It's World Series championship reunion weekend on the South Side, where the Chicago White Sox unveiled a statue of White Sox fan favorite pitcher Mark Buehrle.

The sculpture of Buehrle, who was 2-0 in four starts with a 3.47 ERA during that playoff run, and got the save in a 7-5 14-inning victory over the Astros in Game 3 of the World Series, was unveiled along the right field concourse at Rate Field before the second game of a split doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians.

He joined Freddy García, Jon Garland and José Contreras in a formidable rotation that led the team to their first World Series title in 87 years in 2005, with those four starters pitching consecutive complete games in the AL Championship Series against the Los Angeles Angels; the most consecutive complete games ever by a team in a single MLB postseason.

Buehrle, 46, pitched the first 12 of his 16 seasons in the majors in Chicago. Known for working fast and pitching with pinpoint precision, he had a 161-119 record in 390 appearances for the White Sox, with a 3.83 ERA.

He had his No. 56 jersey retired by the White Sox in 2017.

"I literally went out there and played just because I love baseball and I love competing," Buehrle said. "All the numbers and all that stuff comes of it, but you never think of this number retirement, statue. Like, that's just, I can't even wrap my head around it. Like it just doesn't make sense."  

The statue's unveiling kicks off a weekend-long celebration of the 20th anniversary of the team's 2005 World Series championship.

White Sox manager Will Venable was just beginning his professional baseball career at the time, and he knows just how important it is to have many of the team's World Series legends back in town.

"It's special. Obviously, what they accomplished is great, and we have these little events in the offseason and throughout the season where you see these guys together, and you understand how close they were and you hear the stories that they tell. It's just cool to be a part of now on this side of it, and see them being celebrated," he said.

In addition to Buehrle, other 2005 White Sox stars on hand for the 20th anniversary reunion weekend will be Brian Anderson, Geoff Blum, Jose Contreras, Neal Cotts, Joe Crede, Jemaine Dye, Carl Everett, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, Dustin Hermanson, Orlando Hernandez, Tadahito Iguchi, Paul Konerko, Damaso Marte, Pablo Ozuna, Timo Perez, A.J. Pierzynski, Scott Podsednik, Cliff Politte, Juan Uribe, Luis Vizcaino, and 2005 manager Ozzie Guillen.

The honor for Buehrle came one week after fellow World Series champion Bobby Jenks died at age 44, following a battle with stomach cancer.

"I'm sure I've lost teammates over the years, but losing somebody like that," Buehrle said. "He's a little kid in a big-man body, always goofing off, always having fun. Not having him here and hearing that news, it hit me a little bit harder than I thought it would when I first heard of it. It's definitely very sad."  

The team honored Jenks with his number 45 on the mound at Rate Field as the White Sox hosted the Guardians in a split doubleheader after Thursday night's game was rained out. Cleveland took the first game 4-2.