Former Sox starter McDowell raves about Sale
Jack McDowell is the last White Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, and that was back in 1993 when the lanky right-hander was 22-10 with a 3.37 ERA for the AL West champions.
Returning to the South Side Friday to help celebrate the 25-year anniversary of U.S. Cellular Field/Comiskey Park, McDowell raved about current Sox ace Chris Sale, who is 9-0 with a 1.58 ERA and 3 complete games.
Sale is already being viewed as the runaway Cy Young favorite this season.
"Just watching him this year, it's not about the strikeout, it's about pounding the zone and putting the pressure on the hitters," McDowell said. "I didn't have the kind of put-away stuff that Chris does at all. My whole deal was to go after guys and make them put the ball in play. So I wasn't one of the best fantasy guys out there because I gave up over a hit an inning, usually, and they weren't very happy with me about that."
In his early days with the Sox, the 6-foot-6, 180-pound Sale talked to the 6-5, 180-pound McDowell about bulking up.
"The last I talked to Chris was I believe three years ago in spring training," McDowell said. "And he had a question about them trying to get him to put on weight and get bigger. I went through that, being a 6-5, 175-pounder out of college. We talked about and I said, 'Do you feel good?' He said he feels good. 'Do you feel strong? Do you feel normal? Then don't beat it up. It's either going to happen or it's not.'
"I did try to do that growing up because I bought into the whole, 'Boy, you throw pretty hard, but if you get big and stronger you're going to throw harder.'"
Hall of Fame bound?
Along with Jack McDowell, Roberto Hernandez and Lance Johnson, Tim Raines was at U.S. Cellular Field Friday to commemorate the ballpark's 25th anniversary.
Raines was traded to the White Sox from the Montreal Expos before the 1991 season and spent five years on the South Side.
"It brings back fond memories, really," Raines said. "To spend 11 years in Montreal and then come here, the whole reason to come here was to have an opportunity to win a world championship. With guys like Robin Ventura and Frank Thomas, Ozzie Guillen - all those young guys who had proven themselves in previous years - I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to get that chance to hopefully maybe win a world championship."
Raines said the 1994 Sox "was probably the best team I had ever played on," but a players' strike on Aug. 10 wiped out the season and playoffs.
After winning a World Series championship in 1998 with the New York Yankees, Raines retired after the 2002 season and has been on the Hall of Fame ballot the last nine years.
In January, he received 69.8 percent of the vote, just shy of the 75 percent needed for entry into Cooperstown.
Raines, 56, is expected to make the Hall next year, his final on the BWAA ballot.
"This is probably the first year out of the nine years that I've been on the ballot that I really, really feel like I have a chance," said Raines, who ranks fifth all-time with 808 stolen bases. "I was 23 votes away last year. I had a really great career, I know it personally. I wouldn't change a thing. I loved every minute of playing the game. It's just a situation now where I have an opportunity to close that chapter of my career. Hopefully it's getting in. If I don't, it's not the end of the world."