The Chicago White Sox have been one of the best stories in baseball this year. Just two years after going 41-121 and breaking the MLB's single-season loss record, Chicago has been in first place in the AL Central since early July.
Pitcher Mike Vasil is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery, but he's helped his squad defy expectations from the dugout with his magic-wand skills. Vasil's magic may just be the result of divine intervention, as Pope Leo XIV, who ascended to the papacy on May 8, 2025, is a Chicago-area native and diehard White Sox fan.
"We got a pope, and we got a wizard. We have a lot of good luck on our side," star shortstop Colson Montgomery said on Sunday. "Anything to get the fans excited for all that stuff is fun."
The Sox delivered that excitement for fans on Tuesday, honoring His Holiness with a "Pope Hat Night" giveaway for the Sox' game against the Cincinnati Reds. Initially intended for just the first 2,500 fans, all 38,113 attendees of the Rate Field sellout crowd were gifted a complimentary Sox-themed pope hat.
Chicago went all out for the night's festivities, and the CHSN broadcast did its best to keep up, starting with Sister Mary Jo Sobieck of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield "doing her thing," as play-by-play voice John Schriffen noted, and throwing out the first pitch.
#pope #white #john
Pitcher Mike Vasil is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery, but he's helped his squad defy expectations from the dugout with his magic-wand skills. Vasil's magic may just be the result of divine intervention, as Pope Leo XIV, who ascended to the papacy on May 8, 2025, is a Chicago-area native and diehard White Sox fan.
"We got a pope, and we got a wizard. We have a lot of good luck on our side," star shortstop Colson Montgomery said on Sunday. "Anything to get the fans excited for all that stuff is fun."
The Sox delivered that excitement for fans on Tuesday, honoring His Holiness with a "Pope Hat Night" giveaway for the Sox' game against the Cincinnati Reds. Initially intended for just the first 2,500 fans, all 38,113 attendees of the Rate Field sellout crowd were gifted a complimentary Sox-themed pope hat.
Chicago went all out for the night's festivities, and the CHSN broadcast did its best to keep up, starting with Sister Mary Jo Sobieck of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield "doing her thing," as play-by-play voice John Schriffen noted, and throwing out the first pitch.
#pope #white #john
3 days ago
