IT'S OVER

SUNDAY,  JAN. 23, 2025                                                                                                       PAGE A1

IT'S OVER

CONNER MAKES IT OFFICIAL

SLUGGER SIGNS WITH MARLINS

BY PAT DORWIN

SPORTSWRITER

CHICAGO DAILY SUN

MIAMI - IT'S OVER.

THIS IS THE END, MY FRIEND.

TO PARAPHRASE A COUPLE OF OLD ROCK SONGS IS EASY - TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO AN ICON IS NOT.

AARON CONNER MADE HIS CHICAGO DEPARTURE OFFICIAL SATURDAY, ANNOUNCING HE WAS INKING A SIX-YEAR DEAL WITH THE MARLINS AFTER A STELLAR CAREER WITH THE WHITE SOX.

"IT WAS TIME," CONNER SIMPLY ANNOUNCED. "WE ALL KNOW IT WAS THE RIGHT TIME."

INDEED, IT WAS.

"TO BE TRUTHFUL, IT WAS PAST AARON'S TIME TO LEAVE," SAID LARRY FEENEY, LONGTIME SOX GM. "WE HAVE BEEN SUCH A POOR TEAM THE LAST FOUR OR FIVE YEARS, WE PROBABLY LOOKED LIKE WE HELD AARON HOSTAGE."

IN THE END, JIM MORRISON SANG FOR ROCK PIONEERS THE DOORS MORE THAN 60 YEARS AGO. IT'S OVER, MIKE RENO ADMITTED FOR LOVERBOY IN THE EARLY 1980s. SOX FANS SAID GOOD-BYE TO A FORMER SOUTHERN BOY SATURDAY.

"IT SEEMS LIKE ONLY A WEEK AGO WHEN AARON CAME FROM TENNESSEE (KNOXVILLE) AND MADE CENTERFIELD HIS OWN AS AN 18-YEAR-OLD," SAID OZZIE GUILLEN, CONNER'S INITIAL SOX MANAGER IN 2011. "TODAY, WE SEE A 33-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO WILL GO TO THE HALL OF FAME IN HIS WHITE SOX CAP."

AND QUITE POSSIBLY AS BASEBALL'S GREATEST HOME RUN HITTER. CONNER FINISHED HIS SOX CAREER, AT LEAST PART ONE, WITH 594 HOMERS IN 15 SEASONS. HE HIT 40 OR MORE HOMERS IN EIGHT OF THOSE YEARS, INCLUDING 47 IN 2025, AFTER COLLECTING 43 COMBINED IN 2023-24.

"AARON, OF COURSE, HAD HIS ONLY SERIOUS INJURY (BROKEN ARM AFTER 93 GAMES) IN 2023," SAID AN AL SCOUT. "I THINK WE'LL ALL LOOK BACK AT 2024 AS JUST AN ANOMALY."

CONNER HIT .306 IN 2024, BUT HIS HOME RUN AND RBI TOTALS FELL TO 21 AND 76. HE HAD DRIVEN IN AT LEAST 100 RUNS YEARLY FROM 2012 TO 2022.

"AN AMAZING STAT," THE SCOUT SAID.

CONNER HIT .291 OVER THE COURSE OF HIS CAREER WITH 1,667 RBIs. BELOW IS A YEARLY LOOK AT HIS BATTING AVERAGE, HOMER AND RBI NUMBERS.

2025  .317  47  129
2024  .306  21  76
2023  .247  22  65
2022  .309  45  127
2021  .309  48  135
2020  .293  31  103
2019  .272  43  132
2018  .278  42  134
2017  .276  36  101
2016  .301  36  113
2015  .286  52  142
2014  .295  51  125
2013  .275  40  104
2012  .290  39  102
2011  .326  37  79

"HALL OF FAME NUMBERS FOR SURE," FEENEY SAID.

FORMER SOX STAR MIGUEL CABRERA RETIRED EARLIER THIS OFFSEASON ATOP THE ALL-TIME HOME RUN LADDER WITH 832. A TYPICAL SEASON FROM CONNER SEEES HIM WALLOP 40 HOMERS - IF HE KEEPS THAT PACE IN MIAMI, CONNOR WILL HAVE 834 HOME RUNS AFTER HIS SIXTH SEASON.