Robbie Grossman of the White Sox hits a sacrifice fly against the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh inning at Busch Stadium on May 5, 2024 in St Louis, Missouri. Grossman also collected his 200th career double in the game.
Joe Puetz/Getty Images
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Robbie Grossman kept the ball. Another one for his collection.
The 34-year-old outfielder and veteran of seven teams saved the souvenir after notching the 200th double of his career against the Cardinals in a 5-1 Sox win Sunday. Surviving this many seasons in the majors comes with increasingly satisfying milestones along the journey.
Each of them is meaningful.
“One hundred percent,” Grossman told the Sun-Times. “As a young player you just hope you can wear this uniform as long as you can. And when you do reach some of these milestones you sit back and say, ‘Wow.’ I’m just fortunate and blessed to have played as long as I have, and to have had some success with that.”
Last season, Grossman played a worthwhile role on the Rangers’ championship team that defeated Sox outfield sidekick Tommy Pham’s Diamondbacks in the World Series last season. The Rangers didn’t sign Grossman for this season, and the Diamondbacks didn’t take Pham, leaving both in free-agent limbo through the entire offseason. Now, both veterans are keeping their careers going with a struggling Sox team that entered Tuesday with an 8-27 record.
Grossman waited all winter for a team, and he signed a minor-league deal with the Sox on March 22. His contract was selected on April 4.
“Body feels good, feel great physically, so, just fortunate I’m still here,” Grossman said. “I’m glad I have a job, I’m happy to put on a major league uniform, and playing.”
A career .243/.346/.377 hitter, Grossman is batting .211/.329/.377 with a team-high 13 walks in 85 plate appearances. Manager Pedro Grifol has used him leading off 13 times since Aug. 7.
Grossman has an assortment of keepsakes, including trophies, baseballs, signatures and signed bats of players such as Tigers great Miguel Cabrera, a former teammate.
“Things I’ve done, things teammates have done,” Grossman said. “I have a pretty good memorabilia collection at my house.”
Grossman is 10 home runs shy of 100 and 86 hits away from 1,000, so his feats aren’t in the same realm with future Hall of Famers like Cabrera, but he did field 821 chances without a hitch during a 440-game errorless streak, the longest in major league history for a position player (which came to an end on a misplayed Luis Robert Jr. pop fly against the Sox on June 13, 2022, at Guaranteed Rate Field).
The next biggest achievement would be the players’ coveted 10-year service time grail. Ten years fully vests players in the Major League Baseball pension plan. According to the Players Association, less than 10% reach 10 years.
Grossman is close.
“I’ll get my 10 in June,” Grossman said. “That’s something that feels so unachievable, but when you get this close, you sit back and appreciate.”