An announced crowd of nearly 10,000 produces cheers that reverberate throughout the ballpark on a quintessential Chicago spring day.
He has looked off-balance in his first three at-bats, grounding out, striking out and popping out in foul territory.
He swings and misses at a first pitch slider, takes two pitches out of the zone and swings through a fastball, appearing a bit overmatched.
That season, they feuded over the presence of Adam LaRoche’s 14-year-old son, traded away Fernando Tatís Jr.—then just 16 years old—for veteran James Shields, and angered ace Chris Sale to the point that he cut up all of their throwback jerseys so the team couldn’t wear them.
“The biggest thing that sticks out to me is in previous years, we lose a couple games, and the morale is low, and it’s like, ‘Man, how’re we gonna get out of this?’ ” pitcher Lucas Giolito says.
Two years earlier, the White Sox hosted the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Seconds after demolishing the baseball, Anderson took a couple steps toward first base walking backward.
After finishing 72–89 that year, the front office brought in some veteran talent to complement the younger roster, including Dallas Keuchel and Yasmani Grandal.
The White Sox reached the postseason in 2020 after finishing 35-25 and kicked off their first homestand of 2021 with a bang.
Over his previous six years in Chicago, he battled several injuries—biceps, shoulder, elbow—and exceeded 100 innings pitched just three times.
“I don’t care if you’re witnessing history or not, when it’s a school night, it’s a Wednesday in mid-April about the sixth or seventh inning, some people are just gonna say, ‘You know what? I’m cold, and I’ve gotta work tomorrow,’ or, ‘I’ve got school tomorrow; I’m heading home.’ Nobody left.
“Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify,” he says.
But contrary to Seinfeld’s joke, this White Sox team is more than just a group of guys wearing the same clothes.
“Every time José Abreu comes to the plate to this day, you hear chants of, ‘M-V-P! M-V-P!’ Tim Anderson, everything he does is kind of electrifying.
“Billy Hamilton’s been around forever, and all of a sudden, he’s hitting home runs.
Mercedes became the first such cult hero on the South Side in 2021.
After signing the largest contract in White Sox history at the time , he was named AL Rookie of the Year in 2014 and was the league’s MVP last season.
For as well as the various personalities of White Sox players have meshed, though, their clubhouse hasn’t been completely immune to baseball’s current cultural shift.
Against the Twins in mid-May, the divide came to a head when La Russa chastised Mercedes for hitting a home run off a 3–0 pitch against a position player with the Sox leading by 11.
He has certain things that he believes in, and a lot of us don’t necessarily agree with that, and that’s O.K.
The crowd’s roar sustains the moment, continuing longer than one might expect for a walk-off wild pitch in mid-May.