Konerko Adjusts as he gets Older

[delben91]

A couple days old, so maybe someone else posted this.

Nice article about Konerko and changes he made to his preparation for the season and approach to hitting starting after 2008 since he knew he was getting older.

Really revealing to see how aware he is of his limitations (speed) and the things he's actively doing to compensate.

[Golden Sox]

On the White Sox postgame show the other night Chris Rongey said Paul Konerko does not belong in the Baseball Hall Of Fame but Ron Santo does. I immediately called the postgame show to comment on that subject. The station would not let me on the air talking about it. So I will make my comments here. First of all the Pizza Man/ Scab/ Santo has no business being in the Hall Of Fame but the fact is, he got inducted last year. So be it. But if you look at the offensive statistics of both players, Konerko beats Santo in virtually every category. Batting Average, Home Runs, Hits, RBI's and every other statistic. Konerko also played on 3 Playoff Teams, one pennant winning team and one World Championship team. Santo never played in the Playoffs once. Rongey is entitled to his opinions,( after all he's the host of the show), but when he makes comments saying Santo should be in the HOF and Konerko doesn't, perhaps he should look for a job on WGN Radio.

[RKMeibalane]

Originally Posted by Golden Sox

On the White Sox postgame show the other night Chris Rongey said Paul Konerko does not belong in the Baseball Hall Of Fame but Ron Santo does. I immediately called the postgame show to comment on that subject. The station would not let me on the air talking about it. So I will make my comments here. First of all the Pizza Man/ Scab/ Santo has no business being in the Hall Of Fame but the fact is, he got inducted last year. So be it. But if you look at the offensive statistics of both players, Konerko beats Santo in virtually every category. Batting Average, Home Runs, Hits, RBI's and every other statistic. Konerko also played on 3 Playoff Teams, one pennant winning team and one World Championship team. Santo never played in the Playoffs once. Rongey is entitled to his opinions,( after all he's the host of the show), but when he makes comments saying Santo should be in the HOF and Konerko doesn't, perhaps he should look for a job on WGN Radio.

I don't think either player belongs in the HOF, but that's just me. Too many non-deserving players are being allowed admission because the writers who have voting privileges believe that they have to elect someone. It's ridiculous, and it speaks to a complete lack of common sense on the part of the media, but it's also not a problem that's likely to go away anytime soon.

[chicagowhitesox1]

Santo gets alot of points for being a gold glove thirdbaseman while hitting very well in a offense challenged era. I think Konerko will need 500 homeruns for any chance of making the Hall of Fame. Santo is easily a top 10 thirdbaseman of all time while Konerko is probably around 25-30 for best firstbaseman of all time. Fred McGriff barely missed out on 500 homeruns and he's having trouble getting in and he was a few tiers above Konerko. I would like to see Konerko get in but theres quite a few firstbasemen who will still have better cases than Konerko by the time he retires. (Jeff Bagwell, Gil Hodges, Fred McGriff, Keith Hernandez, Will Clark and you can even make a case for Mark McGwire.

[asindc]

Originally Posted by Golden Sox

On the White Sox postgame show the other night Chris Rongey said Paul Konerko does not belong in the Baseball Hall Of Fame but Ron Santo does. I immediately called the postgame show to comment on that subject. The station would not let me on the air talking about it. So I will make my comments here. First of all the Pizza Man/ Scab/ Santo has no business being in the Hall Of Fame but the fact is, he got inducted last year. So be it. But if you look at the offensive statistics of both players, Konerko beats Santo in virtually every category. Batting Average, Home Runs, Hits, RBI's and every other statistic. Konerko also played on 3 Playoff Teams, one pennant winning team and one World Championship team. Santo never played in the Playoffs once. Rongey is entitled to his opinions,( after all he's the host of the show), but when he makes comments saying Santo should be in the HOF and Konerko doesn't, perhaps he should look for a job on WGN Radio.

Santo did not have a HOF career, but two things:

1) Position strength is a factor. Santo is higher on the 3rd baseman list than Paulie is on the 1st baseman list, though Paulie has been the better overall player. I suspect Rongey made that point;

2) How often an individual player's teams make the playoffs should have no bearing on HOF selection. Otherwise, you end up with Phil Rizzuto in the Hall and Minnie Minoso not.

[RKMeibalane]

Originally Posted by chicagowhitesox1

Santo gets alot of points for being a gold glove thirdbaseman while hitting very well in a offense challenged era. I think Konerko will need 500 homeruns for any chance of making the Hall of Fame. Santo is easily a top 10 thirdbaseman of all time while Konerko is probably around 25-30 for best firstbaseman of all time. Fred McGriff barely missed out on 500 homeruns and he's having trouble getting in and he was a few tiers above Konerko. I would like to see Konerko get in but theres quite a few firstbasemen who will still have better cases than Konerko by the time he retires. (Jeff Bagwell, Gil Hodges, Fred McGriff, Keith Hernandez, Will Clark and you can even make a case for Mark McGwire.

Anyone who tries to make that case needs to be reminded that McGwire embarrassed Major League Baseball (and himself) when he sat in front of a United States Congressional Committee and lied about his use of performance enhancing drugs. I remain astonished and appalled that Don Mattingly would allow that self-serving piece of **** to serve on his coaching staff. McGwire has nothing to teach today's players, and if any of them have even the smallest shred of common sense, they'll let anything and everything he says travel in one ear and out the other.

Mark McGwire is a joke, and if the HOF ever has the audacity to let his worthless ass inside without a visitor's pass, the entire building should be burned to the ground.

[chicagowhitesox1]

Originally Posted by RKMeibalane

Anyone who tries to make that case needs to be reminded that McGwire embarrassed Major League Baseball (and himself) when he sat in front of a United States Congressional Committee and lied about his use of performance enhancing drugs. I remain astonished and appalled that Don Mattingly would allow that self-serving piece of **** to serve on his coaching staff. McGwire has nothing to teach today's players, and if any of them have even the smallest shred of common sense, they'll let anything and everything he says travel in one ear and out the other.

Mark McGwire is a joke, and if the HOF ever has the audacity to let his worthless ass inside without a visitor's pass, the entire building should be burned to the ground.

McGwire is actually a pretty good hitting coach.. Plus he's probably a good reminder for young players on why they shouldn't use steroids.

Yeah I wouldn't want McGwire in the Hall of Fame but I gotta admit I have read some pretty good arguments on why he should be in. I would really have to think that Konerko has a huge advantage in getting in sooner though.