{"id":40322,"date":"2026-08-12T07:31:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40322"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:31:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:31:42","slug":"white-sox-have-pope-hat-giveaway-at-rate-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40322","title":{"rendered":"White Sox have Pope Hat giveaway at Rate Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>CHICAGO \u2013 The Pope Hat giveaway by the White Sox at Rate Field on Tuesday for the Reds series opener just might become the perfect example of how locked in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/standings\/\" target=\"_blank\">American League Central leaders<\/a> are in early August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Just over 40,000 Pope Hats were scheduled to be distributed, with 38,113 in attendance for the ninth sellout, in tribute to and celebration of Pope Leo XIV, a native of Dolton, Ill., and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/news\/pope-leo-xiv-spotted-wearing-white-sox-hat-at-vatican\" target=\"_blank\">a true White Sox fan<\/a>. And the players weren\u2019t even completely aware.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cThey are giving it away?\u201d asked Colson Montgomery, who started at designated hitter Tuesday, when asked postgame Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cOh yeah,\u201d White Sox starting pitcher Sean Burke said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know that until 30 minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Don\u2019t take the lack of information as a lack of enthusiasm on the players\u2019 side for this special night. In fact, when Brenton Doyle, Edgar Quero and Miguel Vargas launched solo home runs, they donned the Pope Hats in the home dugout.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cWe got a pope and we got a wizard. We have a lot of good luck on our side,\u201d said Montgomery, referring to Mike Vasil and his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/news\/white-sox-to-have-mike-vasil-wand-giveaway\" target=\"_blank\">magic dugout wand.<\/a> \u201cAnything to get the fans excited for all that stuff is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cVery excited about Pope Night, and obviously a lot of people are excited about it,\u201d White Sox manager Will Venable said. \u201cAny time we get to celebrate the pope and his fandom of the White Sox is something that we&#8217;ll lean into.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>This idea originally was centered on 2,500 Pope Hats through a special ticket promotion giveaway. But as Mike Downey, the senior director of marketing and promotions, watched those tickets immediately get scooped up, he told Brooks Boyer, the White Sox executive vice president, the vendor could go to 500 more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Once those went, Downey propelled the Pope Hat target to 40,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cThe only anxiety was: Can we get 40,000 here by the time of this day? So as soon as we figured out we could, it&#8217;s been a lot of fun to be part of,\u201d Boyer said Tuesday, while sitting in the White Sox dugout. \u201cWe were talking about this before. Is there anything that has rivaled this where we&#8217;d have to say, we have to go to 40,000?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cWe couldn&#8217;t remember anything where we had to put it to 40,000. I know I&#8217;ve certainly never sat in this seat to talk about a promo item before. So this has obviously gotten out there pretty good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Tuesday was about more than just the giveaway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/charities\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago White Sox Charities<\/a> presented a check to Midwest Augustinian Province, the order to which Father Robert Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) belonged while in Chicago. It was accepted by Prior Provincial Father Tom McCarthy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Sister Mary Jo Sobieck of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield threw out a ceremonial first pitch, after her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/video\/sister-mary-s-first-pitch-c2400470283\" target=\"_blank\">first pitch went viral in 2018<\/a> when she bounced it off her right biceps. Her pitch on Tuesday was a bit low and outside to Chase Meidroth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Nancy Faust was on the organ, getting huge applause whenever she was shown on the scoreboard. The announcement of \u201cPlay Ball\u201d came from former White Sox pitcher Donn Pall, who was nicknamed \u201cThe Pope.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>People who purchased the special ticket promotion before it went to everyone received Pope Leo XIV jerseys. In keeping with the name, image and likeness world, the Pope Hat was generic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>&#8220;Obviously we want to be respectful of the position, and there was a lot of chatter about a pope bobblehead and things like that, and we decided not to pursue something along those lines,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cBut the fact that the pope is an identified White Sox fan, we&#8217;re certainly proud of it. We put the mural up where he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/news\/pope-leo-xiv-robert-prevost-white-sox-fan-2005-world-series\" target=\"_blank\">sitting in the World Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cIt is certainly a point of pride for the Chicago White Sox and White Sox fans. We&#8217;re not going to run from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Pope Leo XIV continues to keep tabs on the White Sox, based if nothing else on his comments to A.J. Pierzynski when the onetime White Sox catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/whitesox\/news\/pope-leo-xiv-given-last-out-ball-from-2005-world-series-game-1\" target=\"_blank\">visited the Vatican<\/a>. Pierzynski sported a Pope Hat as he left the ballpark after his FOX broadcast on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>That papal support is not lost on the White Sox.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cAs someone who is not even super religious, it\u2019s a cool thing,\u201d White Sox right-hander Erick Fedde said. \u201cAny time a person of prestige or power, who obviously worked hard to get there, has a connection to the club, it makes it fun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cI have lots of friends who ask, \u2018Don\u2019t you think it\u2019s crazy the pope probably knows your name?\u2019 It is cool. It\u2019s a really cool thing. I think it\u2019s good for the ballclub, it\u2019s good for the fans and I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO \u2013 The Pope Hat giveaway by the White Sox at Rate Field on Tuesday for the Reds series opener just might become the perfect example of how locked in the American League Central leaders are in early August. Just over 40,000 Pope Hats were scheduled to be distributed, with 38,113 in attendance for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.mlbstatic.com\/mlb-images\/image\/upload\/t_2x1\/t_w1536\/mlb\/uz6nacmnlcfpcjyvjtpo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}