Konerko Becomes Singular Sensation

Paul Konerko isn’t listed on the American League All-Star ballot after his breakout season in 1999, but his feelings were assuaged when Chicago magazine recently selected him one of the city’s 25 most-eligible bachelors.

“I guess I should take it as a compliment, except that I’ve been catching a lot of grief in here,” the Chicago White Sox first baseman and former Dodger said, referring to the clubhouse. “These guys have no mercy.”

Said infielder Greg Norton, Konerko’s spring roommate, who landed some of the heaviest shots, “Paul accused us all of being jealous that we weren’t on the list. He’s probably right.”

At one time, of course, it appeared that Konerko might be one of the most eligible bachelors in Los Angeles.

He arrived with a lot of hype, particularly after having been named minor league player of the year in 1997, when he hit 37 homers, drove in 127 runs and batted .323 at triple-A Albuquerque.

There were brief trials with the Dodgers in ’97 and ‘98, but Konerko was usually looking over his shoulder to see when Eric Karros would return from an injury or surgery, and was never sure when he would be in the lineup or at what position.

Ultimately, interim general manager Tom Lasorda traded Konerko and Dennys Reyes to Cincinnati for Jeff Shaw. The Reds, after again exposing him to the triple-A shuttle in ‘98, traded him to the White Sox for Mike Cameron, leading to his first opportunity as a major league regular last season.

Konerko responded with a .294 batting average, 24 homers and 81 runs batted in in 142 games. He had a .320 average after the All-Star break, burying any doubts that he was strictly a triple-A hitter and making folly of a report by a renowned ESPN analyst and baseball columnist that a hip condition would prevent Konerko from ever playing regularly.

“Everything I’m doing here, I could easily have done at Dodger Stadium,” said Konerko, who is batting .300 with 11 homers and 48 RBIs in the middle of a lineup that is third in the American League in runs and has powered the White Sox to the best record in baseball.

“It was just a matter of playing every day, but they did me a favor, getting rid of me. I needed an opportunity. There was no reason to go back to triple A, so I consider myself lucky to have left.

“The Dodgers have a history of holding onto their talented young players until their best years and opportunities are behind them, and I didn’t want to get caught up in that.”

Konerko, overlooked on the All-Star ballot because Frank Thomas is listed as the Chicago first baseman--even though Thomas is happily serving as the designated hitter--said he never lost confidence in himself but suspects that “some of the people running the [Dodgers] at the time” had lost confidence in him.

“I always thought that a couple of those people had their own agenda and I didn’t want to get caught in a numbers game,” he said. “You get traded and go with the flow. I know somewhere in some meeting, someone said ‘We don’t need him, let’s get rid of him.’ That bothers you and motivates you for a time, but a lot of great players have been traded, so I can’t complain.

“I mean, I don’t miss for one second being in Los Angeles or Cincinnati. I haven’t lost one minute of sleep over it.”