White Sox give Jose Abreu a ring to commemorate his cycle

The most enjoyable on-field moment for the White Sox this season took place a few weeks ago when Jose Abreu hit for the cycle against the Giants.

The game itself was a 13-1 trampling over San Francisco, but you couldn’t pull your eyes away from Abreu’s at-bats. He was that locked in. When he launched a triple in the 8th inning to complete the feat, it was a moment most Chicago fans wanted to celebrate for as long as they could.

Well, thanks to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Abreu will get to keep the party going a little bit longer.

It’s a truly nice gesture from an owner to a player after what is certainly a career highlight. It’s also rather over the top by MLB standards. While the cycle is one of the more hallowed single-game accomplishments, it’s not something that rare.

Baseball has seen more than 300 players hit for the cycle since the late 1880’s. That includes seven players who completed the cycle this season. You wouldn’t really expect to get a ring for hitting one. Maybe there’s an argument for giving rings to pitchers who throw a perfect game — there have only been 21 in the modern era, after all — but even then it just seems off.

It’s also impossible not to juxtapose Abreu’s ring with those worn by the Cubs only a few miles north. Luckily for Sox fans, the rebuild on the south side is way ahead of schedule. So any mockery from the north siders could potentially be short-lived.

Abreu pulled off a stellar performance and it certainly deserves attention. Does it deserve a ring? Well, he’s got one either way.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Schustee