This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- Anthony Kay didn’t waste any time making a difference for the White Sox and the city of Chicago.
I’m not talking about his pitching, which has been something solid during the month of May -- 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 27 1/3 innings entering Saturday’s start. Let’s focus instead on the true kindness Kay and his wife, Alyssa, have shown to pediatric cancer patients and their families since the outset of the 2026 season.
Two families were in attendance for Friday night’s game against the Tigers at Rate Field, courtesy of the Kays and the White Sox. They met with Anthony and Alyssa pregame and were out for batting practice before moving to a suite, where the Kays provide food and beverage. Each cancer patient also left with a gift bag.
The families are both from Chicago, and the kids are being treated at Lurie Children’s Hospital, a partner of the White Sox. The impetus of this move by the Kays comes from within their family, as Anthony’s 12-year-old niece, Annabella, was diagnosed with brain cancer last year.
“I kind of want to do something in honor of her and just shed some light on it and give the people who are going through it some positive stuff to look at and to look forward to,” Kay told MLB.com. “It’s the least I can do to try to help anyone out who is going through that.
“It’s a struggle every day. She’s fighting every day, trying to get better,” added Kay of his niece. “We are praying for her to continue to get better.”
The Kays already have executed this heart-warming idea two times, and their plan is to do it once per homestand with the White Sox help. Kay is having the kids sign a hat for him, and if he pitches during Players Weekend on Aug. 15-17, he’ll wear the hat.
“Then we are going to auction it off and raise money,” Kay said.
Greyson, who is 9, and Raymond, who is 6, were the two honored guests for the Tigers series opener. Greyson is battling an optic pathway glioma, which is a tumor sitting on his brain in between the hypothalamus, his optic nerve, and his pituitary gland. He’s also legally blind as a result of the tumor.
Raymond is dealing with high-risk neuroblastoma and in his second relapse. He was diagnosed in October 2022, and he has been fighting ever since. So, getting this chance to see Major League Baseball, not to mention an infinitely fun team in action, is a welcome break for both families.
“This is just really special,” said Krista Ross, Raymond’s mother. “It’s an awesome escape for the whole family to be together doing something other than cancer. It’s just a total joy-filled day. He’s so excited. He’s so happy. It’s a really special thing to come out here and have him healthy, be together and then be doing something so special.”
“We’ve been pretty cooped up and this is like our biggest event of the year so far,” said Cadora Rose, Greyson’s mom. “So, pretty excited. It means a lot.”
Greyson got a little tongue-tied when asked what the night meant to him, mentioning it was good to do something different, but he couldn’t even explain it. Even the most eloquent of players get caught searching for words from time to time, so it’s understandable a 9-year-old might deal with the same situation in the midst of such excitement.
As for what Raymond was looking forward to the most on this great night, aside from the top-notch dessert carts in the suite? He went with how far the players were going to hit baseballs.
“Everyone is affected by it. It’s kind of all he knows. He knows just being in the hospital,” Krista said. “He’s been at Lurie here the entire time, and I mean, [he] spent over 300 nights in the hospital. And he never fights me to go.
“They are a special team there [at Lurie], the doctors, nurses, the volunteers, the janitors, the lunch people. Everyone is just amazing there, so they make it a real home away from home for him and all of us.”
Remember when Kay takes the mound, he’s giving back and winning beyond strikeouts and groundouts.
“Being one of the older guys on the team, you kind of got to be a little bit of a positive figure around them,” the 31-year-old said. “When they get in a good position of being on a contract, they should be doing something for the community to give back. It doesn’t have to be a financial thing.
“It could be just going out somewhere and doing whatever to help. Davis [Martin] has done a really good job with it. [Erick] Fedde had helped out a lot, too. It’s some of us older guys, something we can kind of show to the younger guys that’s something that they should do.”