Speaking His Mind: Hendriks Reflects On White Sox Clubhouse Culture
Liam Hendriks may be wearing a different uniform but that didn’t stop him from sharing his thoughts on his former team.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, the former White Sox closer explained why he believed the team failed to live up to their lofty expectations
“We had too many guys pulling in different directions, too many cooks in the kitchen trying to fix what they thought was [wrong],” Hendriks told the Chicago Sun-Times. “There’s a lot of Type A people in a clubhouse. You’ve got certain thinking, ‘This is the way to go.’ Certain people want to fix something, so they just scream and yell until someone fixes it. There wasn’t honestly, enough positivity and eagerness to go out there and play on a day-to-day basis.”
Hendriks also said that some of his White Sox teammates took issue with his willingness to speak his mind to the media.
“Some guys thought I was seeking too much attention,” Hendriks explained. “But when you answer questions in a non-generic way they tend to come up to you a little bit more. And I’m not one to shy away from a conversation, whether it be uncomfortable, whether I’m going well, whether I’m going poorly. I want to be as transparent as I can because baseball is a very stoic sport.”
Hendriks was very open with the media during his time in Chicago. No matter what the topic was, the 35-year-old was not afraid to share his opinion. Here are a few notable examples:
Calling Out Josh Donaldson
During his first season in Chicago, he called out his former teammate in Toronto, Josh Donaldson. After hitting a home run off Lucas Giolito in early July of 2021, Donaldson shouted “no more sticky stuff” while crossing home plate. This prompted Lucas Gioltio to call him a “pest” among other things. The next day Donaldson claimed he confronted Giolito in the parking lot and proceeded to unload on the White Sox.
Hendriks quickly came to the defense of Giolito.
“I am not a Donaldson fan. On the field, one of the greatest. You want him on the team behind you. But I saw behind the curtains too much, and I’m not a fan,” Hendriks told the media after the incident.
He later added “I also don’t like the point of, ‘OK, why did you go to the media?’ to Gio, and then the next day he’s calling him out and saying, ‘I said it to his face.’ No, you didn’t. We have witnesses.”
“I have no problems with showing emotions,” Hendriks added. “But at the end of the day, don’t say one thing in private and tout another thing in the media, and that’s what he has been doing.”
Embracing The Villain Role
Before the 2022 season, Hendriks also predicted that the White Sox were going to be one of the most hated teams in baseball.
“We’re pretty much going to be unanimously one of the most hated teams in baseball and that’s completely fine,” Liam Hendriks told Chuck Garfein on the White Sox talk podcast.
“It brings it back to the White Sox of old where everyone didn’t know what was happening and were terrified to play us, and that’s what we’re going to get back to.”
Calling For More Gun Control
Later that season a mass shooting at the Highland Park Independence Day parade left six dead and over two dozen injured. The White Sox issued a statement, but Henriks went one step further by using his platform to call for more gun control in the wake of the tragedy.
“Something needs to change,” Hendriks told reporters. “Something needs to be done, something needs to happen because there’s way too many people losing their lives,” Hendriks told the media in front of a shirt hanging in his locker that read “Stars & Stripes & Reproductive Rights.”
“That’s what America is known for,” Hendriks added. “There’s a lot of things that are good over here, but you look at the negatives, and it’s just the complete…I can walk into a store as a non-American and buy a handgun in certain states. That baffles me. I had to take a driving test when I was over here.”
“I won’t have to take a test if I want to get a gun. That’s stupid. Whoever thought that was a great idea is an idiot.”
Blaming Dallas Keuchel For Clubhouse Leaks
Days later Henriks appeared on ESPN 1000 with Waddle and Silvy and alluded that Dallas Keuchel was leaking reports to the media about the White Sox clubhouse.
Hendriks was asked about the Bob Nightengale report of unrest, cliques, and the lack of player leadership inside the White Sox clubhouse. Hendriks shot down the rumors, saying that they were overblown.
“Yeah, I’d love to know what his source is, Hendriks said about Nightengale’s reports of the team’s clubhouse complacency. “I want to know if it’s a former player who is currently not with us but still in the league from this year. So I’d be interested to see where that comes from.”
When asked directly if the player he was referring to was a former pitcher with a beard, he responded with:
“I think I’ve said enough already.”
Calling Out Teammates For Being Complacent
After a lackadaisical start to the 2022 season, Hendriks called out the White Sox for being too complacent during an interview with Parkins and Speigal on 670 The Score in late July.
“You can just see it in some guys in the way they went about doing things. It wasn’t the sense of urgency that we had last year at the start of the year or the sense of urgency that we had towards the very end of last year,” Hendriks said.
Whether or not you agreed with Hendriks, having a player speak so honestly with the media was refreshing. It was one of the many reasons Hendriks is beloved by fans, despite the fact he ruffled some of his teammate’s feathers.
While his tenure in Chicago came to an abrupt end he looks forward to returning to Guaranteed Rate Field in June.
“It’s a great place,” Hendriks told the Sun-Times. “That city embraced my wife and I like no other. We felt like family from the minute it started. I’m sad the way it ended- it wasn’t the way I wanted it to- but I want to thank all the people for embracing me and continuing to embrace me, because the well wishes have been fantastic and overwhelming.”