Pope Leo XIV gives autographed jersey to White Sox great Paul Konerko in honor of 2005 World Series
Pope Leo XIV had a signed jersey delivered to former Chicago White Sox great Paul Konerko.
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Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich presented Konerko a jersey with the new pontiff's signature on the back during a ceremony before a game against the Cleveland Guardians.
It had the six-time All-Star's last name and 'Pope Leo' above the No. 14.
Robert Prevost became the first pope from the US in the history of the Catholic Church when he was elected May 8.
The Chicago-born missionary, who took the name Leo XIV, is a White Sox fan.
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Prevost attended the 2005 World Series opener against Houston in Chicago.
He watched from Section 140, Row 19, Seat 2 as the White Sox beat the Astros 5-3 on their way to a four-game sweep and their first title since 1917.
Prevost was shown on the 'MLB on FOX' broadcast for that game at US Cellular Field Oct. 22, 2005, and the cameras caught him during the top of the ninth inning as the White Sox were clinching a 5-3 win over the Houston Astros.
4 Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich presented former Chicago White Sox player Paul Konerko with a jersey signed by Pope Leo XIV.
Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images
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According to the White Sox, the pope attended the game with the late Ed Schmit, a family friend and season ticket holder.
They knew each other through their work at a Catholic high school on Chicago's South Side, and Schmit's son, Nick, remains the account holder for the pope's World Series seat.
Prevost was first revealed as a White Sox fan when his brother, John Prevost, mentioned it in an interview with WGN-TV.
4 The jersey featured the six-time All-Star's last name and 'Pope Leo' above the No. 14.
AP
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'He was always a Sox fan,' John said.
In May, the team unveiled a graphic installed near the seat paying tribute to Pope Leo and that moment.
The pillar artwork features a waving Pope Leo XIV along with a picture from the TV broadcast of the future pope sitting with good Schmit and his grandson, Eddie.
4 Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago and is a White Sox fan.
Maria Grazia Picciarella/Shutterstock
4 Pope Leo XIV World Series broadcast in 2005, wearing Chicago White Sox gear.
Major League Baseball
Members of the 2005 team are in Chicago this weekend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the championship run.
The White Sox debuted uniform patches honoring late closer Bobby Jenks, who died last week in Portugal, where he was being treated for stomach cancer.
On Friday, the team unveiled a statue of former ace Mark Buehrle.
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USA Today
38 minutes ago
- USA Today
Atlanta's All-Star Game site is the envy of sports – but The Battery isn't all peachy
Every team in the world wants to replicate Atlanta's ballpark village. But should they? ATLANTA – More than a decade ago, Atlanta Braves officials embarked on a road trip that was far more transformative and industry-altering than any game their team would play. The destination: Kansas City. The mission: Create a blank slate for the franchise to not only build a new ballpark but create a multi-use revenue-capturing monster that, in the years since, has transformed the sports industry, for better and worse. And over multiple days consulting with Populous, the global design firm that engineered the ballpark revolution of the 1990s and evolved with the times since, the Braves hatched what would come to be known as The Battery. 'They told a pretty compelling story of what they wanted to accomplish,' says Earl Santee, founder and senior executive of Populous, which has guided the evolution of the modern stadium since 1985. 'The idea of The Battery was inspired by their vision. 'It's really the first time we had a fully integrated ballpark that occurred at one time. That they're one big community, not one big building. 'I think that's why almost every pro sports team in America has come by and looked at the ballpark and The Battery to understand how they did it.' In fact, the parade of club presidents, owners, politicians and imagineers beating a path to the intersection of I-75 and I-285 in suburban Cobb County became so voluminous, the Braves had to tell some of them to take a number. They only had so much time to devote to sports franchises wanting to know how they cultivated such a vast expanse to live, work, play – and generate revenue that didn't have to be shared with other teams in their leagues. And just what did they concoct? A 41,000-seat ballpark that flows seamlessly into 2.25 million square feet featuring more than two dozen restaurants and bars, four corporate campuses, two hotels, 531 residences and the Roxy Theater, where MLB staged its draft Sunday night. And it's not done growing. The Braves' real estate interests have expanded with the success of their club, a cosmic bit of timing in which the team on the field has not missed the playoffs since 2017, allowing SunTrust Park – now Truist Park – a year of novelty before the club launched seven consecutive postseason runs, including the 2021 World Series title. Little wonder franchises from four corners of the map are aiming to recreate this utopia of commerce – with a side of sports – for their own towns. Yet the manner in which the Braves and Cobb County captured those dollars has proven challenging for teams to replicate – with some municipalities just saying no. Mapping the journey Santee, as head of then-HOK Sports, had a far simpler task – and a lower bar – to clear when he set out, perhaps unwittingly, and became the godfather of modern stadia. The grim multi-purpose stadiums of the 1960s and '70s eventually gave way to the intimate and objectively beautiful jewels of the 1990s, where a little exposed brick and single-sport sightlines went a long way. Now, more than three decades after Baltimore's Camden Yards, Cleveland's Jacobs Field and Pittsburgh's PNC Park became the standards by which parks would be measured, Santee must navigate a post-Battery world where 'experiential' has become as important to a franchise as a reliable starting pitcher. A trip through the turnstiles is merely the first – or third – imagined step in a long day of what Santee calls 'journey mapping.' 'We get to make an impact that's not three hours long. It's five or six hours long. That's pretty exciting,' says Santee. 'The journey mapping tells us people want two, maybe three unique experiences, either inside or outside the ballpark. 'Years ago, if you asked me the question, what was it like in the '80s and '90s designing ballparks? We designed maybe 15 to 20 fan experiences inside the ballpark. With this model, we're designing somewhere between 60 to 80 fan experiences. 'Because it's driven by the journey mapping, driven by the generational needs.' And it's remarkably easy to get caught up in The Battery's stream of diversions. Just steps after exiting the right field gate, the fan is greeted with a mind-bending number of options, with Sports & Social and its many blaring TV screens and game play practically begging your party to commune over a plate of $24 nachos. A splash pad shoots water aloft, allowing parents to toss their kids in to cool off and burn energy on a hot day. A bandshell on Saturday staged a pep rally – 'Javy Lopez is in the house!' – as a drumline performed, giving way to a DJ as the evening arrived. Residences look down on it all, climate-controlled havens where around $2,500 per month can get you a two-bedroom apartment within strolling distance of gourmet ice cream or salmon cake benedict. After less than five minutes, the right field gate looks almost foreign, a reminder that yes, there is a baseball stadium here. It is a diverse and truly multi-generational crowd and for a moment, it's easy to forget the mega-development was – and in some quarters still is – a source of consternation. The Braves' move from Fulton County's Turner Field – that stadium was about two decades old - not only removed the club from Atlanta's urban center but also left a sour taste in the mouth of Cobb County taxpayers who footed two-thirds of the bill. A stroll to the south end of the complex gives the visitor a reminder of the backlash: The intersection of Battery Avenue and Tim Lee Way. 'We can't leave citizens behind' Lee was chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners from 2010 to 2017 and passed away in 2019 after a yearlong bout with esophageal cancer. In 2016, he was roundly defeated at the ballot box by an opponent, Mike Boyce, who ran a single-issue campaign - an anti-stadium platform – and prevailed by a nearly two-to-one margin. In 2013, Lee spearheaded the effort to commit $400 million in taxpayer money to the Braves, the stadium and what became The Battery – without giving taxpayers a say in the matter. The transparency – or lack thereof – in the process became a significant wedge between stadium proponents and citizens. Lee reportedly dubbed the effort 'Operation Intrepid.' And the dispatch with which the project advanced from private negotiations – Braves president John Schuerholz said if they'd been public, citizens 'would not want this to happen' – to commission approval remains a sore point. Lisa Cupid, the lone no vote in a 4-1 approval by county commissioners, now has Lee's job chairing the commission. While she has come to appreciate The Battery's merits and remains optimistic it will have staying power as a destination, she also realizes what was lost in its approval. 'Process is always important when it comes to (earning) the trust of citizens,' says Cupid. 'That's something that, even looking back, was at the forefront of my mind. The idea of having something like a stadium, something as nostalgic as that in your community is always appealing. But it can't circumvent the significance of, and really, our charge to ensure that the public trust is there. 'It's not just the what that we do as county government, but the how we do it. We just can't leave citizens behind in the big decisions we're making.' From a volume and value standpoint, The Battery has been a significant success. The county reported that in 2024, a record 10.3 million visitors walked its gleaming avenues and alleyways. And the Braves, the lone MLB franchise owned by a publicly-traded corporation, reported $67.3 million in mixed-use development income, a 14% increase over 2023. It would seem like a boomtown for all – county, ballclub, those employed within The Battery and any other stakeholders. Yet economists argue that The Battery and similar developments are classic examples of 'extraction' – that new dollars aren't necessarily being spent but rather moved around, regionally. Certainly, Cobb County captured the revenue that used to go to Fulton County when the Braves played there. Yet much of the activity – a night at the movies, a mid-range dinner, a round of drinks with the boys or the baddies – simply would have occurred somewhere else minus The Battery's existence. 'You built a department store,' says JC Bradbury, an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State. 'We already have seven of those in Cobb County. It's not transformative for development when you look at a county that's a ($64 billion) economy. It's a rounding error. 'Even though they're always touted as a great economic engine, they're not. And the data bear this out.' Bradbury is a frequent detractor of stadium economic impact projections, but in this case, he's not just a critic; he's a client. A resident of nearby Marietta, he considers himself a Braves fan and has test-driven The Battery on a few occasions. While ample parking decks have made it a regional destination, the area has not seen a so-called 'halo effect' in transforming the area around it, a potential upside stadium proponents frequently cite. 'They like to describe The Battery as, 'Oh, we're recreating Wrigleyville,'' Bradbury says of the once-unique Chicago neighborhood since turned into a replacement-level cash cow for the Cubs. 'The Battery is more like Main Street USA at Disney World. And not all restaurants and bars have succeeded there. 'It's easy to find parking. Are there people there? Yeah. But not much more than if I went to Marietta Square. 'It's certainly not 'Downtown Cobb.'' Much of the area remains unchanged from decades earlier. Cumberland Mall was erected in 1973 and faces many of the challenges similar properties do, though redevelopment is in the mix. Fading strip malls and chain restaurants dot the areas around the interchange. One common opponent: Traffic. 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Its impact throughout the sports industry certainly will, as everyone chases what's become the standard in development and revenue generation. 'This site has built a tremendous energy beyond any of our comprehension,' says Cupid, the chair of the county commission. 'It looked almost surreal what I saw in the renderings on paper. And they brought it to life. And they did it quickly. And they truly changed the footprint of that area. 'It's become more than just a business, an economic center. It's a center of vibrancy not just for Cobb but the region right now. 'And it continues to grow.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
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New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Cubs select a trio of college talent on first day of MLB Draft, including CF Ethan Conrad
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Talent evaluators see this as a risky pick, but the Cubs were confident Conrad would return to full health. "It's honestly such an honor hearing my name called by the Chicago Cubs. It's a dream come true." Ethan Conrad on being drafted by the Cubs. — Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 14, 2025 'You don't want to close the door on a player based on his health if the forecast is that he's going to recover,' Kantrovit said. 'And in the case of Ethan, we expect a full recovery. I'm not sure if it's a trend, but it's definitely something that we're not going to dismiss players we think are going to get back to full strength.' Advertisement Conrad showed impressive slugging ability at Marist and in his brief time with Wake Forest, but Kantrovitz said he's still filling out and that 'there's an increasing slug component there.' He's also lauded by scouting departments for having strong underlying metrics, something the model-heavy Cubs front office certainly values. 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He's touched mid-90s this year; he's probably 92 to 94 (mph) most of the time. He's got a body that's still filling out. We feel like there's some untapped potential there.' Advertisement The Cubs have had some recent success in adding velocity to pitchers, so selecting pitchers with strong secondaries and/or good command makes sense. Whether the Cubs can tease more out of Reid velocity-wise and perhaps develop either his slider or curveball will be key to his development. By drafting a trio of college players, the Cubs have a chance to be aggressive on Day 2 and maybe go for a high school player who is looking for a bigger payday. They believe they have some financial flexibility and can use it Monday. 'At this juncture, it's difficult to forecast how we're going to deploy that flexibility,' Kantrovitz said. 'But suffice it to say we're going to go into tomorrow with a good amount of financial flexibility.' (Photo of Ethan Conrad: Vera Nieuwenhuis / Associated Press)
