As the story goes, the first batter of the first inning of the first game of spring training dug in against the White Sox in 2005 in Tuscon, Arizona, where the Diamondbacks played then, and lofted a pop fly into foul territory. Like a bat out of Milwaukee came new left fielder Scott Podsednik, who made a long sprint culminating in a sliding, sprawling catch in the dirt.
Podsednik — the big leagues’ stolen base champion in 2004 with the Brewers — had arrived as part of the return in the Sox’ offseason trade of burly left fielder Carlos Lee. On no planet was the lumbering Lee ever going to make a catch like that. That is, assuming the catch happened at all.
“I don’t remember it,” Podsednik said Friday at Rate Field, where members of the 2005 World Series-winning Sox gathered for a reunion.
The Sox’ catcher at the time, A.J. Pierzynski — also new to the team, having signed as a free agent after being non-tendered by the Giants — swears it happened just that way, remembering it in vivid detail.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, you don’t always see that out of a guy that’s been around a little bit [so early in] spring training,” Pierzynski shared with the Sun-Times. “That was kind of the moment I was like, ‘OK, this team gets it.’ ”
Twenty years on from a championship, details get blurred as stories only get better. But it’s right on the money to say the Sox never would’ve ended what was an 88-year World Series drought had they not remade their roster in a tone-shifting manner after 2004. Five newcomers — Podsednik, Pierzynski, right fielder Jermaine Dye, second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and a little-known, hulking, fireballing pitcher named Bobby Jenks — came to the team and changed the way the Sox played, particularly in their lineup, in an experiment that couldn’t possibly have gone better.
Podsednik had spent nine years in the minor leagues and was still just trying to solidify a spot in the majors when the Sox got him.
“I was still trying to develop my game and wanted to do everything to stay in the big leagues,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect, to be completely honest, and I don’t think really anyone knew what to expect with the group of guys they brought in.”
Ozzie Guillen, with only one season under his belt as manager, had been the driving force. The Sox were big, slow, home run-reliant and just not effective enough on the basepaths or in the field. Guillen wanted a team that could manufacture runs and win games around the edges and with hustle. To his credit, then-general manager Kenny Williams agreed and made a series of moves that paid off.
Podsednik ended up leading the majors in steals in the first half of 2005 en route to his only All-Star Game. Pierzynski — despite having the rap of a negative clubhouse force coming in — became an invaluable piece of the puzzle and a fan favorite. Iguchi, pleasantly dependable in the “get ’em on, get ’em over, get ’em in” vein, became the first Japanese-born position player to win a World Series. And Dye, far more talented than the other three, slugged 31 homers and became World Series MVP in one hell of a free-agent boom.
“I did have other offers for more years and more money,” Dye told the Sun-Times. “I just saw it on paper and felt this was the best lineup and pitching staff that would give me the best chance to go to the playoffs. I guess I was right.”
And Jenks? Alas, Soxdom has spent last week-plus eulogizing a fallen star who died at 44 on July 4, with so many remembering how a closer from out of nowhere exploded onto the scene in 2005 after having been quietly picked up on waivers in the offseason and promoted to the South Side in early summer.
“It’s just so sad,” Dye said.
Before one ill-fated season in San Francisco, Pierzynski caught for the Twins, who had a core that had four straight winning seasons, including three division titles, and often toyed with the Sox.
“The Sox were home run or nothing back then,” Pierzynski said. “The Twins were more small-ball, fundamentally sound, and we would always beat them because eventually they’d make a mistake. We just waited for the Sox to give it to us.”
It was entirely different in 2005, when the Sox went 52-22 in the division, won 99 regular-season games and went 11-1 in the playoffs.
“We probably weren’t the most physically talented team assembled in 2005,” Podsednik said, “but everyone came to the ballpark and they knew who they were, they knew what they did best, they bought into that and they were willing to do whatever it took to win a ballgame night in and night out.”
They were a beast on an unstoppable ride.
“I’ll take that team and put it up against anybody,” Pierzynski said. “We had something. I don’t know what you call it, but we had something.”