White Sox’ 2005 team knows what it means to fans, even Pope Leo XIV: ‘We did a special thing here’

To No. 14, from No. XIV.

The White Sox’ championship-reunion ceremony kicked off Saturday with a special presentation for Paul Konerko, a gift from a famous fan who was in the stands during the 2005 team’s World Series run.

It was a signed jersey from Pope Leo XIV.

“Allegedly, I’ve got to sign one later to send back to him,” Konerko said. “I’m not sure he’s as excited for mine to get there as the other way around. But I’ll return the favor, for sure.”

Saturday’s ceremony came after the players assembled Friday for the unveiling of Mark Buehrle’s statue on the Rate Field concourse. There were introductions of much of the 2005 roster, as well as speeches from Jermaine Dye, Geoff Blum and Ozzie Guillen, plus a team-wide toast to Bobby Jenks, who died last weekend after battling stomach cancer.

While the stands were far from packed during the ceremony – fewer than 22,000 fans attended Saturday’s game, a 6-2 loss for the Sox – you only need to know Sox fans to know how much the 2005 team still means, something that’s not lost on the men who won that championship.

“It’s cool when you see someone and they say, ‘My dad waited 90 years for this,’ or, ‘I waited [so long] for this.’ The joy it brings to their face, it’s cool,” Cliff Politte told the Sun-Times on Friday. “I’m not great, but I was able to do something to help that, make someone’s home happy. It’s great. We did a special thing here.”

“Any city, anywhere you’re going to bring a championship, it means a lot. But after playing in different cities, you have true fans everywhere, but South Siders are something different,” Jon Garland told the Sun-Times on Friday. “The commitment they make to their team is unprecedented. It’s absolutely outstanding. And to give them that [championship]? I love this city. I love South Siders. Hopefully they just don’t forget me.”

It hasn’t escaped their memories, either.

“I think about it every day,” Konerko said. “I don’t think about anything else that I did. I don’t think about All-Star Games, I don’t think about that stuff. I think about the World Series every day. There might be some days I don’t, but there’s sometimes I think about it six times a day.”

Sox fans know how their captain feels. Even the Sox fan in the Vatican.

Schultz smoked again in Futures Game

For the second year in a row, Sox top pitching prospect Noah Schultz went to the Futures Game and had a miserable performance in the All-Star prospects showcase.

Last year, he faced six batters and allowed four runs, giving up three hits, walking one batter and hitting another.

Saturday, he again allowed four runs – the only runs the AL gave up in a 4-2 loss – giving up four hits, including a homer, to the six hitters he faced.

While last season was strong for Schultz outside of the midsummer exhibition, this latest rough-up in the Futures Game follows a string of three straight bad starts to begin his time at Triple-A Charlotte; he has an 11.91 ERA.