The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox: Grinders and Gamers

The complete story of a championship team. The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox: Grinders and Gamers, published on the twentieth anniversary of the team’s historic World Series victory, celebrates the club that broke “the curse of the Black Sox” to finally bring the White Sox a championship after an 87-year drought. Featuring biographies of every player on the club’s roster in 2005—from the big stars like Paul Konerko and Mark Buehrle to the “cup of coffee” players like Jamie Burke and David Sanders—the book also includes bios of owner Jerry Reinsdorf (who also contributed the Foreword), general manager Kenny Williams, manager Ozzie Guillén and his coaching staff, the team’s television and radio broadcasters, and the club’s home ballpark. More than a dozen articles cover key games, from Buehrle’s Opening Day 1-0 gem (in an hour and 51 minutes) to Game Four of the World Series against the Houston Astros—another 1-0 White Sox victory. Additional essays tell the story of how this club of “grinding and games” fought its way to the title. The 2005 White Sox won their championship in truly dominating fashion. Only the fifth team in major-league history to win a World Series after leading their division or league every day of the regular season, the White Sox went 11-1 during their postseason run, finishing with a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros. A throwback to teams of the past that relied on durable starting pitchers, the team’s mound staff boasted four starting pitchers who worked 200 or more innings. In the League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Angels, White Sox starters worked all but two-thirds of an inning in the four-games-to-one triumph and finished the series with four straight complete-game wins—a postseason feat last accomplished in 1928. On offense the club was powerful enough to belt 200 home runs—fourth most in the American League—yet it also led the league in sacrifice hits and finished third in stolen bases. The multifaceted tactics known as “Ozzie-ball” resulted in a major-league-high 35 one-run wins—and an unforgettable championship season.This book is a project of the Chicago chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, but members of many other local chapters contributed with writing, researching, fact-checking and editing. A total of 57 SABR members worked on the book. Read more