Full Text of HR0227 99th General Assembly
HR0227 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Saturnino Orestes Armas Minoso Arrieta, known in | 3 | | the United States as Minnie Minoso, was
born in Perico, Cuba; | 4 | | his birth date is often given as having been November 29, 1925; | 5 | | and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, After sharpening his baseball skills in Havana, | 7 | | Minnie Minoso emigrated to the United States in 1946,
signing | 8 | | successively with the New York Cubans and the Cleveland | 9 | | Indians; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Grace Comiskey's team traded for Minnie Minoso on | 11 | | April 30, 1951, and on May 1, 1951, he
became the first black | 12 | | player to take the field in the uniform of the Chicago White | 13 | | Sox, and the first
black major leaguer in Chicago; he hit a | 14 | | home run in his first at-bat; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Minnie Minoso's play continued at a very high | 16 | | level throughout the 1951 season, leading to his
finishing as a | 17 | | strong second in the balloting for 1951 Rookie of the Year | 18 | | honors; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Minnie Minoso was one of the baseball greats of | 20 | | the 1950s, named to 9 All-Star teams; he
was the awardee of the | 21 | | inaugural Gold Glove Award for left field in 1957; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Orlando Cepeda paid tribute to Minnie Minoso as | 2 | | "the Jackie Robinson for all Latinos; the first star
who opened | 3 | | doors for all Latin American players. He was everybody's hero. | 4 | | I wanted to be Minoso.
Clemente wanted to be Minoso."; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, After his days as a full-time player ended in | 6 | | 1964, Minnie Minoso never abandoned his love of the
game, | 7 | | becoming known as "Mr. White Sox"; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Minnie Minoso retained close ties with the Chicago | 9 | | White Sox organization and the families
that had owned the | 10 | | club; his love of the game led to a unique honor being bestowed | 11 | | upon him, when he re-signed with the Chicago White Sox in 1976 | 12 | | and 1980 in order to become the second player in
major league | 13 | | history to wear a uniform and appear in a lineup in 5 | 14 | | successive decades; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Minnie Minoso was signed to appearances with the | 16 | | St. Paul Saints in 1993 and 2003, thus becoming
the only player | 17 | | in baseball history to take the field in 7 successive decades; | 18 | | and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, During his lifetime, Minnie Minoso was further | 20 | | honored as one of the all-time greats of the Chicago
White Sox, | 21 | | with his uniform number 9 retired in 1983 and a statue of him |
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| 1 | | erected at U.S. Cellular Field
on "Minnie Minoso Day", | 2 | | September 19, 2004; by this time, the black Cuban-American had | 3 | | become one
of the last living landmarks of the integration era | 4 | | of Major League Baseball; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The ageless Minnie Minoso, a pioneer on many | 6 | | different levels of American life,
passed away on March 1, 2015 | 7 | | in Illinois, the state he had come to call home; therefore, be | 8 | | it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 10 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 11 | | mourn the death of Chicago White
Sox great Saturnino Orestes | 12 | | Armas Minoso Arrieta; and be it further
| 13 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 14 | | presented Minnie Minoso's widow, Sharon Rice; to Rick Hahn, the
| 15 | | General Manager of the Chicago White Sox; and to Jerry | 16 | | Reinsdorf, the Executive Chairman of the
Chicago White Sox.
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