn’t seem to be an appropriate style for Minnie, a man who could be stylish in a suit and tie but still maintained a certain genial informality.

He was 89, maybe 90, maybe some other age. It’s a little unclear, not that it really matters. What does matter is he definitely was one of the best ambassadors — as well as one of the best players — in the history of the White Sox. And a great ambassador for baseball.

A nine-time all-star, Minnie was a Hall of Famer in life and certainly worthy of being in baseball’s Hall of Fame. A career .298 hitter, he was the first black ballplayer in Sox history and the first black ballplayer on a Chicago big-league team. The Sox obtained him from Cleveland in 1951, and in his first at-bat for the Sox he hit a home run.

Quite simply, he was “Mr. White Sox.”

Video below of French pole dancer Marion Crampe.

“Our organization and our city have suffered a heart-breaking loss today,” Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. “We have lost our dear friend and a great man. Many tears are falling.”

President Barack Obama said in a statement:

For South Siders and Sox fans all across the country, including me, Minnie Minoso is and will always be “Mr. White Sox.”

The first black Major Leaguer in Chicago, Minnie came to the United States from Cuba even though he could have made more money elsewhere. He came up through the Negro Leagues, and didn’t speak much English at first. And as he helped to integrate baseball in the 1950s, he was a target of racial slurs from fans and opponents, sometimes forced to stay in different motels from his teammates. But his speed, his power – and his resilient optimism – earned him multiple All-Star appearances and Gold Gloves in left field, and he became one of the most dominant and dynamic players of the 1950s.

Minnie may have been passed over by the Baseball Hall of Fame during his lifetime, but for me and for generations of black and Latino young people, Minnie’s quintessentially American story embodies far more than a plaque ever could.

Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his family and fans in Chicago, Cleveland, and around the world.

Minnie always was willing to take time to talk — with the result being if you listened a little, you learned a lot. Sure, it might have have been a little challenging to understand him because he never completely lost the accent from his native Cuba. And even if you had difficulty understaning him, one thing was clear: He never lost the joy that he found playing baseball and being around the game.

***

The Bulls lost Sunday. A player and a game. The visiting Los Angeles Clippers outscored the Bulls by 10 points in the fourth quarter for a 96-86 victory. In the process, Bulls guard Jimmy Butler had to leave the game with a sprained left elbow in the third quarter and did not return. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.

Bulls rookie Nikola Mirotic came off the bench to post a career-high 29 points on 11-of-23 shooting from the field. As a team, the Bulls went 27-of-87 (31 percent). Meaning other than Mirotic, they were 16-of-64 (the statistical-analysis department had the day off, but reliable sources say that’s 25 percent. Other sources — reliable and otherwise — say that’s horrible shooting. Pau Gasol was 2-of-13, Aaron Brooks was 5-of-17, Joakim Noah 2-of-8, Mike Dunleavy 1-of-3 and Kirk Hinrich 0-for-7. Tony Snell did go 3-for-7 (3-of-5 three-pointers), if that’s any consolation.

Mirotic had 16 of the Bulls’ 17 fourth-quarter points. For what that’s worth.

If Butler is out for Tuesday’s home game against Washington and Taj Gibson still is sidelined by a sprained ankle, coach Tom Thibodeau is going to have to find someone to pick up some playing time. Could be a rough few games, unless players heal quickly or the team adds a player who can get on the floor quickly. I’d vote for adding a player, preferably one who can shoot the ball.