{"id":14690,"date":"2025-05-10T00:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T00:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/14690\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T00:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T00:57:11","slug":"chicago-white-sox-embracing-newest-superfan-pope-leo-xiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/14690\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox embracing newest superfan, Pope Leo XIV"},"content":{"rendered":"

While enjoying a pregame beverage at Cork & Kerry at the Park before Friday night\u2019s White Sox game, Laronna Woolf checked out her favorite Pope Leo XIV memes on her phone.<\/p>\n

Woolf, a Sox fan from St. John\u2019s, Ind., who grew up in Calumet City, was particularly fond of a video on X from @BennnyHeis that spliced Chicago Bulls\u2019 famous intro music \u2014 \u201cSIRIUS\u201d by the Alan Parsons Project \u2014\u00a0to a video of Pope Leo XIV<\/a> making his introduction to the world at St. Peter\u2019s Square in Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure I\u2019m more excited about the fact that we have the first American pope, that we have a South Sider at the Vatican, or to see all of these memes that are so funny,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about peace and love and not anything about the White House. It\u2019s taking our minds off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many South Siders and White Sox fans, the news of Robert Prevost\u2019s election to head of the Roman Catholic Church was nothing less than a godsend during these trying times. It brought joy to a part of Chicago that hasn\u2019t had much to celebrate lately and smiles to faces of thousands who were proud of the fact one of their own was suddenly on top of the world.<\/p>\n

Before Friday\u2019s game, after a tribute to late Sox outfielder Chet Lemon<\/a>, the Sox congratulated Pope Leo XIV on the video board as \u201cthe South Side\u2019s very own.\u201d A small but appreciative crowd gave the pope a nice ovation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s particularly satisfying to the Sox, who amazingly find themselves on the same record-setting pace as last year, when they lost 121 games<\/a> to surpass the 1962 New York Mets\u2019 modern record for most losses in a season. The Sox were 10-28 heading into Friday\u2019s game against the Miami Marlins at Rate Field, looking for any kind of a spark to turn things around.<\/p>\n

Divine intervention was on the minds of many.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll take it,\u201d manager Will Venable said. \u201cGreat to have him on our side, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe the first miracle occurred Friday. The Sox planned to call up slugging first baseman Tim Elko from Triple-A Charlotte on Saturday, a source told the Tribune\u2019s Lamond Pope.<\/p>\n

Some are pointing to Pope Leo XIV and expecting him to pull some strings upstairs, after his brother, John Provost, spread the good word Thursday<\/a> that Robert was actually a Sox fan, contrary to the Cubs\u2019 claim earlier in the day, which had been based on an ABC News report. John\u2019s word was the \u201csmoking gun\u201d the Sox needed to stake their claim.<\/p>\n

\""Hey,\u201cHey, Chicago. He\u2019s a Cubs fan!\u201d sits on the Wrigley Field marquee after Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, was chosen as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, choosing the name of Pope Leo XIV Thursday May 8, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)
\n\""Hey\u201cHey Chicago, He\u2019s a Sox fan!\u201d reads the White Sox scoreboard after Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, was chosen as the 267th pontiff on May 8, 2025, in Chicago. (Chicago White Sox)<\/p>\n

After the Cubs put the message \u201cHey Chicago, he\u2019s a Cubs fan\u201d<\/a> on their iconic marquee Thursday afternoon, the Sox countered with the message \u201cHey Chicago, he\u2019s a Sox fan\u201d on the video board at Rate Field and displayed it again Friday night. <\/a><\/p>\n

It was the kind of in-your-face trolling not seen in the crosstown rivalry since 1997, when the Sox\u2019s flagship radio station had a billboard erected next to Wrigley Field that read: \u201cMajor League Baseball, 8.1 miles south.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 That, of course, was the distance from Wrigley Field to what was then called new Comiskey Park, and a dig at a very bad Cubs team.<\/p>\n

Copying the Cubs\u2019 message while claiming the pope as their own was a strategy that led to some spirited debate Thursday in Sox offices. The Sox\u2019s social media department, which also poked fun at their own team in September<\/a> during their march toward the record for losses, got its wish.<\/p>\n

The mocking message was sent out on the Sox\u2019s X account, formerly Twitter. Insanity prevailed. As former Sox broadcaster Jason Benetti once said: \u201cThanks, Cubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t call it a troll,\u201d said Christine O\u2019Reilly-Riordan, the Sox senior vice president of community relations. \u201cI call it an \u2018ahem\u2019 moment. They did their thing, and we were just like, \u2018Ahem \u2026\u2019 That\u2019s all we had to do. We gave them an ahem and walked away with our heads held up really high, with a lot of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in \u201997, White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf eventually told the radio station to paint over the billboard mocking the Cubs. He found it amusing but didn\u2019t want to start a war. Reinsdorf was unavailable for comment Friday, but he approved of the Sox\u2019s social media department poking fun at the Cubs\u2019 claim to Pope Leo XIV, which ignited the Great Pope Fight of 2025.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe image of new Pope Leo XIV is cast on the big video board at Rate Field before a White Sox-Marlins game on May 9, 2025. Formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the new pope was born in Chicago and raised in Dolton. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s embraced this and blessed this and the fun we\u2019re having with it,\u201d O\u2019Reilly-Riordan said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone, Jerry included, would deny any divine intervention coming our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In New York for the Mets series, Cubs manager Craig Counsell suggested the pope focus on the Bulls instead of the two baseball teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got the lottery and the first pick in the lottery is getting (Duke\u2019s) Cooper Flagg,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThat\u2019s what the pope should focus on for Chicago sports fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs and Sox meet next weekend at Wrigley Field in Round 1 of the City Series. It could get a little, ahem, tense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work with folks from the Cubs,\u201d O\u2019Reilly-Riordan said. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard from them specifically about this, but I\u2019ll tell you what, I\u2019m proud to own this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venable wasn\u2019t willing to get into a brouhaha with the Cubs over their premature claim to the pope\u2019s fandom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get it, I think we all want the pope on our side,\u201d Venable said. \u201cSo I certainly understand. But I\u2019m glad he chose the right team.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Bridgeport Cork & Kerry, baseball fan Tom Silverstrim saluted Pope Leo XIV for choosing the Sox over the Cubs, calling him \u201ca long-term planner (who is) not going for what\u2019s popular. He\u2019s going for what\u2019s right.\u201d Silverstrim said the Cubs have lost the battle and need to \u201cgive up to Bridgeport.\u201d His friend, Ted Green, a Cubs fan, countered that the pope merely understands \u201cthe meek will inherit the earth,\u201d suggesting Sox fans are meek.<\/p>\n

Sox players learned of the news Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., where they were being swept by the Royals<\/a> in a 10-0 loss. Pitcher Jonathan Cannon said Pope Leo XIV\u2019s election was \u201cdefinitely a talking point in the clubhouse\u201d and a tribute to Sox fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having someone similar to you in a big office or a big role anywhere is cool,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cI think it helps people relate to the people in those offices, and everything that goes into becoming pope, the fact that he\u2019s from Chicago and a Sox fan, it\u2019s very cool and relatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of Pope Leo IV lounging in his comfy chair, wearing a Sox cap with an Old Style and trying to get Chicago Sports Network on his Vatican antenna is one every Sox fan can picture. It would bring together two global icons \u2014 the pope and the Sox cap.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a cultural standpoint, the Sox logo is one of the most impactful logos,\u201d Cannon said of the script logo popularized by the hip-hop community. \u201cYou can go anywhere in the world and see a White Sox cap, so it\u2019s cool seeing him take on that office.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly-Riordan said Sox fans are \u201cembracing their Chicagoism\u201d and conceded they needed a \u201cboost\u201d from the last couple of seasons of struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s face it, our fans are looking for anything they can hold onto, to kind of stoke that pride,\u201d O\u2019Reilly-Riordan said. \u201cWhat an unbelievable opportunity this is.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly-Riordan said the Sox hope to keep the theme going this season while being respectful of the religious aspect. She believes the pope\u2019s Sox fandom will bring an \u201cenergy\u201d to the ballpark and won\u2019t wear off after a month or so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we had the First Fan in the White Sox never wore off, right?\u201d she said, referring to former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s photo of him wearing Sox gear can be found in the ballpark, though he has yet to come out to watch a game since leaving office. Now he\u2019s behind Pope Leo XIV on the Sox fan hierarchy.<\/p>\n

So will there be pope-related themes at Sox Park? A Pope Leo XIV milkshake? Holy water in the outfield shower? A Sox pope hat giveaway?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to respect the reverence of the position,\u201d O\u2019Reilly-Riordan said of any possible Sox-Leo XIV ideas. \u201cWe\u2019re still at the joy stage, the \u2018wow\u2019 stage, and the \u2018Wow, this is so cool and we\u2019re so proud\u2019 stage. Those conversations will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Chicago ready for the Summer of Leo?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be fun to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While enjoying a pregame beverage at Cork & Kerry at the Park before Friday night\u2019s White Sox game,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,49,4245,161,6251,5794,4,6531,998],"class_list":{"0":"post-14690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-cubs","14":"tag-jerry-reinsdorf","15":"tag-jonathan-cannon","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","18":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114480823997285604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}