Jorge Orta - Chicago White Sox

Chicago White Sox

Orta signed with the Chicago White Sox out of the Mexican Baseball League, and made the team out of Spring training 1972 at shortstop without having played in the minor leagues for the Chisox. He batted just .211 through the middle of May to lose his starting job to Rich Morales. He hung around for an additional two months as a utility infielder, but was optioned to the Southern League's Knoxville Sox in mid-July with a .191 batting average, one home run and seven runs batted in. After batting .316 with seven home runs at Knoxville, he returned to Chicago when rosters expanded that September. His second major league home run was an extra innings game winner on September 19 against Gary Waslewski and the Oakland A's.

He was shifted over to second base for the 1973 season after batting over .500 in Spring training. Playing through injuries for much of the year, he batted .266 and tied for second in the A.L. with eighteen errors committed at second base.

After beginning the 1974 season batting at the bottom of the White Sox line-up, he was moved up to the number two spot in manager Chuck Tanner's batting order, and batted .411 with 23 runs scored in the month of June. More specifically, he batted .516 with four home runs from June 17 to June 23 to earn A.L. "Player of the Week" honors. For the season, his .316 batting average was second only to Minnesota Twins second baseman Rod Carew in the American League.

Early in the 1975 season, Orta was involved in a controversy when he hit a triple off the wall at Comiskey Park that Cleveland Indians manager Frank Robinson believed should have been called a ground rule double. Robinson argued with first base umpire Jerry Neudecker, eventually shoving him to get ejected from the game and fined by the league. He batted .296 with four home runs and 46 RBIs in the first half to be named to the A.L. All-Star team, but did not appear in the game due to a pulled hamstring in his right leg. He returned healthy on July 17, and batted .314 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs in the second half.

Prior to the start of the 1976 season, the White Sox acquired Jack Brohamer from the Cleveland Indians. New Chisox manager Paul Richards opted to use Brohamer at second and Orta at third. Orta proved himself a poor third baseman, and was eventually moved into the outfield while rookie Kevin Bell took over at third. The Sox narrowly avoided a hundred losses in 1976. For his part, Orta batted .274 with hitting a career high fourteen home runs and scoring a career high 74 runs.

Orta returned to second base when Bob Lemon replaced Richards at the helm in 1977. The Chisox returned to their winning ways as they won ninety games to finish third in the American League West. Orta, now batting third in the line-up, finished second on the team (to Richie Zisk) with a career high 84 RBIs. He remained at second in 1978, but was used as the designated hitter by Don Kessinger when he took over as player-manager in 1979. Orta failed to put up the numbers expected of a DH (.212 batting average, 3 home runs, 21 RBIs through June 27). Meanwhile, second base had become something of a revolving door, with Kessinger, Alan Bannister, Joe Gates, Jim Morrison and Greg Pryor all manning the position at one point or another. He returned to second base in the middle of July, and batted .313 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs the rest of the way.