Chicagoist's Weekend Theater: Remembering Minnie Miñoso

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 1, 2015 9:00PM

"Baseball's been very, very good to me." That's one of Minnie Miñoso's signature lines, popularized by Garrett Morris' Chico Escuela character on Saturday Night Live and later co-opted by Sammy Sosa during his playing prime.

And baseball was very good to Miñoso,
at 89 (or 92, according to the White Sox. The first black Latin player in the major leagues, Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda called Miñoso "the Jackie Robinson of Latino players."

Miñoso has yet to be enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame and his next chance will be when the Golden Era Committee reconvenes in a couple years. Here's segment from WTTW's "Chicago Tonight" from November 2011 examining Miñoso's Hall of Fame bona fides.

Miñoso was Chicago's first black baseball player in the majors, two years before Ernie Banks broke the color line with the Cubs. His ebullient personality earned him the nickname "Mr. White Sox." Here are some 1976 White Sox TV spots in English and Spanish

Three years ago, Media Burn Archive's Tom Weinberg completed a documentary on Miñoso that aired on WTTW. Here's a clip from that documentary.

Miñoso was the honorary captain for the White Sox during their last game at Old Comiskey Park in 1990.

Finally, here's Weinberg interviewing Miñoso outside home plate from Old Comiskey at U.S. Cellular Field.