Tom Verducci nominates Kong

[greasywheels121]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/maga...erko/index.html

 

My Sportsman Choice: Paul Konerko

By Tom Verducci

 

When I think of 2005, I will think of Paul Konerko, who was the best player and the team leader on a Chicago White Sox team that won the most awaited world championship in the history of the World Series. Chicago had waited 88 years for a year like this, longer than even Boston waited for its championship (just without the whole literary genre of angst-ridden fans and scribes and pseudo-mysticism).

 

Indeed, the White Sox seemed more ignored than cursed all these years. Even when they made it to the World Series, the Sox were saluted by a global athletic shoe company in a full page newspaper ad as the "Southside'' White Sox, an interloping copy writer insulting the team and its neighborhood by getting their home wrong in their moment of glory. (It's South Side, bandwagon riders.)

 

With Frank Thomas injured, Konerko, who arrived in November 1998 in a trade for Mike Cameron, was the longest tenured member of the World Series team. He was only 22 when he came to Chicago, joining his third organization in little more than five years in pro ball.

 

I'll remember Konerko standing there in the middle of the infield at Minute Maid Park in Houston, the championship freshly minted with a 1-0 win in Game 4 to finish the sweep. Ever observant and aware, Konerko knew the significance of the night and cherished it.

 

"I hit cleanup on a world championship team,'' he said. "What else do you want? This is it, this is what you think about in high school, in Little League. If you can even dream it up, this is it.''

 

As great as that sounds, there is much more to why Konerko is my Sportsman of the Year. Sure, the first baseman also had a great season, hitting 40 homers and driving in 100 runs. So respected and loved is Konerko in his own clubhouse that the players nearly went berserk when he reached 100 RBIs with a sacrifice fly in the last game of the year. The guy they call "Paulie,'' the way you would a brother; he is a grinder who plays every game as if he's still trying to prove himself in the big leagues.

 

He is unusually accommodating and honorable with the media. He was the last one to leave the Chicago clubhouse nearly every night in the postseason, lingering to answer what often were the same questions he had answered four times over, each time with honest, insightful thoughts. And when he did leave he would do so with an apology, telling reporters, "Sorry, guys, but I really have to go.''

 

I appreciated his candor, for instance, when he spoke about the White Sox' good fortune to play their best baseball at the best time, saying, "We could start the playoffs tomorrow and get knocked out in the three games.''

 

Moreover, there was that once-in-a-lifetime week he enjoyed in October, beginning on the 16th. That Sunday, with his team clinging to a 4-3 ninth inning lead in Anaheim, he drove in the back-breaking run that clinched Chicago's first AL pennant since 1959. On Tuesday he was home in Scottsdale, Ariz., with his wife, Jennifer, for the birth of their first child, Nicholas. And on the next Sunday he became the first player in World Series history to hit a grand slam that turned a deficit into a lead in the seventh inning or later.

 

Three days later, the out that ended the longest world championship ever in the making wound up, appropriately enough, with Konerko. He caught a throw from shortstop Juan Uribe for the last out. I had sensed long before that moment that Konerko was one of the rare gifted athletes who "gets it,'' who understands team sports are not opportunities for self-aggrandizement. But I gained even more appreciation for his honesty and humility with how he reacted to such an opportunity, what with this whole ownership of "last out'' baseballs becoming a cause celebre in recent years.

 

"It's going to go to somebody,'' Konerko said that night. "not for me. It's for a certain person and an organization that's waited a long time. I'll be long gone and it will still be there.''

 

Two days later, at a World Series championship parade, Konerko gave the baseball to owner Jerry Reinsdorf, no strings attached. Konerko understood the baseball had tremendous institutional value -- it belonged to the White Sox and the republic of their fans -- and sitting on a mantel in Scottsdale was no way to acknowledge and share that value.

 

There are certain players (alas, nowhere near enough) who act in such a respectful way that it makes me think what a wonderful job the parents must have done in raising their son. Derek Jeter, for instance, is one of those men. Konerko is another.

 

I don't pretend to know the man as a close friend or relative might, but I do see how the players who spend seven months around him -- a baseball clubhouse reveals nearly all of a player's character -- revere Konerko. I do understand the magic of his year. First Sox world championship in 88 years. First late-inning, game-changing World Series grand slam. First-born child.

 

And I do appreciate his humility in a world that never has enough of it. Much of the world's conflict is rooted in a lack of humility, an arrogance and insolence that the Greeks called "hubris.'' In the small world of professional sports, this kind of look-at-me-aren't-I-great bravado has grown tiresome and, sadly, to be accepted behavior. That's why we should appreciate Konerko, a team player in the best sense of the title. He is a champion. He is a sportsman.

[chisox72]

PAULIE! PAULIE! PAULIE!!!!

 

What an awesome article. Especially in light of all the crap with TO, this speaks volumes as to how rare and awesome a guy like Konerko really is. Now we just gotta pray he doesn't go anywhere!

 

[UofIChiSox]

That is really awesome.

[whitesoxin']

Very good article. I hope he doesn't let the money get to his head, you belong in Chicago Pauly.

[Buehrle>Wood]

That is really awesome.

[DABearSoX]

I LOVE YOU KONG

 

great article.....chicago is where you belong...i want to bring my kids to the stadium many years from now and see your face and number on that wall

[YASNY]

So respected and loved is Konerko in his own clubhouse that the players nearly went berserk when he reached 100 RBIs with a sacrifice fly in the last game of the year. The guy they call "Paulie,'' the way you would a brother; he is a grinder who plays every game as if he's still trying to prove himself in the big leagues.

 

I wanted to emphasize this part of the column to those that hold Paulie's clubhouse presense with little value.

[bmags]

i think there is a mistake in that article, the last out in the 14 inning game was finished with a popout to uribe...right?

[Irishsox1]

For the last seven years the Chicago media chose to focus almost all of it's energy on Sosa, with all of his hopping, kissing to the camara, corked bats, steroid abuse, homeruns, and overall selfish play. Yet when a Chicago player wins the world championship, gives the game ball to the franchise, is a quality teammate and puts up solid numbers, it takes an out of town writer to give Konerko his proper credit. The hypocrisy of the Chicago media knows no boundrys.

 

The other aspect is how people and the media say stuff like "There aren't old school players anymore, with the ESPN highlights, big money contracts, flashy jewlery, players of today are too selfish and only interested in seeing themselves on t.v." Well all I can say is here the guy...Paul Konerko! He's an old school player that plays the game the right way, and wins championships the right way. This guy makes T.O., Manny Ramirez, Kobe Bryant, Jeremy Shockey, Michael Irvin, Ty Law, Allen Iverson and Steroid Sosa look like the jerks they really are.

[bmags]

For the last seven years the Chicago media chose to focus almost all of it's energy on Sosa, with all of his hopping, kissing to the camara, corked bats, steroid abuse, homeruns, and overall selfish play.  Yet when a Chicago player wins the world championship, gives the game ball to the franchise, is a quality teammate and puts up solid numbers, it takes an out of town writer to give Konerko his proper credit.  The hypocrisy of the Chicago media knows no boundrys.

 

The other aspect is how people and the media say stuff like "There aren't old school players anymore, with the ESPN highlights, big money contracts, flashy jewlery, players of today are too selfish and only interested in seeing themselves on t.v."  Well all I can say is here the guy...Paul Konerko!  He's an old school player that plays the game the right way, and wins championships the right way.  This guy makes T.O., Manny Ramirez, Kobe Bryant, Jeremy Shockey, Michael Irvin, Ty Law, Allen Iverson and Steroid Sosa look like the jerks they really are.

 

come on now, why would you call T.O. a jerk!

[Controlled Chaos]

Paulie is a great guy. I hope we can keep him, but I understand him leaving if we don't get close to his offer.

 

Another great article about Paulie was written in the middle of the season in the Sun Times. Talked about him studying Ted Williams and the art of hitting. Any guy that puts that much into his craft and cares that much is alright in my book. I can't find the article now, but I think I made a post about it back whewn I read it.

[rventura23]

what a good article, i love paulie

[SoxFan1]

If PK re-signs, he will undoubtedly get THE biggest opening day standing ovation in the history of the world.

[Felix]

yay Paulie

Edited November 9, 2005 by Felix

[thedoctor]

that is an excellent article.