Grinding and Believing: A Recipe for Success on a Historic 2005 White Sox Journey
This article was published in The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox: Grinders and Gamers (SABR, 2025), edited by Eric Conrad, Mark Morowczynski, Bill Nowlin, and Don Zminda.
Driving along the oft-congested Chicago expressways in 2005, one might occasionally pass a wayside billboard that featured a White Sox player in full uniform with a random-seeming catchphrase. If you drove the same route, you saw it every day and during those rush-hour traffic jams, the image lasted longer, leaving a lingering impression.
The seeds for the sundry slogans were planted before the 2005 season even started. It was part of a campaign to bring the Southside Chicago baseball team to the forefront of the general populace of the city of Chicago.
There was baseball magic in the air. The Boston Red Sox had won the 2004 World Series with a record-setting drive that culminated with their first title in 86 years. That accomplishment perhaps fostered belief in the notion that similar dreams could come true in Chicago, where a White Sox championship had not been seen since 1917.
The White Sox marketing department sat down with Chicago’s Two by Four ad agency to create a vision of what an ideal baseball team might look like. Ozzie Guillén, the team’s second-year manager, was invited to the table and, of course, Ozzie delivered. For about an hour, he was on a roll and his ramblings filled the pages of an entire notepad.
A recurring theme emerged: “I want grinders. I want to grind out runs. I want to grind out wins. I want guys that play every game.” The result became known as “Grinder Ball.”1
“Win Or Die Trying” ended up being Grinder Ball Rule #1.2 Random in their message and random in their numeric assignment, the Grinder Rules popped up randomly across the Chicago city landscape on billboards, buses, trains, and radio spots, spreading the message of all that was good about White Sox baseball.
The 60-second White Sox Grinder Rule #1 dramatic voice-over radio pitch sounded like this:
“Grinder Baseball Rule number 1. ‘Win or die trying.’ Not a complicated rule but a basic one. It’s simple. You go out there and grind out a win every day.
That’s why we play by a certain set of rules.
Never walk, even when you walk. That’s rule number 37.
Advance a runner at all costs. Rule 62.
Never be late for the National Anthem no matter what nation you’re from. Rule 18.
Fans deserve a team relentlessly focused on winning doing whatever it takes to win. That’s what being a Grinder is all about. “Win or die trying.” Yeah. That’s Sox rule number one!”3
Did it work? The Two by Four ad agency website lauds the campaign as “Best.Case.Study.Ever.”
“Chicago White Sox – The team hadn’t won a World Series in 88 years. Then they hired us.
Nine months later they won the World Series. END OF CASE STUDY.”4
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Grinder Rules emerged during a significant series in the 2005 season when the White Sox visited Baltimore from Friday, July 29, through Monday, August 1, to culminate a seven-game road trip. The four-game weekend series drew 165,172 fans to Camden Yards.
The White Sox convincingly won the first three July games of the series. They launched two home runs under Friday night lights to claim a 7-2 victory. They added three more home runs in the Saturday afternoon game to catapult them to a 9-6 victory. For the Sunday night TV game of the week, two White Sox batters were hit by pitches and the Orioles hit two home runs, but the White Sox won again, 9-4.
Tensions were running as high as the 87-degree August heat on the Chesapeake Bay for that 12:38 P.M. Monday matinee in Baltimore. AJ Pierzynski was hit by a Daniel Cabrera pitch in the top of the sixth inning.5 With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Mark Buerhle was ejected when he plunked B.J. Surhoff during a close game which the White Sox were leading, 2-1.6
The White Sox rallied for four runs on seven hits in the final three innings after the Buerhle ejection to record a 6-3 victory. Pierzynski led the way with an eighth-inning leadoff home run to spark the attack.7 “They won that one for Buehrle,” said manager Guillén after the game.8 The team departed the Charm City with a 69-35 record after the four-game sweep, reaching their pinnacle Central Division lead of 15 games. The victory also marked the first time the White Sox recorded two four-game road sweeps in the same season since 1954.9
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While assorted and varied, the Grinder Rules did not include “Don’t Stop Believing.” That one was born in Baltimore during this very series. It became a theme that extended right through the championship celebration parade before millions on the streets of Chicago in October 2005.
It happened in a hotel bar.10 According to the legend, Pierzynski, Joe Crede, and Aaron Rowand, who were self-proclaimed as “The Three Stooges,” gathered at the establishment, blending with the regular crowd that shuffled in. Likely it was after the Saturday afternoon game.
A singer in a smoky room provided lounge-singer-styled entertainment while beverages were sipped and stories were shared. As this story goes, at some point during a set that lacked satisfactory song-selection, the normally reserved Crede, who was indeed just a small-town boy, spontaneously urged the singer to “Play Some Journey!” Certainly, the other two Stooges supported the suggestion and piled on until the troubadour ultimately consented.
The singer sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” – likely the only Journey song on his playlist. The Stooges loved it. The song stuck and evolved into a theme song as the 2005 season progressed.11
It was not until September when the message of the song would serve as inspiration after the White Sox had seen their 15-game plunge to just 1½ games. They hosted their Central Division nemesis Minnesota Twins for a four-game weekend series with just 11 games left in the season beginning Thursday, September 22.
The White Sox lost the Thursday night game. It was a dramatic 11-inning defeat. But they rebounded to sweep the remaining three games of the series. They went on to claim the AL Central Division title. “Hold on to that feeling.”
Afterward, the White Sox blitzed though the AL playoffs, winning 11 games while losing just one with “Don’t Stop Believin’” playing along the way. The song surfaced over the loudspeakers during home playoff batting practice; and White Sox DJ Christopher Hubble played a riff during a playoff game with the Angels in Chicago to seemingly invoke a game-winning rally. Heck, it resonated for the whole plane ride home from Los Angeles after the White Sox secured a berth in the 2005 World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.12 (Anaheim, the home of Disneyland, “where dreams come true.”)
Pierzynski was on a mission to include singer and songwriter Steve Perry for the World Series experience and succeeded. Perry hopped aboard the bandwagon and came along for the ride.13
Like a leprechaun, he popped up at random spots along the historic path during the White Sox’ journey to history. He was there in Chicago for Game One of the World Series. He was in Houston for the Game Four clincher when the White Sox won the pot of gold. Perry was even on stage on the city streets in downtown Chicago singing his song to streetlight people up and down the boulevard.
For that one, he called on backup singers in front of the millions who gathered for the revelry of the celebration. “I need some help up here,” said Perry. “I want Crede, I want AJ, I want Rowand, I want everyone around.” At 5-feet-7, he was dwarfed by the Three Stooges, all of whom stood at least 6-feet-1. It embodied the leprechaun illusion.14 Despite oh so many Journey arena concerts, there were surely none that numbered the millions on that celebratory day in downtown Chicago.
The Stooges have fond recollections. Said Crede on his 2013 induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, “Hanging out with Steve Perry, always makes me laugh. It was a great time in my life.”15
JEFF ALLAN HOWARD is a lifelong resident of the Northwest Side of Chicago and a frequent contributor to the SABR Games Project with SABR journal and book articles as well. He attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, played Division III football, had a weekly sports column, and read news for the campus radio station. On graduation, he worked in the insurance industry and recently retired from a research analyst position handling claim appeals. He has organized multiple community baseball, softball, and basketball teams as a volunteer, teaching kids to appreciate and love the games they play.
THE GRINDER RULES
The Grinder Rules were a marketing campaign throughout the 2005 season with new rules being added throughout the year capturing the spirit of the team and the fanbase. Rules were not done in numerical or sequential order, gaps or missing rules in the Grinder Rules list below is expected. Here are the World Champion White Sox Grinder rules to live by.
1) Win. Or die trying.
2) Be MVP, M T W T F S S
3) Bite worse than your bark.
4) Knowing what’s coming and hitting what’s coming–not the same thing.
5) Every pitch is full count. Every inning, the ninth. Every game, game seven.
6) The best seat in the house is often determined by the best players in the house.
7) Grinder ball requires speed, defense, and discipline. And immigration.
8) Play every game like it’s your last.
9) Be realistic, expect miracles.
10) Only one statistic matters: W
11) When jumping on the White Sox bandwagon, do not, I repeat DO NOT, keep your hands and arms inside the wagon at any time.
12) There is only one acceptable reason not to hold onto the ball: Amputation
13) There is only one thing more valuable than ability. The ability to recognize it.
14) It’s a mother’s right to yell at her boys.
15) Be a highlight reel.
16) Level the playing field. Preferably while the other team’s on it.
17) Never be satisfied with what you have achieved. It pales in comparison to what you can achieve.
18) NEVER be late for the National Anthem. No matter what nation you’re from.
19) A reputation is not built on what you are going to do.
20) Hot dog vendors don’t take credit.
21) Thieves will be punished. Swiftly, harshly and repeatedly.
22) When attending a Chicago White Sox game, don’t blink.
23) When all is said and done, make sure you’ve “done” more than you said.
24) Play like there are no rules.—like gravity for instance.
25) A good outfielder doesn’t see the wall. He tastes it.
26) Your hitting should serve as a warning. To low flying aircraft.
27) If the fence won’t come to you, go to the fence.
28) Always give fans something they can take away from the game. Like the other team’s pride.
29) Play like a star. Never act like one.
30) Good enough, isn’t.
31) Never swing at foolish pitches. Unless they’re foolishly belt high, right down the middle.
32) Respect respect.
33) The best way to get out of a hole is to dig deeper.
34) For some, it’s not a choice. It’s genetic.
36) You can’t spell “win” without a few “k’s”.
37) Never walk. Even when you walk.
38) You’re either counted on or counted out.
39) Be a man. Play like a boy.
41) Never underestimate the power of power.
43) Step up to the plate even if you’re not stepping up to the plate.
44) There is more to baseball than peanuts and cracker jacks.
45) The best defense is a good win.
46) Respect the past, people that are shoeless, and anyone named Joe.
47) Flying does not make you superman. Getting up and making the throw to first for the force out, now that makes you Superman.
49) There are no starting pitchers. Only finishing pitchers.
50) Be head and shoulders and arms and legs and spine and torso above the competition.
53) There are always willing players: Those willing to do whatever it takes to win. And those willing to watch them.
54) If you can’t take the heat get out of the batter’s box.
55) It’s called stepping up to the plate for a reason.
57) There’s power in numbers. Like #14, #23, #5, #24, #15, #25…
58) Never throw back a home run ball, even if it from the other team.
59) GO. GO. GO.
61) There is no “I” in team. But there is one in quit.
63) You don’t have to be a coach to coach.
65) Do not sit in the leftfield bleachers, home to Scott Podsednik.
66) There is nothing loveable about losing.
69) There’s always this year. (Well, and last year.)
71) If at first you succeed, repeat.
73) When bringing the family to a White Sox game know your limits.
74) Believe in magic. Not magic numbers.
75) Heroes aren’t made. They’re rotated.
76) Pitch. Hit. Win. Repeat.
78) Ixnay on talkin’ about the ayoffsplay
88) Make history, history.
89) Taste victory and be hungry forever.
92) Interpretive dance at 101 M.P.H.
95) Be more than a one hit wonder.
96) Expect the unexpected at U.S. Cellular field, home of the White Sox.
98) Batters should fear your fast ball. Not because it can get them out. Because it can knock them out.
99) Intimidation can come in the form of a screaming 99 MPH fastball or a screaming 9 year-old.
162) Crying in baseball is acceptable only if champagne burns your eyes.
174) Hoist the city up on your shoulders. They’ll return the favor.
Notes
1 Scott Merkin, “How the Sox Grinder Ball Rules Came to Be,” MLB.com, January 8, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/white-sox-grinder-ball-rules-origin.
2 The billboard image showed Paul Konerko, clad in White Sox home pinstripes, swinging for the fences.
3 Two by Four website: https://www.twoxfour.com/work/white-sox (contains “White Sox Grinder Rule #1” radio audio link).
4 Two by Four website. https://www.twoxfour.com/work/white-sox.
5 Grinder Rule 54: If you can’t take the heat get out of the batter’s box.
6 Home-plate umpire Daniel Gorman deemed Buerhle’s errant throw to be intentional and ejection-worthy. It ended a most impressive streak that Buerhle had taken quite some time to develop. Until then he had worked at least six innings in 49 consecutive starts. He was just an out away from 50 when he got the thumb.
7 Grinder Rule 26: Your hitting should serve as a warning. To low flying aircraft.
8 Mark Gonzalez, “Plunked, Not Dunked; Ump Tosses Buerhle,” Chicago Tribune. August 2, 2005: 4.1.
9 Grinder Rule 88: Make history history.
10 Likely, it was after the 1:26 P.M. Saturday, July 30, game since that was the only game that left some evening downtime.
11 Stacy St. Clair, “Hit Parade White Sox Players Particular about Intro Music Blasted Before Each At-Bat: Arlington Heights Daily Herald, October 23, 2005: 16.
12 St. Clair.
13 Grinder Rule 11: When jumping on the White Sox bandwagon, do not, I repeat DO NOT, keep your hands and arms inside the wagon at any time.
14 Steve Perry, lead singer of Journey, is listed as a generous 5-feet-7. Crede and Pierzynski log in at 6-3 while Rowand is 6-1. The YouTube video is available for viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=504B3iR5M_8.
15 Bill Pollack, “World Series Champ Still Misses the Game,” February 1, 2013, podcast. World Series Champ still misses the game (PODCAST) – Missourinet