Three Things This Thursday

I am a bit of a procrastinator. Thursday is almost over and I am just getting to Three Things This Thursday. Today is supposed to be a themed edition of 3 Things This Thursday entitled 3 Gifts This Thursday. If my tardiness hasn't put too great a damper on the proceedings I will tell you about 3 gifts I have received in my life time and give you an opportunity to do the same.



Gift 1. When I was in the fourth grade my parents gave me a book called Chippy Chipmunk. It was a fantastic read and I read it over and over. When I think back to my formidable years and my life love long of reading I often think of that book.



Gift 2. A few winters back Amy gave me a fantastic book about the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team that surprised the world and wrested the gold medal from the perpetual clutches of the Soviets. The name of the book is The Boys of Winter by Wayne Coffey. I have used it as source material for a segment I do here at the blog called Hockey Lessons.



Gift 3. Most Christmases and birthdays my Dad gives me a bit of money with the general instructions don't spend this on the mortgage or use this to buy something you generally wouldn't. When my Dad this in Christmas of 2004, Any and I saved it for a few months until we figured out best how to use it. One day a co-worker gave me the White Sox group tickets order form. She worked in the mail room and had received it and knew our company wasn't going to use it and thought I might want to look at it knowing how huge of a Sox fan I am. Most of the plans were untenable financially but there was 1 plan the Minnie Plan named after White Sox legend Minnie Minoso. The Minnie plan was for 9 home games. It still seemed like a lot of money to pay for tickets when we generally only went to 2 to 3 games a year.

Amy was adamant, she said we had the money from my Dad's gift and she knew how much I would enjoy it. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and spent the big bucks on an extravagance.

I am really glad I did. It turns out that the year that I attended my most Sox games was in fact the year they won the World Series. We bought 2 tickets to each of the nine games. I was able to invite friends and family and even if the Sox had not won it all the memories of the time spent with loved ones watching my favorite sports team would be worth every penny my Dad spent.

So those are my 3 gifts this Thursday. What gifts do you remember? What meaning do they have? link on to Mr. Linky below and tell us all about it.






Next Time: Library Week

Happy Anniversary Bobby Jenks

It's Christmas time and everyone seems to be on the hunt for bargains. For Baseball general managers one place to look for bargains is the waiver wire.

This time of year baseball teams are shuffling their rosters around and will often cut a player lose as part of a numbers game. In December 2004, The LA Angels of Anaheim decided to cut Bobby Jenks a highly regarded pitching prospect. In 4 years in the minors Big Bobby had compiled a lot of excess baggage including elbow trouble, erratic behavior and accusations of racism. 1

Enter White Sox GM who on this day in 2004 took a chance on the 100 MPH as a reclamation project. The White Sox decided to shift him from a starter to a role in the bullpen. Jenks came up mid season for the Sox in 2005 and won the role of closer late in the year due to injuries to Dustin Hermanson who was also acquired in December of 2004. Jenks saved 6 games for the Sox in'05 in the regular season and 4 more in the playoffs including the first and last games of the World Series. So in ten months time Jenks had been transformed from the baseball scrap heap to a World Series hero.

Alas, not every waiver wire pick-up has such fantastic upside. But on the 5 year anniversary of the Jenks acquisition, I am still glad that this one did.

Footnotes:

1. Baseball Reference.com - Bobby Jenks Article

Our Kids Sing

Today was a first and possibly last in our family. All 3 of our children sang on stage together.

Our family loves singing. No one's going to confuse us with the Von Trapp family singers or anything. In fact, if our kids sang as poorly as I do, they'd be the shut your von trap family.

For the past few weeks we have been preparing for the kids to sing at our church's Christmas choir service. Lucy was in the age range for the first year and Emma for possibly the last.

Here is a clip of them all singing.

We'd like to thank all the hard work put in behind the scenes done by so many people in our church. Special thanks must go to our Children's pastor and his wife who do such a fantastic job of heading it up each year.

Next Time: Three Things Thursday

World Champs anniversary edition

When I started this blog did I mention who my favorite sports team of all time is?



Here's a clue . . .

Yes, I love the Chicago White Sox. I am not the typical White Sox fan, but if you read my blog long enough, you will discover I am not the typical anything.

I will delve into what separates me from the normal White Sox fan in later posts. At this time, I'd like to start (with apologies to Kool and The Gang) a celebration that will last throughout the year. The celebration the 5 year anniversary of the 2005 World Series Championship Season.

I know that it is actually only 2009 and might seem premature for the 5 year anniversary. However, I plan from now until October to commemorate important events in the chronology of that histroric achievement.

Today, December 13th, for example, commemorates a move made 5 years ago that went a long way to making the White Sox champions. On this date in 2004 White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams traded Carlos Lee to the Milwaukee Brewers for Scott Podsednik.

In 2004 the white Sox were a team that "lived and died by the home run and the big inning." 1

No one hit more home runs than the White Sox in the regular season of 2004 but that was not enough to get them to the post season. So changes needed to be made to play the style of baseball first year manager Ozzie Guillen was most accustomed to.

The big change was to essentially outfielders with the Brewers. Carlos "El Caballo" Lee hit .305 for the White Sox in '04 and hit 31 dingers, second only to Paul Konerko. Podesdnik cracked 12 homers for the brew crew that year but batted only .244. Podsednik's real contribution came on the base paths where he stole 70 bases, whereas The White Sox as a unit only stole 77!!!

The trade worked out well for both parties. Lee increased his homer output as a Brewer and made the first of 3 consecutive all star appearances in 2005. But the Sox were the real winner of the trade. The acquisition of Podsednik transformed the team. They now had a base runner who was a threat to steal every time he got on base. He stole 59 in 2005 in only 129 games. It's hard to imagine what his total might have been if injuries in the second half of the season didn't keep him out of so many games.

Let me quickly tell you how some of the cogs in the 2005 championship wheel were attained.

• June 27th 2004. White Sox move Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed and Michael Morse to Seattle for Freddy Garcia and Ben Davis. Garcia became a key starter in the White Sox rotation.
  
  
• July 18, 2004. Sox trade pitchers Jon Rauch and Gary Majewski to Montreal for Carl Everett. Everett became the DH in 2005 when Frank Thomas went down to injury.
  
  
• July 31, 2004. White Sox move fan favorite Esteban Loaiza to the Yankees for Jose Contreras. Contreras went 9-2 in the second half of 2005. His best effort came on September 23rd against the Twins. The Sox had dropped to only 1 and a half games ahead of the Indians. Contreras pitched a 9 strike out complete game gem and the White Sox never looked back. Man, I couldn't think of a way to work in that I was at the game and that it was my birthday. Oh well, maybe you will figure that out on your own.

Trades weren't the only way this team formed. Earlier in December of 2004, Wiilliams made two key free agent signings:

• December 8th Pitcher Dustin Hermanson
• December 9th Outfielder Jermaine Dye

Hermanson stepped into the closer role in 2005 when we learned that Shingo Takatsu is Japanese for 1 year wonder.

Dye had an excellent year in '05 with the Sox, culminating with his World Series MVP award.

So there it is my first of several looks back at the 2005 World Champions. In the weeks to come I will intersperse some more memories but will also be focusing on other teams and other sports.

Until next time, this is Crazy Uncle Dave signing off.

This post is featured in Athletic Alley Blog Carnival – December 17, 2009

Footnotes

1. Total White Sox by Richard C Lindberg. Triumph Books, 2006. P. 121