O holy night! White Sox give Pope Hats to sellout crowd, celebrate HRs with their own
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CHICAGO – 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 ninth sellout, in tribute to and celebration of Pope Leo XIV, a native of Dolton, Ill., and a true White Sox fan. And the players weren’t even completely aware.
“They are giving it away?” asked Colson Montgomery, who started at designated hitter Tuesday, when asked postgame Sunday.
“Oh yeah,” White Sox starting pitcher Sean Burke said. “I didn’t even know that until 30 minutes ago.”
Don’t take the lack of information as a lack of enthusiasm on the players’ side for this special night. In fact, when Brenton Doyle, Edgar Quero and Miguel Vargas launched solo home runs in the White Sox 5-4 loss in 10 innings, they donned the Pope Hats in the home dugout.
And the fans? Well, the 2026 White Sox season has been the most fun they’ve had in quite some time. That commentary has nothing to do with three straight seasons of 100-plus losses entering ‘26.
“We got a pope and we got a wizard. We have a lot of good luck on our side,” said Montgomery, referring to Mike Vasil and his magic dugout wand. “Anything to get the fans excited for all that stuff is fun.”
“Very excited about Pope Night, and obviously a lot of people are excited about it,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Any time we get to celebrate the pope and his fandom of the White Sox is something that we'll lean into.”
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.
Once those went, Downey propelled the Pope Hat target to 40,000.
“The 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's been a lot of fun to be part of,” Boyer said Tuesday, while sitting in the White Sox dugout. “We were talking about this before. Is there anything that has rivaled this where we'd have to say, we have to go to 40,000?
“We couldn't remember anything where we had to put it to 40,000. I know I've certainly never sat in this seat to talk about a promo item before. So this has obviously gotten out there pretty good."
Tuesday was about more than just the giveaway.
Chicago White Sox Charities 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.
Sister Mary Jo Sobieck of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield threw out a ceremonial first pitch, after her first pitch went viral in 2018 when she bounced it off her right biceps. Her pitch on Tuesday was a bit low and outside to Chase Meidroth.
Nancy Faust was on the organ, getting huge applause whenever she was shown on the scoreboard. The announcement of “Play Ball” came from former White Sox pitcher Donn Pall, who was nicknamed “The Pope.”
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.
"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,” Boyer said. “But the fact that the pope is an identified White Sox fan, we're certainly proud of it. We put the mural up where he was sitting in the World Series.
“It is certainly a point of pride for the Chicago White Sox and White Sox fans. We're not going to run from it.”
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 visited the Vatican. Pierzynski sported a Pope Hat as he left the ballpark after his FOX broadcast on Saturday.
That papal support is not lost on the White Sox.
“As someone who is not even super religious, it’s a cool thing,” White Sox right-hander Erick Fedde said. “Any time a person of prestige or power, who obviously worked hard to get there, has a connection to the club, it makes it fun.
“I have lots of friends who ask, ‘Don’t you think it’s crazy the pope probably knows your name?’ It is cool. It’s a really cool thing. I think it’s good for the ballclub, it’s good for the fans and I love it.”