Cliff Politte

“What the hell are you doing?” Politte asked.

Konerko said, “Pick it up and put it in your pocket.”1

Politte then understood: Konerko made certain that Politte’s first World Series game experience would include a cherished souvenir. “And I still have it,” said Politte, who created a wood box with memorable baseballs from an almost 10-year major-league career, featuring the World Series one that Konerko delivered, in his St. Louis-area home.

It’s all part of Politte’s dramatic career, which wasn’t quite a roller-coaster ride – because the heights were too steep and the downfalls too sudden.

His start was unusual. Politte was born on February 27, 1974, in St. Louis to Clifford E. Politte, a former minor-league pitcher and a salesman, and Lorraine J. (McKay) Politte. Growing up, he played baseball and soccer, preferring the latter. He did not play baseball during his freshman year at Vianney High School in Kirkwood, a St. Louis suburb. As a sophomore, he joined the baseball team because his friends played. By his senior year, Politte was co-captain of the school’s 1992 undefeated soccer team, which the USA Today newspaper called the mythical national champion.2 College baseball coaches noted his hitting skills, but he admitted about his teens, “I hardly remember baseball, but I remember everything about soccer.”

Politte played baseball at Memphis State University, but it was not a good match. He had about 50 at-bats in the spring of 1994, but his pitching was limited to one inning of a blowout game. While playing in a Missouri collegiate summer league that summer, Politte wanted to become an active two-way player. Jefferson College, a Hillsboro, Missouri, junior college, offered him that opportunity, so he transferred there.3 The move worked extremely well: Politte starred as a right-handed pitcher and center fielder. In a doubleheader, he threw a no-hitter in game one, then returned to the mound to earn the save in game two. He went 3-for-3 in each contest.4 That helped lead to Politte’s spot on the NJCAA first-team All-American team. Despite having a stunning second college season, the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Politte gave little thought to the 1995 major-league draft, which he assumed lasted two days. It lasted three days – and on the third day he was a 54th-round pick (the 1,439th overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals and their scout Tom McCormick.

Politte initially declined the Cardinals’ offer. “I wasn’t playing baseball to get drafted,” he said. “I didn’t know much about it. I played baseball because I was having fun and I did well at it.” Politte was wanted by the Cardinals as a pitcher after he impressed them at collegiate league games in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Politte relented and agreed to play minor-league baseball, although before 1996 spring training he hesitated because he expected to be a 22-year-old player in a rookie league with 18- and 19-year-old teammates.

Politte’s father played seven seasons (1959-1965) as a pitcher in the Cardinals’ minor-league system, peaking in Double A with the Tulsa Oilers in 1964.5 “When I was second-guessing everything and didn’t want to start in a rookie league, my dad said, ‘Maybe you can go to spring training and change that.’”

And at spring training in 1996, Politte did that. He pitched well enough to start the 1996 season with the Cardinals’ Class-A Peoria (Illinois) Chiefs, then began a swift and remarkable climb to big-league starter on April 2, 1998. Used exclusively as a starting pitcher in the minor leagues, he earned a 14-6 record for Peoria in 1996. The next year, Politte was selected as the Carolina League Pitcher of the Year after going 11-1 with the Prince William Cannons of high Class A. To finish the 1997 season, he won four starts and lost one with the Double-A Arkansas Travelers – and that earned him the top minor-league pitcher nod in the Cardinals’ system.6

“In Peoria, my goal was never, ‘I have to get to the big leagues,’” Politte said. “I wanted to get there, but I thought, ‘I want to be the best at whatever level I was at and compete with everybody.’” Still, Politte’s arc to the big leagues progressed like that of a big-bonus newcomer, not someone a Kansas City Royals scout dismissed to his father as an “undersized” pitcher. (Politte said he was 5-feet-9½ “with cleats on.”)

Politte learned on the radio that he would be in the Cardinals’ 1998 spring-training camp.7 He made the major-league team and slightly more than a month after his 24th birthday, he was the starting pitcher in the Cardinals second game of the season, on April 2, 1998, against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers. Cardinals President Mark Lamping, who graduated from the same high school as Politte, donated tickets to Vianney students. Hundreds of students and staff attended Politte’s debut “looking on from the upper deck at old Busch Stadium as the former (Vianney player) lived the dream of many a young St. Louis ballplayer.”8 Politte allowed one run and two hits in five innings. Because the game went to extra innings, with Mark McGwire hitting a walk-off homer for an 8-5 win in 12 innings, Politte didn’t figure in the decision.

By May, Politte was sent down to Triple A with a 2-3 record and a 6.32 ERA. Pitching at a young age with high expectations from many hometown fans put excessive pressure on him. “My initial reaction was I was letting everyone down,” he said.9 That began a career of huge highs and low lows. He was 1-4 with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, then finished the season with the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. By mid-November 1998, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies as part of a five-player deal, and the Phillies shifted him from starter to reliever. For three seasons and part of a fourth, he bounced between minor-league time and the big leagues with Philadelphia.

Politte’s father – a 6-foot-2 lefty who threw curveballs and who died in 2021 – encouraged him during minor-league stints. “He was more of a supporter from the mental side,” Cliff said. “I struggled in Triple A and Double A. He drove to a game in Ohio when I was down and I pitched well. He said, ‘That’s all you needed was your dad here.’”

In the book Major League Dads, Politte described his father’s influence: “I would not have been a big-leaguer without some of the stuff he taught me. … I used to call my dad after every game I pitched. Good or bad, we talked. If it was bad, I knew I had someone I could complain to or help me get it off my shoulders. We talked about pitches and how I could do better next time. I remember struggling one time and I couldn’t figure it out, so I called my dad. He said I was mixing my pitches well, but it was all about location. I went back to the tapes, and he was right. I had to remember each time he did that, that it wasn’t his first rodeo, he had done it all before.”10

On May 26, 2002, the Phillies traded Politte to the Toronto Blue Jays for 40-year-old pitcher Dan Plesac.11 “I was blindsided,” he said, “but I was happy.” He threw 57⅓ innings for the Blue Jays in 2002 before becoming the team’s closer in 2003. At one point, Politte earned nine saves in 11 appearances. “My agent told me, ‘Keep this up and I can get you a lot of money,’” he said. “I went downhill after that. I didn’t get another save the rest of the year.” Four days before Christmas in 2003, he was cut.

That set the stage for Politte’s arrival in Chicago as a White Sox reliever during the 2004 season. “I couldn’t establish a role in the bullpen, but I was throwing the hardest of my career: 95 to 97 miles per hour.” In early September, his season ended early when he had his appendix removed.12 “It was close to bursting,” he said. “My son was only one year old, but he sat on my stomach and I almost went through the roof. The next day, I went to the doctor. I thought it was gas pains. Before I knew it, I was on the operating table.”

Politte’s finest season happened during the White Sox’ World Series championship in 2005. As that season began, he felt that “[e]verybody that was ahead of us was just as good as they were the year before. We had no clue what would happen.” Politte enjoyed a blazing first half of the season, with a 1.02 ERA, just behind Mariano Rivera’s 1.01.13 Still, Politte failed to make the All-Star team, a snub that bothered him almost 20 years later. Thirteen pitchers were picked for the American League roster.

On ESPN, Politte heard Joe Torre, who managed five All-Star Games – but not the one in 2005 – say Politte was deserving of an All-Star spot. But Torre added that relievers who were not closers faced hurdles to make the All-Star roster. Politte also found encouragement from White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper. “He was the most supportive pitching coach that I had. He said that I should have been an All-Star,” Politte noted, then gave a short laugh. “He still says it.”

Politte finished the 2005 regular season with a record of 7-1 and a 2.00 ERA. He had worked in 68 games, closing 14 of them, striking out 57 batters in 67⅓ innings.

Politte entered the White Sox’ first Division Series game against the Boston Red Sox in the top of the ninth with the White Sox leading 14-2. He finished the game with a scoreless inning, but he was rattled. “I could feel my glove shaking,” he said. “I didn’t want to blow it.” In the remaining Division Series games and the American League Championship Series, Politte never pitched, largely because the team’s starters carried the load.

He entered the World Series, though, in Game Two after 19 days without pitching. It didn’t matter. Politte thrived in one inning, retiring the three Astros he faced in the top of the eighth and holding a two-run lead. He entered with a one-run lead in Game Three. He got two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. The second out was a strikeout of Houston slugger Lance Berkman after a full count. “I always struggled with the changeup and didn’t throw it for effect until 2005,” Politte said. “With a 3-and-2 count on Berkman, A.J. (Pierzynski) calls for changeup. I wasn’t going to shake him off. A.J. had called the game well for me all year. I threw it and struck him out.” Then he walked Morgan Ensberg on another full count. Politte was taken out. His pitching mates walked the next batter, then Jason Lane hit an RBI double to tie the game, 5-5. (The White Sox won in 14 innings.)

In the Series-ending Game Four, Politte entered in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead and got future Hall of Famer Craig Biggio to ground out and – after hitting Willy Taveras and walking Berkman intentionally – got Ensberg to fly out. Neal Cotts took over and got the third out. Bobby Jenks worked the bottom of the ninth and secured the victory. That score held – and the celebration began. “To jump on a pile of teammates that you’ve been through thick and thin with and finish it off was an amazing experience,” he said.

In 2006 the euphoria ended quickly for Politte. Before the season and during spring training, he pitched through shoulder pain and then went on the disabled list. He returned in July but wasn’t ready. “I could have thrown a marble to batters with blindfolds and they would have hit me,” he said. “I couldn’t get anyone out.” The White Sox released him on July 20, 2006. The Cleveland Indians signed him for the 2007 season, but he pitched only eight innings for the Double-A Akron Aeros and Cleveland gave up on him.14 In 2008 the Cardinals offered another opportunity. “I went to big-league camp. Tony (La Russa) said, ‘Go to Triple A, get some innings there and you’ll be one of the first guys up.’ I was optimistic.” This time, after surgery on a torn rotator cuff, Politte lasted only 9⅓ innings of work.15 “I blew out (my shoulder) again,” he said. “It was a fairly clear time to retire.”

Adjusting to life after baseball took time. And nagging injuries did not go away. He had hip replacement surgery in 2009, stemming from a minor-league injury when he dived back into second base in 1998, and two more hip surgeries in 2011 and 2013. He considered coaching, but when Cleveland offered a minor-league job, he and his wife, Jennifer, had three young boys, so he picked family. He invested in a promotional supplies business and coached his sons’ travel baseball teams. In 2021 he began working as a project manager at American Fire, a St. Louis company producing interior sprinkler systems.

In 2017 Politte’s family and in-laws watched when 2005 World Series games were rerun on TV. “I watched with a big smile on my face,” he said. Then he stepped into another room and became tearful. “Once you get to the majors, you want to stay there. Then you win the World Series, you want to keep doing that. Then it was over. I was happy and emotional at the same time.”

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, TheBaseballCube.com, and baseball-almanac.com.

Notes

1 Author interview with Cliff Politte on August 22, 2024. Unless otherwise indicated, all direct quotations attributed to Politte come from this interview.

2 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, St. John Vianney High School Boys Soccer Program, https://mosportshalloffame.com/inductees/st-john-vianney-high-school-boys-soccer-program/.

3 Mark Buehrle had played at Jefferson three years earlier.

4 “Cliff Politte,” NJCAA Region 16 Hall of Fame, https://njcaaregion16.org/hall_of_fame/Cliff_Politte.

5 “Clifford Edward Politte” (Cliff’s father), https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/stats/p-49ddccb4.

6 “Baseball Prospectus 1998,” https://www.baseballprospectus.com/player/1006/cliff-politte.

7 Politte interview.

8 Scott Fitzgerald, “Former MLB Pitcher Politte Has Come Full Circle Since Vianney Days,” St. Louis Today, October 26, 2011. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/high-school/baseball/former-mlb-pitcher-politte-has-come-full-circle-since-vianney-days/article_e5966dd4-ffeb-11e0-adcf-0019bb30f31a.html.

9 Fitzgerald.

10 Kevin Neary and Leigh A. Tobin, Major League Dads: Baseball’s Best Players Reflect on the Fathers Who Inspired Them to Love the Game (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2012), 173.

11 Building a Champion: Cliff Politte, SB Nation, South Side Sox, https://www.southsidesox.com/2005/11/9/173034/181.

12 Chris Kamka, “Remember That Guy: White Sox Reliever Cliff Politte,” NBC Sports Chicago, March 31, 2020, online link no longer exists.

13 Kamka.

14 “Cliff Politte,” St. Louis College Baseball Hall of Fame alumni, https://stlcollegebaseball.com/hall-of-fame-alumni/33-cliff-politte.

15 Fitzgerald.