Minnie Minoso,the first black player to play for the Chicago White Sox passed away in his 90's today.
I've seen two or three different birthdates for the Cuban import,so let's be comfortable with saying 90's.
My favorites were the Indians (Early Wynn,Roberto "Bobby"Avila and Al Rosen) and the Giants Bobby Thomson because for some reason (Likely other than Ralph Kiner,who would they pick?) I didn't have any Pirates in the bunch that pap gave to me.
However,there was one card that I liked yet was annoyed at years after all those players had left the game.
I was annoyed at Orestes "Minnie" Minoso for two reasons-neither of which was his fault.
The first was that I could never get the pronunciation of "Orestes" correct and I generally find that things like that annoy me. The other was that the Indians traded Minoso for next to nothing (would been a huge help in the 1954 World Series) and then traded Early Wynn to get him back (Wynn would have made a difference in the 1959 pennant race with the White Sox).
Even though these trades were 20 years ad over past,they bugged me and as a result,could have cost the Indians two possible world championships/
I know,I wouldn't have been alive for them-I was under 10,deal with it!
The other thing that I remember from my childhood was the Bill Veeck ChiSox rolling Minoso out in 1976 at the age of 52 to pinch hit so that Minoso could add another decade to his playing line.
Topps added a card in its 1977 set commemorating the occasion and the White Sox would do the same in 1980 to add yet another decade.
Chicago wasn't owned by Veeck in the 90's,but attempts to give Minoso an at bat in the 1990's were turned down by MLB (doesn't it seem like the leagues get more stodgy by the year anymore?) and at bats in the 90's and 2000's would take place in independent league play not the majors.
Minoso is better known as a White Sox player,but he spent two stints as an Indian too and my grandfather in Ohio always spoke of Minoso as a hitter the way my pap here always spoke of Rod Carew,so I always thought highly of Minoso's skills.
On the field?
Well,many baseball people that I highly respect believe that Minoso is a strong Hall of Fame candidate and the case is interesting enough to argue that Minoso may rank with the few that has fallen through the cracks.
If not for a dramatic drop in his final three years (443 AB),Minoso would have easily been a career .300 hitter (finished at .298) as before those final years,Minoso's worst year saw him hit .280 and he put together eight years of plus .300 hitting.
Minoso hit over twenty homers four times and those pesky final three years were the only years that Minoso did not hit double digit homers.
Nicknamed the "Cuban Comet" Minoso also led the junior circuit in triples and steals three times,so there is little doubt about the speed of Minoso.
Add in four times over 100 RBI,three gold gloves and seven all-star appearances and one can make a an excellent argument that Minoso should be a Veteran's Committee selection.
It's unfortunate that Minoso didn't get into Cooperstown while alive,but I'd bet he gets inducted in next time (Think Ron Santo) now that his case will be on many minds.
It's odd that the passing of Minoso happened right now because my friend Christina Kahrl of ESPN did a tremendous interview with Minoso a few days ago and it was lying there comfortably for our next cleaning of the inbox.
Minoso discussed the hall,integrating the ChiSox and players today among the items that were discussed by the man nicknamed "Mr.White Sox".
Minoso had his number retired by Chicago in 1983 and it's sad that he is only now getting some recognition outside of Chicago.
I asked Christina for a thought on Minoso and she responded with a touching quote that I cannot better so I'll let her close this out- "He was one of the warmest souls the game has ever seen and the future is a poorer place for not having him in it to enjoy baseball with the fans he loved in the city and the country he embraced"
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