Jermaine Dye, Chicago Baseball Legend, Announces Retirement

March 31, 2011 By 2 Comments

I love Opening Day. I love knowing that from here until October there will be relevant sporting events every single day. And I especially love that my beloved Chicago White Sox have officially adopted a mantra of “all in” for the 2011 season.

But I did not like the news in this tweet, which passed by on my Twitter feed just a few minutes ago:

A sad day in the Fornelli household. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Just talked to Jermaine Dye. He is retiring.

Now, some may quibble with me calling a guy who only spent five season in the Windy City a legend, but quibble all you want. From Frank Thomas to Ernie Banks, from Sammy Sosa to Minnie Minoso, from Carlton Fox to this guy, over the last 200+ seasons of baseball in Chicago only one man has won a World Series MVP award while leading a Chicago baseball team to a World Series title:

Jermaine Dye.

jermaine-dye-retiring-world-series-mvp

I haven’t seen Ken Rosenthal’s article yet, so I’m not sure if anything has been announced in terms of the White Sox recognizing Dye, or of him signing a 1-day contract with the White Sox to officially retire a “good guy”, but I certainly hope something of this nature comes to fruition.

He’ll always be among my favorite White Sox players ever, not just for what he did in 2005, but for the unreal 2006 he put up. Dye finished fifth in the MVP voting that year – an OPS 0f 1.006, 44 HRs, 120 RBI – as he almost single-handedly tried to rescue a pitching staff that buckled late in the season as the innings from the 2005 World Series run took their toll. The White Sox missed the playoffs that year, but Dye proved his greatness by turning in one of the finest offensive seasons in White Sox history.

Thanks for all the memories Jermaine, most importantly for 2005. I know you played in five different uniforms during your career, but you’ll always look best in black.

In honor of JD, here’s random fan video of him hitting a home run off of Kevin Millwood. The homer comes around the 1:50 mark of the video, after Dye fouls off a number of pitches while facing a full count. Ahh…memories.

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Filed Under: MLB Tagged With: Chicago White Sox, jermaine dye, world series
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A proud graduate of Indiana University, Jerod Morris founded Midwest Sports Fans in August of 2008 and has been its Managing Editor every day since. Follow him on Twitter (@JerodMorris) for MSF updates, sports discussion, and a compelling daily assortment of funny and interesting links.
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  • AJK

    He should've retired last year, but he, along with Sheffield and others, were looking for 3-5 million contracts, and rightly, no one was going pay them that.

    But yes, a good, clutch ballplayer.

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JerodMSF

    Well, I suppose he kind of did, seeing as how he didn't play. I have a problem with him wanting to pick a spot and get a certain $$$ amount. I'd have loved to see him play one more year, but it was obvious his skills were in decline his last for the White Sox. I'll always remember the playoffs in '05 and his sterling '06 campaign. Great memories.