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  • #1

    White Sox All Time Team - Centerfield

    White Sox Top 5 center fielders: Merkin's take
    https://www.mlb.com/news/white-sox-center-fielders-all-time-ranking
    No one loves a good debate quite like baseball fans, and with that in mind, we asked each of our beat reporters to rank the top five players by position in the history of their franchise, based on their career while playing for that club. These rankings are for fun


    MLB.com is posting every teams' All Time Team, the top 5 at every position. I'm a little late to the game as they have covered over half the positions so far, but today I decided to click the link today and check out the Top 5 White Sox CF'ers according to beat writer Scott Merkin.

    I remember having a conversation about Sox centerfielders with my Dad shortly before he died in 1977. I was remarking to him what a good CF Chet Lemon was developing in to, as he was new to the position having come up as a 3B in '75 and moved him to CF in 1976. After Bill Veeck took out the CF fence for the beginning of the 1976 season, the outfield regions got so much more spacious and Chet Lemon would go gap to gap and catch just about every ball he could get to.

    My Dad asked me (I was 17 at the time) who the first Sox CF'er I remembered seeing, and I said without hesitation Ken Berry, aka the Bandit. Ken Berry was my gold standard for Sox CF'ers and Chet Lemon was quickly climbing the ladder as one of the top notch CF'ers in my estimation. My Dad said to me in reply, "I wish you could've seen Jim Landis. He was even better than Ken Berry."

    Well since that time, I've seen them all and some who stand out in my mind are Rudy Law, Dave Gallagher, Lance Johnson, and Aaron Rowand.
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  • #2
    Originally posted by Wsoxmike59 View Post
    https://www.mlb.com/news/white-sox-c...l-time-ranking

    MLB.com is posting every teams' All Time Team, the top 5 at every position. I'm a little late to the game as they have covered over half the positions so far, but today I decided to click the link today and check out the Top 5 White Sox CF'ers according to beat writer Scott Merkin.

    I remember having a conversation about Sox centerfielders with my Dad shortly before he died in 1977. I was remarking to him what a good CF Chet Lemon was developing in to, as he was new to the position having come up as a 3B in '75 and moved him to CF in 1976. After Bill Veeck took out the CF fence for the beginning of the 1976 season, the outfield regions got so much more spacious and Chet Lemon would go gap to gap and catch just about every ball he could get to.

    My Dad asked me (I was 17 at the time) who the first Sox CF'er I remembered seeing, and I said without hesitation Ken Berry, aka the Bandit. Ken Berry was my gold standard for Sox CF'ers and Chet Lemon was quickly climbing the ladder as one of the top notch CF'ers in my estimation. My Dad said to me in reply, "I wish you could've seen Jim Landis. He was even better than Ken Berry."

    Well since that time, I've seen them all and some who stand out in my mind are Rudy Law, Dave Gallagher, Lance Johnson, and Aaron Rowand.
    Jim Landis was my pick on the Sox website, Jim won 5 straight Gold gloves, hard to beat that. I remember reading all the Baseball publications like Baseball Digest, Sport Magazine and The Sporting News back in the GO Go years and they all praised Landis as the best centerfielder, better than Mays and Mantle. Merkin picked Johnny Mostil, I'm up there in age but not that old so I never saw Mostil play.
    Now coming up to bat for the White Sox is the Mighty Mite, Nelson Fox.

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    • #3
      Ken Berry played too deep. He won a Gold Glove in 1970, but he was no Paul Blair, who also won a Gold Glove from center in 1970. I didn't notice Berry playing too deep when he played for the Sox. He was all about robbing hitters of home runs. There's a film of him leaping over the old 1960s centerfield fence, in stride and disappearing behind it for an out. At a game in 1971, Mike Hershberger or Jay Johnstone ran back and a drive and made a great catch, and the guy in front of me said Berry would have had time for a beer before catching that ball, as if that catch shouldn't have looked so difficult. The thing is, when Berry played against the Sox, the Sox were dumping hits in front of him. Harry Caray, who didn't treat current Sox let alone former Sox with any reverence, was even commenting on it during a game. The difference between Ken Berry and Blair was that Blair played very shallow and could still catch the deep drives that Berry got to. The Angels even moved Berry to left for a few games (in favor of Mickey Rivers), one of which was in Old Comiskey where he knocked himself out on the low wall for what turned out to be a Carlos May inside-the-park grand slam.

      Berry is a good man. After baseball he was the technical adviser and Joe Jackson heckler for Eight Men Out, and he is the author of two children's books. But I believe Chester Lemon was a better center fielder.

      The franchise best is something I've never thought about. I would hate to comment on someone I never saw play. For all I know, Berry may have played shallower when he was younger.

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      • #4
        We have been fortunate over the years to have a lot of good center fielders. The best one I saw was Jim Landis. He could come in or go back and side to side better than any of them. Berry and Lemon and Hershberger and Aaron Rowand and Law Tommy Agee were all good, but Landis was the best.
        • Likes 1

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        • #5
          Gotta be Engel.

          I can’t tell if this is teal...

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          • #6
            Landis was the best. As Little Nell has stated, many considered him better than Mays and Mantle.

            • Likes 1

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            • #7
              Originally posted by A. Cavatica View Post
              Gotta be Engel.

              I can’t tell if this is teal...
              No,this is teal: but on the drop down it's called dark Cyan second down from the top in the left column.
              Riding Shotgun on the Sox Bandwagon since before there was an Internet...



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              • #8
                Surprised this only rated honorable mention, besides managing the team from center field as well.

                • Fielder Jones played with the White Sox from 1901-08 and produced a 32.3 fWAR and 31.8 bWAR -- both of which are the highest among White Sox players who primarily played center field.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by FielderJones View Post
                  Surprised this only rated honorable mention, besides managing the team from center field as well.
                  Jones is a victim of Recency Bias. He played so long ago that everyone who saw him play is long gone and no films exist of that era.

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                  • #10
                    I liked Chet Lemon. The trade to Detroit even got a mention in an episode of the original Magnum, P.I. (though from Tigers fans' perspective)

                    Defensively, Lance Johnson is the best I've seen on the Sox. The guy hauled some serious posterior in center field

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Railsplitter View Post
                      I liked Chet Lemon. The trade to Detroit even got a mention in an episode of the original Magnum, P.I. (though from Tigers fans' perspective)

                      Defensively, Lance Johnson is the best I've seen on the Sox. The guy hauled some serious posterior in center field
                      Lance played as shallow as anyone I can recall. He could flat out fly.
                      Riding Shotgun on the Sox Bandwagon since before there was an Internet...



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                      • #12
                        Here’s hoping that Luis Robert makes this topic look laughable in about a decade.
                        • Likes 1

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Railsplitter View Post
                          I liked Chet Lemon. The trade to Detroit even got a mention in an episode of the original Magnum, P.I. (though from Tigers fans' perspective)

                          Defensively, Lance Johnson is the best I've seen on the Sox. The guy hauled some serious posterior in center field
                          I remember his noodle arm. Am I wrong? And no love for Mike Cameron?
                          Ah, you can't beat fun at the old ball park.

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