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Chisox's Konerko finally getting superstar's due

By JOHN ROMANO
Published October 24, 2005

CHICAGO - Alex Rodriguez is long gone.

Albert Pujols checked out late last week, and David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez began their winter vacations a few days before that.

This was the World Series without star power.

The World Series that would be dominated by pitchers, ignored by casual fans and forgotten the morning after you carved a pumpkin.

So why do we still hear that sing-song chant?

Paul-ie. Paul-ie.

It is the sound of this fall. The noise that unexpectedly found us, and the memory that will be carried longer than anyone suspected.

Paul-ie. Paul-ie.

It is the sound of a city proclaiming its devotion after so many lovelorn years. The tone of fans recognizing something special is happening.

Paul-ie. Paul-ie.

It is the sound of Paul Konerko becoming a superstar.

In case you were otherwise occupied, it happened overnight.

Give or take seven years.

It was Konerko who set the White Sox on their way to a two-game lead in the World Series Sunday night with a grand slam in the seventh inning.

Scott Podsednik got the winner, and a little piece of baseball lore, with a rare homer in the ninth, but the Sox would have been long gone had Konerko not set the stage by erasing a two-run deficit.

"What must that man feel like to get us ahead at that point," Podsednik said, sitting next to Konerko in a postgame news conference.

Konerko hit the first pitch from reliever Chad Qualls and, just like that, the tone of a World Series changed and the reputation of a slugger was officially stamped.

The crowd at U.S. Cellular Field, which had sat quietly through seven innings of 45 degree weather and soft rain, seemed to rise as one before the ball had even passed over the shortstop's head.

Konerko circled the bases and raced into the waiting arms of teammates in the dugout. Then the crowd began its Paulie serenade, and he popped out for a curtain call.

"It's a hard feeling to explain, other than to say it was fun," Konerko said. "It was like having an out-of-body experience."

It was the type of moment that is supposed to be reserved for the game's elite. A Pujols. A Ramirez. A Jeter.

Yet here's the kicker. Konerko is one of the elite. Has been for quite some time. We just didn't recognize him until last night.

Did you know only five players have hit 40 or more home runs in each of the past two seasons? Furthermore, did you know Konerko was one of them?

Since 2000, Konerko has averaged 97 RBIs a season. He has hit .300 before, and has made two All-Star teams. And I would bet you couldn't pick him out of a lineup with eight other Sox players.

He has been one of baseball's best-kept secrets.

At least until now.

If you were paying attention, you would know Konerko carried the White Sox in September while the rest of the team was choking away most of its 15-game lead in the AL Central. Konerko hit .336 with eight home runs and 18 RBIs in the final month of the season. Then, against the Angels in the American League Championship Series, Konerko hit first-inning homers in Games 3 and 4 to win the MVP award.

Just to complete the portrait of a man having the time of his life, Konerko's wife Jennifer gave birth to their first child, Nicholas, between the end of the ALCS and the start of the World Series.

"It was a nice feeling," Konerko grinned when asked about the grand slam. "The second-best feeling I had all week."

Do not feel too badly if it has taken you time to recognize Konerko's talents. It took baseball people several years, as well.

Konerko, once considered a defensive liability, was traded by both the Dodgers and Reds in a four-month span in 1998.

"This kid is my leader," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen told the Chicago Tribune . "This kid just does everything in his power for us to be what we are, on the field and off the field. I will do anything ... to keep Konerko here."

If he hasn't grabbed enough attention in October, Konerko will soon have more. In a weak free-agent class, Konerko, 29, will be the grand prize. He will attract attention from Boston. From New York. From teams near his West Coast home.

On the eve of the World Series, his father told a newspaper the time for a hometown discount had long since passed, that the White Sox had erred by not tying Konerko up with a long-term contract.

It is a sobering thought for Chicago fans who, in recent seasons, have seen Frank Thomas fall to injuries and Magglio Ordonez run to Detroit.

But that's a worry for another day. That is a problem for owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Kenny Williams.

For now, Konerko is the toast of Chicago.

And Chicago is singing his praises.

[Last modified October 24, 2005, 00:59:17]