NOTE: One of the fun things was doing stories on local people who were a big part of a local success story. And that was true in 2005 when the White Sox made it to the World Series for the first time in 46 years. Even though it was in the middle of the high school football season it was nice to contribute a trio of local behind-the-scenes stories on Forest View’s Larry Monroe, Fremd’s Mike Gellinger (major league scouting analyst) and former Rolling Meadows coach Al Otto (amateur scouting). Larry was one of the best players to come out of the MSL and unfortunately his playing career was derailed by arm trouble but he was able to have a long and successful post-playing career with the White Sox. I had gotten to know Larry a little bit from covering his son Grant, who was a standout baseball and basketball player at Schaumburg.
Hectic may be an understated description of life lately for Larry Monroe.
Heck, he wasn’t even sure what day it was earlier this week as the road odyssey continued for the White Sox’ vice president for free-agent and major-league scouting.
After the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols hit his dramatic 3-run homer Monday off the Astros’ Brad Lidge, that sent Monroe and the White Sox crew of advance scouts from Houston back to St. Louis for the sixth game of the National League Championship Series.
“The difficult thing is you’re never there when all the good stuff happens,” Monroe said of the White Sox’ celebration of their first American League pennant since 1959.
The 1974 Forest View High School graduate and former White Sox pitcher is doing what he can to make sure there are a few more good times this season. Monroe followed the Yankees the last two weeks of the regular season and the first round of the NL playoffs between St. Louis and San Diego.
“No surprises,” Monroe said of what the six-man crew of scouts hopes to give the White Sox in their reports on the Astros.
Bryan Little, a former White Sox coach and infielder, Bill Scherrer, who pitched for the Tigers’ 1984 World Series champions, Dave Yoakum, Gary Pellant, Doug Laumann and Monroe have been trying to pick up every last detail from the NLCS.
Monroe said they break down every player and how to pitch and play him and his tendencies. They look at the managers and their approach.
Observing the games was just the beginning of their work. There were meetings and discussions toward getting a final scouting report done.
It’s part of a labor of love for Monroe with the organization he has been with since he was a first-round pick in the 1974 free-agent draft after a standout high school career at Forest View.
Monroe made his big-league debut with the White Sox two years later in late August with 2 scoreless innings in Detroit. But after going 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in 8 games and 21 ⅔ innings in 1976, he never made it back to the big leagues as he tore his rotator cuff.
He was released in the spring of 1980 and thought he wanted to coach and manage. General manager Roland Hemond told Monroe he should scout for a few years so he could understand how to read baseball players.
“After a few years, I had my first daughter and my second one was on the way,” said Monroe, whose son Grant is a junior at Schaumburg and a varsity baseball and basketball standout. “I said, ‘I don’t want to move to Knoxville for seven months a year.’”
He moved up the scouting ladder and was the vice president of scouting and minor-league operations from 1990-94 before moving to major-league scouting.
Monroe found himself thinking about many of the people he had crossed paths with during his 32 years in the organization after the White Sox finally wrapped up their trip to the World Series late Sunday night.
“What surprised me was the emotion of it,” Monroe said. “It was more of a very sentimental, emotional journey.”