You're personal White Sox Connections

[Mingo]

In the sometimes miserable history of White Sox fandom - what autographs to you have - what encounters have you had with players - what big moments did you see live?

I had a short conversation and got an autograph from Alex Rios at spring training one year.

I've been to three White Sox games in Chicago and the 1st one I attended was Bo Jackson's return from injury and Bo hit a HR.

In 2007 I went to some kind of plush insurance industry retreat in Scottsdale - on the way out I was talking to the guy next to me on the plane - who was a MLB scout after a fairly long minor league career. I told him I was a White Sox fan and he said that White Sox coach Razer Shines was a friend of his. I was going to see the Sox as part of my itinerary for the retreat - the guy told me to holler down to Shines that "squat" said to say hello. The Sox were playing Pittsburg - and Shine was coaching 3rd base. A foul ball get hit to Shine and he turns in the coaching box and tosses the ball to me 20 rows up. Big thrill for me.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

-Been a fan of the Sox since '60, which is the farthest back I can remember.

-Never personally had contact with any Sox player, altho on separate occasions, I did meet former Bears Bobby Douglass and Dick Butkus.

-From '61 thru '75 (left Chicago in '76), I went to at least one home game each season, often more.

-'73 was my golden year. Went to 10 games, including one doubleheader, and the Sox won all of them.

-Attended a total of three games over the years at the new ballpark when visiting the Chicago area. The first two were wins, but the last one was a spanking received by a young up-n-coming, pre championship Royals ballclub. I think the score was something like 15-4. And it rained that night to boot.

-Nellie Fox always was and always will be my favorite White Sox player.

 

[richig07]

My father was friends with Ron Schueler. As a kid, I watched a handful of games every year in Schueler's luxury box. I met Reinsdorf and a lot of other names. My dad was also friends/softball teammates with Roger Bossard. The "Sod Father" grounds crew guy. My father passed when I was in HS, a few years after that I was in college for broadcasting (wanted to do sports, obviously) and Roger was nice enough to set me up to shadow Farmer/DJ for a game in the booth during their broadcast.

I was really young when I met Reinsdorf. It came up in conversation from my dad that I had just been at Wrigley Field recently. He asked me "which stadium do you like better?" I had no idea who the guy was and I told him Wrigley Field was "cooler". Everyone laughed at me. lol. I basically told the White Sox owner "your stadium sucks". In my defense, it was still the original version of the new ballpark and that place kind of did suck.

My dad had a couple of connections to players through all that. I met Harold Baines a handful of times, among others. I never had a bad experience with anyone.

 

[idseer]

hmmmmm. i can't give you any specific dates, but ..... the only sox player i ever met was jerry hairston in denver in the mid '70's. i was playing in a hotel there and he and a few of his friends walked in. on a break we talked a little and shook hands. i mention that because it struck me that he had very small hands and a very limp shake. pleasant fellow!
i've only ever met one other player but he wasn't a sox guy. it was marv throneberry, again in a bar i was playing one night. gave me his autograph which i still have somewhere.
i also sat a couple rows away from rocky colavito on a plane. lol

 

[idseer]

aside from baseball .... i have met a couple sports stars. as a kid i actually caddied for joe louis and jesse owens was in the same foursome at wicker park in highland indiana. must have been in the late 50's

 

[idseer]

-Nellie Fox always was and always will be my favorite White Sox player.

same! with luis aparicio and billy pierce a close second.

 

[Mingo]

I worked for years with a guy who played up through AAA in the Cubs organization. He played with Paul Kornorko's little brother back on the block and knew the Konerko's' pretty well. I was trying for him to get me an Paulie autograph, but he moved on professionally before that happened.

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

I dated Ozzie Guillen's daughter for a while. I think that guy is crazy

 

[Jiddy]

I dated Ozzie Guillen's daughter for a while. I think that guy is crazy

Ozzie only has 3 sons.

It's ok...We accept all sexualities here on the Sox board. *brohugs*

 

[Jiddy]

I have no connections to White Sox players. I've come across a few of them, but as with all celebrities I just leave them alone. Autographs/pictures/handshakes have never done much for me.

Best sports celebrity story I can claim to be a part of was my actually ignoring one of the greatest Blackhawk players for a good hour. I was standing right next to him for all that time clueless as to who he was. LOL @ my face when a group of people started oogling over him and asking him for pictures/autographs. I'm like "uh...who is that?" And one of the guys near me was like "The Golden Jet." I got a genuine chuckle out of Mr. Golden Jet himself when the followup of "Who is the Golden Jet?" came out of my mouth.

I think the only Sox player I have an autograph from is Donn Pall somewhere on one of my old little league balls in one of my closets...and that's only because I'm sure that dude set a ML record for signing autographs back in the early 90s...

 

[Mingo]

Not a Sox story, but a good one - I think.

I've been a Denver Bronco fan just one year after I jumped on the White Sox bandwagon in the 59 world series. The Broncos were awful, but I loved them - along comes the Orange Crush defense and the Broncos are in the Super Bowl. The emotional leader of that defense was Tom Jackson and he was my favorite player. Years later - my 5th grade daughter won a national ESPN contest to apply the laws of physics to football essay contest. Tom Jackson came out to award her some kind of certificate (I think her school got money) and the filmed it and showed in on ESPN 2. I had got a big thrill out of that.

 

[Indrid Cold]

My lab partner from sophomore year HS chem was a vendor at Old Comiskey for at least one summer.
I own two tshirts that I bought from Dick Allen's website.

 

[Jiddy]

Not a Sox story, but a good one - I think.

I've been a Denver Bronco fan just one year after I jumped on the White Sox bandwagon in the 59 world series. The Broncos were awful, but I loved them - along comes the Orange Crush defense and the Broncos are in the Super Bowl. The emotional leader of that defense was Tom Jackson and he was my favorite player. Years later - my 5th grade daughter won a national ESPN contest to apply the laws of physics to football essay contest. Tom Jackson came out to award her some kind of certificate (I think her school got money) and the filmed it and showed in on ESPN 2. I had got a big thrill out of that.

I have a very touching Denver Broncos story too...