The 1994 White Sox were focused on the World Series — then the players' strike happened

It’s not like the White Sox win the World Series every other year. The fact is, they won it in 1906, 1917 and 2005. That’s it for a franchise dating to 1901.

In the early 1990s, though, the Sox capitalized on striking gold with four consecutive first-round draft picks from 1987 to 1990 — Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas and Alex Fernandez — and fielded consistently good teams, including the American League West champion that had a 94-68 record in 1993.

The Sox would lose the AL Championship Series to the Blue Jays in six games, setting the stage for 1994, when the franchise’s first World Series title in 77 years seemed well within its grasp.

Thomas was mapping out his first-ballot Hall of Fame career, putting up a 1.217 OPS, slugging 38 home runs, driving in 101 runs and scoring 106. Julio Franco was batting fourth behind him in the middle of a deep lineup, hitting .319/.406/.510 with highs of 20 homers and 98 RBI in his 23-year career. McDowell was coming off a Cy Young Award season in ’93.

The Sox were 67-46 on Aug. 10 after winning four of five games and eight of 12, taking a series from Tony La Russa’s Athletics that day to complete a nine-game road trip.

The only thing that stopped them was a players’ strike on Aug. 12 that made 1994 a great year and an awful one.

“What an unfortunate, amazing year,” said Darrin Jackson, the right fielder on that team, who was batting .312 with 10 homers in 104 games when the season came to an abrupt end. “The baseball was phenomenal, and the characters were phenomenal. But unfortunately it all came crashing down. The season that time forgot. I would have loved to see how far that team would have gone.”

“I try to not think about it too much,” said then-manager Gene Lamont, who would be fired by general manager Ron Schueler the next season and replaced by Terry Bevington after an 11-20 start.

By no means were the Sox a lock to go all the way in ’94. The hard-charging Indians, with third baseman Jim Thome, outfielders Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton and Manny Ramirez and middle infielders Carlos Baerga and Omar Vizquel, were one game behind. The Royals, with a pitching rotation led by David Cone, Mark Gubicza and Tom Gordon, were four back.

“That was the start of those great runs we had in Cleveland and with our fan base [with 455 consecutive sellouts starting in 1995],” Thome said. “The Sox had a good ballclub, too. But we felt it was our turn to make a good run.”

The Sox felt like it was their turn, even though the Yankees were sitting atop the AL East at 74-43. And in the National League, the young Expos were on the best march of anyone at 74-40, the best record in baseball. It was the first year of the wild card, with one team set to join the three division winners in each league in the postseason.

“The Indians were great and on the brink of being an absolute superteam,” said Danny Evans, the Sox’ assistant general manager from 1981 to 2000. “And I always hear this stuff about the Expos, and I take exception to it. We weren’t secondary to any club.”

A lineup of Tim Raines, Joey Cora, Thomas, Franco, Ventura, Jackson, Lance Johnson, Ozzie Guillen and Ron Karkovice, a rotation of McDowell, Fernandez, Wilson Alvarez, Jason Bere and Scott Sanderson and a bullpen featuring Roberto Hernandez, Jose DeLeon, Kirk McCaskill, Dennis Cook and Paul Assenmacher covered every component needed to win it all. Mike LaValliere, Craig Grebeck, Norberto Martin and Warren Newson made up a strong bench.

The Sox’ 3.96 ERA was the lowest in the AL. They were second in the majors in on-base percentage (.366), third in OPS (.810) and fourth in runs, averaging 5.6 per game. Thomas and Bere were All-Stars that season. Thomas, Franco, Raines, Cora, Guillen, Ventura, Johnson, McDowell, Alvarez, Hernandez and Sanderson were All-Stars during their careers. Thomas and Raines are Hall of Famers.

“That was going to be one of the greatest teams in franchise history,” Evans said. “They were elite. They were amazing.”

But no one will ever know how amazing 1994 could have been.

“We were all bummed,” said McDowell, who had finished second in Cy Young voting in 1992 before winning it the next year.

But not shocked. Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, an antagonist of the union, was viewed by the players as a leading hard-liner who, alongside acting commissioner Bud Selig, provoked what would be a bitter strike.

“We were told beforehand,” McDowell said. “Jerry told us what was going to happen. He said if you guys don’t agree to this, this and this as players vs. the owners, the season is going to stop on this date.”

The postseason was officially canceled by Selig on Sept. 14.

“I was involved from the management side in the negotiations,” Evans said. “I was serving on a committee and the chairman of the club was on the executive council, so I was aware of what was going on on a daily basis. I was hoping we’d be able to get something done and both sides would come to grips.”

They did not. It was the fourth work stoppage in 22 years and the longest in baseball history, and MLB became the first American professional sports league to lose an entire postseason because of a labor dispute.

“I felt horrible because we had built that club for an extended period and had a nucleus that was elite character-wise and competitive-wise, and you don’t get those opportunities when everything is in concert and they were completely in sync,” Evans said. “All elements of our team had come together.

“I had no doubt about that team being able to win the whole thing. None.”

Pat Sullivan/AP

The Jordan circus

The sporting world’s attention was drawn to the Sox already in the winter months of that year — and not because they were expected to be a contender after losing to the World Series champion Jays in the ALCS in ’93. Michael Jordan had retired from basketball after winning three NBA titles with Reinsdorf’s other team, the Bulls, and was secretly working out with Sox trainer Herm Schneider and outfielder Mike Huff.

Jordan wanted to be a baseball player. He signed a minor-league contract Feb. 7 and reported to spring training in Sarasota, Florida. The greatest basketball player in the world would train to be a corner outfielder, working on the complicated art of hitting with skeptical Sox hitting coach Walt Hriniak.

“I thought it was all BS,” Hriniak said.

Jordan approached Hriniak right away, asking him for one-on-one help in the batting cage.

“I have a whole lot of guys I need to work with,” Hriniak told the three-time NBA Finals MVP. “If you want some help, be at that cage every morning at 7 o’clock. And if you’re one second late, you don’t hit.’’

Jordan was always on time. Every time. And Hriniak was impressed.

“That was quite an experience,” Hriniak said. “I made this statement: If everybody went about their job the way Michael Jordan did in baseball, the whole baseball world would be better. He was fantastic.”

Spring training “was a circus,” said Jackson, who would score on a double by Jordan at Wrigley Field in an exhibition game in April. “But it was fun to be around.”

“That spring training, it felt like you were at the Masters,” said Hernandez, who had 161 saves and a 2.87 ERA in seven seasons for the Sox. “It was like Tiger Woods: Everywhere he went, the press and everyone else followed. But he fit right in. He made everyone comfortable with him.

“One of the nicest human beings. It didn’t matter if you were a janitor or ballplayer, he treated everyone the same.”

Hernandez still has a pair of three-quarter baseball high-tops from Jordan.

“That spring, I twisted an ankle,” Hernandez said. “I always wore low-tops. Herm Schneider wanted me to wear high-tops for the spring, but I didn’t have any at the time, so he asked Michael Jordan to get me a pair so I could do workouts. From that day on, all I used was three-quarter high-tops.

“Still got ’em at home. With the Jumpman logo.”

Jordan, 31, who would find himself on a Sports Illustrated cover with the headline ‘‘Bag it, Michael!’’ would eventually give up baseball and return to the Bulls but not before making fans of Birmingham manager Terry Francona and Hriniak, who said: “Jordan didn’t have any [BS] about it. And I thought he was good enough to hit better than .202.”

That’s what Jordan batted in 127 games for Double-A Birmingham.

Mark Duncan/AP

Beware the Belle batgate

As sideshows go, the 1994 Sox were unmatched. On July 15, the Sox suspected Indians slugger Belle of using a corked bat and had it confiscated by umpire Dave Phillips right before the first pitch of a game at Comiskey Park.

McDowell, taking his warmups before the first inning, was out of the loop.

“They didn’t tell us what was going on,” McDowell said. “I’m ready to throw the first pitch, and it’s, ‘Time out!’ The umpires walk out and take the bat. I didn’t know what was happening.”

The Indians had an idea. They knew Belle was guilty, so Indians reliever Jason Grimsley volunteered to steal the loaded bat from the umpires’ dressing room during the game. After getting a thumbs-up from Indians manager Mike Hargrove, Grimsley broke in above the umpires’ dressing room while McDowell dueled Cleveland’s Mark Clark and fetched Belle’s illegal stick, replacing it with teammate Paul Sorrento’s bat — only to get caught.

The Sox and McDowell would lose the game 3-2 to fall into a tie for first place. But the big story was that burglary charges were threatened, and the Chicago police and a former FBI agent got involved.

Belle would be suspended for seven games. Everyone was riveted to an entertaining batgate drama.

“It was hilarious,” Hernandez said. “But back then, if you weren’t cheating, you weren’t trying. He wasn’t the only one. There were a lot of people using illegal stuff. Sandpaper, scuffed balls, corked bats. But in our minds, it came down to, you have to hit a round ball with a round bat, and you have to adjust.”

Twenty-eight days later, however, none of it mattered, except for the documentary-makers, because the season was over.

Fred Jewell/AP

Oozing with confidence

The Sox had all the components on the field that year. And they were together.

“The players had a common goal,” Lamont said. “Win every day. And get to the World Series and win the World Series. They tasted the playoffs the year before and wanted to get back there.”

“It was the only team I’ve played for where it was a collective, every single guy pulling on the rope the same way,” Jackson said, “and it was unbelievable to see. The White Sox in ’94 were a younger group and the talent was there, but it was all about, ‘No, no, no, it’s not about you; it’s about us.’ That’s what made that team spectacular.”

With Hriniak leading the hitters, it was execute or you don’t play, Jackson said. And McDowell, despite struggling in the first half, led the pitching staff.

Lamont said Guillen and Ventura were the leaders. Thomas led by example and McDowell with his bulldog attitude.

“He didn’t have to say anything; it was, ‘Follow my lead or get off the freaking mound,’ ’’ Jackson said. “And Jason Bere, Wilson Alvarez and Fernandez were all out to prove they were the best on the staff.

“Frank was leading by being the best hitter in baseball. Julio Franco, Tim Raines, these guys didn’t need anyone to tell them what to do.”

Jackson’s only worry was Hernandez, who had a 6.91 ERA and eight saves through June after saving 38 games with a 2.38 ERA in 1993.

After blowing saves against the A’s and Angels in consecutive outings, then giving up a two-run home run to the Rangers’ Juan Gonzalez in the ninth inning of a 12-6 loss on June 12 in Chicago, Hernandez turned things around, finishing the season with no earned runs allowed in 17 of his last 19 appearances, lowering his ERA to 4.91.

Hernandez said he was helped by a meeting with A’s closer Dennis Eckersley, who was winding down his Hall of Fame career. The meeting was arranged by broadcaster and former reliever Ed Farmer.

“We sat behind home plate, just talking,” Hernandez recalled. “Eckersley told me: ‘You have to focus and act like you’re the best thing out there. Sometimes we have to fake it and wing it, but you have to believe you’re the best.’ Everybody has doubt when they struggle, and I was going through that at that moment. But as soon as I was getting back to myself, all of a sudden we went on strike.”

There were no such needed talks for Thomas, who was on pace to hit 54 homers and 49 doubles and drive in 154 runs.

“People ask me who was the best hitter I ever saw,” Hriniak said. “I answer it two ways. The best hitter I saw for just getting a base hit was Wade Boggs, but the best all-around hitter was Frank Thomas.’’

“He set the standard of what a true MVP should look like,” Thome said.

“I never saw a guy so focused on his work,” Grebeck said. “His work ethic, his BP and soft-toss. He never wanted a day off.”

“He had a unique style,” Hriniak said. “There was one pitch he couldn’t hit, the inside fastball. And he knew it, and everybody else knew it. He couldn’t hit it if they told him it was coming, and he didn’t like to swing at it. He would very seldom pull the ball foul.

“He hit a lot of home runs the other way. He was always looking ahead to use the whole field. That’s a great way to hit. I tried to get everybody to do it, and he did it naturally.”

Hriniak laughs for a moment.

“I could be hard on him, but I think he needed that,” Hriniak said. “He wanted that. If you picked the right time and did it the right way and the player knew you cared, they could take it. That was Frank. We got along pretty good.”

The Sox got along well as a unit that year, which Jackson and Grebeck said helped fuel their drive toward the ultimate prize.

“It’s hard to put a team together where everyone likes each other as much as we did,” Grebeck said.

“Some years seem like a long time ago, but not that one. That was a special year. We were in first place, just starting to play well, and after being in the playoffs the year before, it seemed like it was going to be the year.”

The Sox’ only Achilles’ heel in ’93 was that McDowell, their ace, struggled against the Jays. He had a 5.25 career ERA against them and lost Games 1 and 5 to Toronto and Juan Guzman in the 1993 ALCS.

“For sure, we were better in ’94, and the big reason was adding Julio Franco to hit behind Frank,” Grebeck said. “They couldn’t pitch around Frank like they had in years past.”

Jackson, acquired in the offseason, collected his World Series ring with the Jays on Opening Day in Toronto and came back to the visitors’ dugout energized, saying, “Let’s go,” to a team still smarting from the loss in the ALCS months earlier.

“The experience of losing to the World Series champion the previous year propelled our club,” Evans said. “You could see it the first day of spring training. We were ready to play.

“I’m not a ‘what-if’ guy, but this was one of them. It had all the possibilities of winning the last game of the season.”

Lamont saw it that way, too.

“We thought we had everything together,” he said. “We had a complete team. We thought we had a good chance to go all the way.”

Hernandez said he envisioned being on the mound in Game 7 of the World Series.

“Always,” he said. “You have to envision getting that last out, that you’re the man coming in closing the door. In Toronto in 1993, we fell short.

“I envisioned that in ’93 and in ’94. Unfortunately, we went on strike. We’ll never know what would have happened.”