A lifetime of memories for ’93 White Sox
Team honors division title winners at reunion
They’ve lost their fastballs, their speed on the bases and the ability to turn on a pitch. Some have lost their hair, and others wear glasses they didn’t need 25 years ago.
But the members of the 1993 White Sox will never lose the bond they had as teammates, nor the satisfaction of taking down Tony La Russa’s A’s empire.
When they gathered this weekend for a reunion in Chicago — players, manager Gene Lamont and some of his coaches were honored in a ceremony Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field before the Sox-Royals game — they celebrated their 94-win season and American League West title and mourned the chance to win a championship that was lost when players went on strike on Aug. 12, 1994, and didn’t return to work until the following April.
“It was just so cool because it kind of was our same core group of guys battling those A’s teams,” said Jack McDowell, the 1993 AL Cy Young winner. “They were the cream of the crop in baseball, had all of the superstars, and we were kind of the young team nipping at their heels. It was fun to finally get over the top and be the champs.”
Those were Oakland’s Bash Brothers teams, and they had won the West four of the previous five years, with at least 96 wins every season.
But age and economics caught up to the A’s after ’92, and the Sox stepped forward with a team that included first-round draft picks Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, McDowell and Alex Fernandez.
“That team was very, very talented,” said Thomas, who was the AL MVP in ’93 and ’94. “It was the most talented team I was ever on. We fell a little short. We lost to a team that (was loaded with) Hall of Famers. You look back and kind of regret we didn’t finish the job.”
The Blue Jays, who had beaten the Braves in the ’92 World Series, won the ALCS over the Sox in six games and went on to beat the Phillies to repeat as champions.
The Sox had a shot at 100 wins the next season but were stuck at 67-46 because the players union called a strike to get owners to move off their insistence of a salary cap.
“Players who had been around for prior negotiations, a few years earlier, said, ‘Oh, this is how it works, posturing this and that,’ ” said Jason Bere, who won 12 games as a rookie in ’93. “When (owners) canceled the World Se- ries, that probably shocked everybody in baseball. Everybody suffers then. Teams suffer. Fans certainly suffer, first and foremost. … It’s just a bad scene.’’
The Sox were only one game ahead of the Indians in the newly created AL Central when the strike hit, but McDowell insists they not only would have held onto that lead but won it all with a second crack in the postseason.
“Everyone over time seems to be siding with the Expos,’’ McDowell said. “I just tell them ‘you're wrong.’ Me and Alex struggled in the first half of that season, and who were our two All-Star pitchers? Jason and Wilson (Alvarez). They kept up their good year, and me and Alex by the end of that year were absolutely dealing. We were going into that thing with four dudes ready to just roll, and the rest of the team (was) doing what they did. I like to think we were much better.’’
It’s one of baseball’s eternal arguments, and that’s something to talk about when old friends get together.
Phil Rogers is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.