CHICAGO — Alexei Ramirez wore a winter cap, the kind with a fuzzy pompom on top, in the Chicago White Sox clubhouse last Wednesday. It was warm enough in there, but Ramirez took no chances. Stiff wind and icy air would await him on the field.

The lineup sheet offered warmth — on the inside, anyway. For the second time this season, it included four players from Cuba: Ramirez at shortstop, Dayan Viciedo in right field, Adrian Nieto catching and Jose Abreu, who signed for six years and $68 million last October, at first base. No team since the 1969 Cleveland Indians had started four Cuban-born players in a game.

“You want to explain how you feel, but your mind sometimes doesn’t have the words to put together,” said Minnie Minoso, 88, the grandfatherly White Sox icon from Havana. “This is something I’ve never seen before, and I really appreciate it.”

Minoso had five stints with the White Sox, starting in 1951 and ending with a cameo in 1980. Pitchers Jose Contreras and Orlando Hernandez helped the team win the World Series in 2005. Ramirez and Viciedo signed in 2008, and last winter, after a 99-loss season, the White Sox added Nieto in the Rule 5 draft and Abreu as the most expensive free agent in club history.