White Sox stories: Players share memories from magical 2005 season

The White Sox held their on-field reunion of the 2005 World Series championship team before Saturday's game against Cleveland at Rate Field before they went on to lose 6-2 to the Guardians.

The ceremony wasn't particularly long. The players were introduced and a few spoke. The highlights were Paul Konerko receiving a signed jersey from Pope Leo XIV. They passed out cans of Miller Lite to the players for a toast and Ozzie Guillen asked fans for a standing ovation to celebrate reliever Bobby Jenks, who passed away on July 4.

Finally, Konerko threw out the first pitch, with his 2005 teammates and the championship trophy behind him.

“I think about it every day, that's all I can say,” Konerko said later to reporters in the press box. “I don't think about all-star games. I would say I think about the World Series every day. There might be some days I don't, but sometimes I think about it six times a day.”

With that in mind, here's a collection of stories from the past two days, as the White Sox remembered what was then the city's first World Series champion in 88 years.

Catch that wasn't

Buffalo Grove High School graduate Josh Paul should probably be an honorary member of the 2005 White Sox. He was a second-round draft pick who played for the Sox from 1999-2003.

But he was also behind the plate for the Angels when A.J. Pierzynski struck out on a low pitch to apparently end the ninth inning of Game 2 of the ALCS. While Paul confidently rolled the ball back to the mound, Pierzynski decided to run to first, claiming the pitch was in the dirt and was technically a dropped third strike.

Pierzynski got away with it. Umpires let him stay on first base, then Joe Crede followed with the game-winning RBI double.

“When he (Pierzynski) ran to first, I was like, 'No way this is going to (stand),'” Crede said. “And then once they did call it safe, I was like, 'Oh my God, we've got a chance to win this right here, try to get a game from these guys before we go to Anaheim.'

“The neat story about that was Josh Paul was my roommate in the minor leagues with the White Sox. We were both drafted the same year by the Sox, and I actually still have a poster in my basement of me with the swing and Josh in the background catching.”

Paul was actually the Angels' third catcher, with brothers Bengie and Juan Molina, whose brother Yadier had the best big-league career. Paul entered the game in the eighth inning after one of the Molinas left for a pinch-runner. Paul currently works as catching coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays and is based in Florida.

“I talked to Josh after the game and he was like, 'You son of a bitch,'” Crede said with a laugh.

Remembering Bobby

Jenks was obviously on everyone's mind this weekend. The White Sox painted No. 45 on the back of the pitcher's mound in tribute. His wife and two youngest kids were on the field for Saturday's ceremony.

The electric reliever returned to Chicago last year as manager of the independent Windy City Thunderbolts minor-league team, and was planning to return this season until the cancer diagnosis.

“I got a chance to talk with Bobby the last handful of years,” Konerko said. “It was a completely different human than the one I knew — in a good way. So that's the bummer of it all. After so long of fighting a lot of things, he was in an awesome place. He was not only in a good place himself, he was putting other people in good places. That's hard to do.”

Jermaine Dye had a different type of Jenks memory.

“He does not like to be tickled or touched, so I used to tickle him a lot,” Dye said. “He used to play with my kids when they were younger. That's just Bobby, a little jokester, played pranks a lot on guys. It's just sad that he's not here with us.”

Guillen campaign

Pierzynski made a point of suggesting Ozzie Guillen should get the next statue at Rate Field. Asked about it, Guillen scoffed at the idea of a statue, but had a different honor in mind.

“I hope they retire my number,” Guillen said. “They should. People remember me as a manager. People don't remember me as a shortstop for that many (13) years.

“I talk to Jerry (Reinsdorf) every day. I never talk about it. I don't want to beg for it, but it would be nice if that happened while I'm still alive.”

AJ sold on Sox

Pierzynski recalled the winter before the 2005 season, when he was a free agent, and had been traded from the Twins to the Giants a few months earlier.

“I saw the moves (the White Sox) were making,” Pierzynski said. “I remember when I signed, my wife was like, 'What are you thinking?' Well, they have Jermaine, they already have El Duque (Orlando Hernandez). I've seen (Jose) Contreras pitch. I knew Konerko. I knew (Mark) Buerhle, I'd faced (Jon) Garland a million times, and I was like, 'This team has potential to be pretty good.'

“Now, did I think we'd do what we did? No. Unless you're on the Dodgers now, I don't think a lot of people say, 'If I just show up to spring training, we're going to the World Series.' I thought we had a chance to be good. The whole goal for me, I was traded from Minnesota, so I was like, 'I just want to beat the Twins.'”

Cotts helps Cats

This fall, former reliever Neal Cotts, who led the 2005 Sox in appearances, will have a son and daughter at Libertyville High School. He probably deserves an assist for the Wildcats' baseball state championship last month, because he coached so many players from that team at Slammers Training Academy in Lake Forest, where he works with former MLB catcher and Waukegan native Gary Bennett.

“We had a lot of (Libertyville championship players) come through our place,” Cotts said. “I think all but maybe three or four played for us at one time. So it was pretty fun to watch those guys.

“I made it to all the playoffs, except the sectional final, I was with my daughter at a soccer tournament. There were a couple kids on my current team that I coached this summer that were part of that group. It was an exciting time. Really nice fan base that Libertyville brought down to Joliet to watch those boys (in the state finals).”

To Paul from Pope

The White Sox could have really pulled off a coup by bringing South Side native Pope Leo XIV to Saturday's ceremony. But they did have a special autographed jersey, with both Pope Leo and Konerko on the back, with the No. 14.

“Yeah, his signature's on there and all that,” Konerko said. “Allegedly, I've got to sign one later to send back to him. I'm not sure he's as excited for mine to get there as the other way around, but I'll return the favor for sure.

“It's obviously really cool, I mean, the fact that he was here when we played the World Series. So, yeah, it's kind of surreal. I'm sure my mom will have some opinions on it in terms of the meaning of it and that I need to get back to church. But we'll deal with that as it comes.”

Human pitch clock

Another popular theme of the weekend was the speed at which pitcher Mark Buehrle worked. Now honored with a statue on the right field concourse, Buehrle-pitched games routinely lasted less than two hours. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski paid tribute to Buehrle's speed.

“He was one of my favorites,” Pierzynski said. “There were many times where you wouldn't even put (down) a pitch call. I'd just be like, “Throw whatever you want. Your stuff's so bad, I'll catch it anyways.' And then he would laugh. We had Jermaine Dye calling pitches from right field some games.

“We did a lot of crazy things you would probably not want to recommend to people nowadays. But we did it. We got away with it, and Mark was the best. Mark didn't shake, he didn't do scouting reports, he just got it and threw. That's the way I wish all pitchers did it.”