John Cangelosi: Sox Star That Never Was

You may recognize this card from the White Sox Cards header. This is John Cangelosi. The 5'8" Cangelosi was the surprise of the White Sox' 1986 spring camp when he displaced the fleet footed Rudy Law and Daryl Boston to win the centerfield job. He stole 50 bases for the White Sox as a rookie in 1986, an American League rookie record at the time. On March 27, 1987, he was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jim Winn.

Cangelosi was a non-roster invitee to spring training for the Chicago White Sox in 1991. After a difficult decision (he batted over .400), he was one of the final cuts before the regular season. He was offered a minor league contract based on his impressive showing in spring training. On May 23, 1991, he was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Milwaukee Brewers for Esteban Beltre.

He never played for the Brewers, but wound up on the Rangers in 1992. 1994 saw him on the Mets. The Astros had the pleasure of having him return to his base stealing for 1995 and 1996. In 1997, he finally picked a winner, the Florida Marlins. John finally got a ring for his efforts. He even became the first position player to pitch in Marlins history. He stuck with the Marlins until 1998. In 1999, he only played in 7 games for the Rockies. His only hit in 1999 was a double on September 17th against the Dodgers. It was John's last major league hit. His last game was on September 22, 1999 against the Diamondbacks.

Back when I was nine and John was a rookie on the White Sox, he was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to games. I loved to watch Cangelosi steal bases. My dad, who had no interest in baseball at the time, even started to root for him at the games we went to. My dad still remembers a game that we went to late in the season. I told him that Cangelosi was going to get on base, then steal second and Daryl Boston was going to sacrifice him to third. That's exactly what happened! My dad has listened to me on baseball matters ever since.

I was convinced that John would do great things in a White Sox uniform. I was crushed when I heard he was traded to Pittsburgh the next year. I learned that year, at the age of 10, that baseball was a business. That still didn't sour me on baseball though. It taught me to pay attention more to what was going on off the field. That lesson still sticks with me today. I'm still convinced that if John stayed with the White Sox, his career would have took off. That really wasn't up to John though.

Some of this text was borrowed from Wikipedia, but I think it's OK to re-post some of that here. I wrote it after all. Plus, I gave credit to the site. I was just sick of the lack of information about one of my favorite players from my youth. So, a few months ago I decided to research what I could and post it to Wikipedia. I think John deserves more recognition. If you ever saw Cangelosi play in his prime, you'd feel the same way.