Rongey: Konerko send off was picture perfect

By now, I had figured that you've probably heard and seen all there is to be written about the White Sox and their fans honored Paul Konerko with a final tribute and appropriate send off over the weekend.

But I couldn't just let it end there. No, the last four days at US Cellular Field were too good to ignore.

The 2014 season wasn't a satisfying baseball year. It was, however, a season in which individual players and moments gave us some enjoyment and some hope for the future. Throughout the year, we talked about the brilliance of Chris Sale, the underrated steadiness of Jose Quintana, the emergence of Adam Eaton, and the awe of Jose Abreu.

They're the pieces that kept fans watching an otherwise difficult season, and they'll all be back next season.

Konerko, on the other hand, will not be, he clearly knows that stepping away now is the right thing to do. I recall talking with many White Sox fans who thought 2013 should have been his final season, and that his spot on the bench might have been better occupied by someone with more versatility.

It's a fair argument, and had the Sox been one bench player away from a postseason berth, I'd consider the move a mistake postmortem. But the Sox were not a bench player away from the postseason.

This year, it was the pitching that failed far too often, not the presence of Konerko.

As I discussed during the postgame show, for the number of preseason complaints about Konerko's re-signing, the ceremony on Saturday and the last goodbye on Sunday were worth it in the end a thousand times over.

Credit goes to the White Sox for an event that could not have gone any better, aside from incidences out of their control such as the FAA nightmare that prevented Joe Crede, Scott Podsednik and others from arriving. Otherwise, the video presentations, the gifts (nice guitar. The Edge has one just like it) and the surprises (the statue and Game Two baseball) were all perfect.

So were the speeches.

Mostly, the crowd was incredible, and it was the most fun I've had at the park since Opening Day. Nothing beats a packed house in a good mood. And for all of us that were there, we'll have a memory we can brag about.

Now all we can do is look ahead to 2015. During the last homestand, team vice president Kenny Williams said the Sox were much closer to being a competitive team than people might think. That could just be the thing he's supposed to say, because I don't expect either he or general manager Rick Hahn to tell us the club will probably stink again next year. Or it might be that the Sox are simply a few additions away from causing a ruckus in the AL Central.

For now, appreciate the career of Paul Konerko, enjoy postseason baseball, and get ready for the offseason, because it's going to be interesting.

• Chris Rongey is the host of the White Sox pregame and postgame shows on WSCR 670-AM The Score. Follow him on Twitter@ChrisRongey and at chrisrongey.com.