Mark Buehrle got his statue Friday, and the 2005 White Sox reassembled Saturday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their World Series title.
With reunion weekend now in the rearview mirror, South Side fans are hoping for a chance to cheer a modern-day winner.
But is there a loose end to tie up in honor of the 2005 squad?
“We’ve got to get Ozzie [Guillen] next,” A.J. Pierzynski said Friday. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get Ozzie next.”
This might have struck some as the perfect opportunity to make an announcement so many fans have been waiting for, that Guillen’s No. 13 would join the Sox’ retired numbers. But the weekend, tinged with sadness after the recent death of Bobby Jenks, came and went with no such news.
So fans, as well as Guillen and his former players, are left wondering when the Sox might bestow the longtime franchise icon with one of their highest honors.
“I don’t know what’s taken so long,” Pierzynski told the Sun-Times. “It’s something he deserves. For pretty much a lifelong member of the White Sox, he’s done a lot of stuff that nobody else [has]. I mean, he’s the only manager living that’s won a World Series [for the White Sox]. I think that’s special. And [his number retirement] needs to happen.”
Guillen’s biggest achievement with the Sox, obviously, was managing the 2005 team to the franchise’s first World Series championship in 88 years. But he also won a Rookie of the Year Award and went to three All-Star Games during his 13 seasons playing on the South Side. After his eight seasons managing the team — a tenure that ended acrimoniously — he eventually returned as a TV analyst, giving fans a whole new reason to embrace him.
Should the Sox one day make the move to honor Guillen, he would be, appropriately, the 13th person to have his number retired by the organization.
“I hope they retire my number; they should,” Guillen said Friday. “I talk to Jerry [Reinsdorf] every day, and I never talk about it. I don’t want to beg for it. But it would be nice if it happened while I’m still alive.
“Would I want my number to be retired? Of course I do. I want my grandkids to see who [their] grandpa was. But it’s up to Jerry about the decision [he’s] going to make. I’m not going to put pressure on him.
“I played for the White Sox. I managed the White Sox. Now I broadcast, part of the organization. . . . Did I earn it? Yeah, I deserve it.”
Lifting the World Series trophy — he hoisted it again as the last person introduced during the ceremony Saturday — was enough for fans, though Guillen commanded attention with his huge personality, too.
Despite his daily headline-grabbing comments, behind the scenes, he was a manager truly appreciated by his players.
“A lot of teams need managers like Ozzie,” Cliff Politte told the Sun-Times. “Ozzie was true to his word. Ozzie believed in his players. And he gave us every opportunity. . . . A lot of managers I played for before coming here, I never had that opportunity. Ozzie, that’s what made him good: He was a players’ coach, he played this game, he enjoyed himself in this game, and he had fun doing it, and it helped us.”
“A lot of managers — I had a chance to play for a lot of different ones after leaving here — they say that trust is there, and it builds, and it’s not,’’ Jon Garland told the Sun-Times. ‘‘Ozzie really had it. Ozzie let us just go play baseball, and that’s what got the best out of us.”
Knowing Sox fans means understanding that no one will ever forget 2005.
The statues of Buehrle and Paul Konerko on the concourse and their respective retired numbers are reasons for future generations of Sox fans to know what this team meant to the fan base.
Adding Guillen’s No. 13 to that list would not only enhance that memory but let people know what the man himself meant — and still means — to the franchise and to the South Side.
“He’s just Ozzie,” Pierzynski said. “He could rub some people the wrong way, but if you understood what Ozzie was about — which was showing up, playing hard and winning — you wouldn’t have a problem with Ozzie because that’s what he cared about.
“He cared about the White Sox, he cared about winning and he cared about showing up and playing every day. Those were his things.”