Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here. A legend in the baseball and music world is returning to her familiar perch this weekend, and it promises to strike a chord for fans in the Chicago area especially. Nancy Faust’s story, though, is one that every baseball fan should know. Faust was the famed White Sox organist from 1970 until 2010, a fabled 40-year run during which she became a beloved ballpark staple, starting at the old Comiskey Park. She’ll be back at the organ for select Sundays this season at Rate Field, beginning with this Sunday’s 2:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. CT game against the Marlins.
The sounds at the ballpark are an integral part of the live game experience, and Faust has had her hand in so much of what goes into that, far beyond just the Windy City. Walkup songs as we know them today were essentially her brainchild, in part because legendary owner Bill Veeck had the idea to move her organ among the fans behind home plate, where she received quite a few song suggestions. That led to Faust testing out playing songs catered to specific players when they came up to bat, like “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Dick Allen and “He’s So Shy” for the introverted Harold Baines.
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Our own White Sox reporter Scott Merkin recently asked Faust if she had any ideas up her sleeve for current South Side players, and she offered up “Benny and the Jets” for Andrew Benintendi (who unfortunately has since been placed on the injured list) and the theme from “Eight is Enough” for No. 88, Luis Robert Jr. It’s more than just walkup songs, though. Perhaps the most famous singalong in all of sports, “Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye,” began with Faust and the White Sox. Those lyrics are pulled from Steam’s 1969 hit “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” which at the time it came out knocked The Beatles’ “Come Together” out of the top spot on the Billboard pop charts. Eight years later, Faust heard the song while driving in her car and had an epiphany. “I finally realized this isn’t just a clapping song, this is something I can apply to taking a pitcher out of a game, or somebody striking out, or a home run,” Faust said in a SportsCenter feature in 2021. She first broke it out during the finale of an important series during a pennant race against the Royals in 1977, which the White Sox won, and it stuck. Suddenly, it was the team’s theme song echoing throughout the city. “The moment she lit that fuse, that baby took off,” Veeck said. That year, Steam re-released the original song and Faust was gifted an honorary gold record for helping give it a second wind nearly a decade after it was first released. It all helped vault Faust to notoriety outside of just Chicago, and it built the foundation for other stadium singalongs even to this day (hello, Francisco Lindor’s “My Girl”). Now she’s back at the bench, with the chance to further that legacy just a little bit more, and this time, the entire ballpark will be chanting hello. -- Scott Chiusano |
- Cubs @ Mets (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network): A pair of first-place teams in the National League are set to square off in tonight’s series opener at Citi Field, where a red-hot Pete Alonso and the Mets have only dropped three games so far this season. New York will send its surprise Opening Day starter to the mound in Clay Holmes, while the Cubs will counter with veteran Jameson Taillon.
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- Phillies @ Guardians (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): These two clubs have identical records at 22-15, but they are in second place in their respective divisions and will try to use this weekend’s three-game set to move into the driver’s seat. The Phillies are riding high after asweep of the Rays, while the Guardians have won their last three series.
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- Dodgers @ D-backs (9:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Thursday’s opener of this four-game series between two of the NL West’s FOUR 20-win teams already brought the fireworks, as Gabriel Moreno launched a grand slam off Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto for his first homer of the year to lead the D-backs to victory. Fresh off his first MLB win, rookie Roki Sasaki will look to help Los Angeles even the score tonight.
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VATICAN CITY MEETS WINDY CITY |
Once the white smoke had dissipated yesterday afternoon and the new pope -- a Chicago-born Villanova University alum with a degree in mathematics -- was officially named Pope Leo XIV, there was one more question on everyone’s mind: Is he a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan? The short answer is, we can’t be 100 percent sure until the pontiff himself pontificates on this, but the account from the pope’s brother saying they grew up on the South Side and rooted for the Sox certainly seems the most plausible, as does a photo from the Chicago Sun-Times showing him in attendance at the 2005 World Series wearing the white and black. The mini-controversy over the pope’s ballpark allegiance was a big talker across the baseball world, but somehow, it was not the sport’s only crossover with the papacy. Some hawk-eyed social media sleuths watching CNN’s broadcast of yesterday’s announcement noticed something seemingly out of place among the sea of faces crowded into St. Peter’s Square. Was that, no, it couldn’t be, a Mets hat? The club itself got wind of this and posted on X: “There was a Mets hat WHERE???” It might have gone on being another of life’s great mysteries, except an X user named Eddie Schantz, with the screenshot of the spotted Mets hat as his profile picture, responded saying, “it was literally me!! Lol LGM!!” Since we’re talking Mets, a bit of trivia: Want to know who made the last out in the history of Shea Stadium? That’d be a guy by the name of Ryan Church. |
The D-backs’ new Nike City Connect jerseys draw inspiration from the team’s iconic unis over the years, most notably the purple and teal color scheme the team wore from its inception in 1998 through 2006. That obviously captures the on-field high-water mark in D-backs history, their 2001 World Series championship. But for those perpetually stuck in the 90’s -- guilty as charged -- the vibrant unis hearken not merely to that iconic team, but also to a bygone era of sports maximalism where teal was seemingly everywhere. If you’re a Generation X-er, there’s a great chance you owned a turquoise Starter jacket in the mid-90’s, be it the Hornets, Dolphins or Marlins. (Starter jackets are again very much a thing, by the way – you can find quite the selection at the MLB Shop.) The D-backs followed the style of the times with their original unis, but there was also legitimate reasoning at play. “There’s a lot of regional connectivity to that in terms of when copper oxidizes, it ends up with more a teal or turquoise hue,” Graham Rossini, formerly the D-backs’ VP of special projects, once told SportsLogos.net. “You see a lot of that in the Southwest, in the landscapes and sunsets, mountains, etc.” Put aside that actual substance though, and it’s superficially comforting just to have the teal/purple color scheme back in full effect. Might a Hypercolor City Connect jersey be far behind? (Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead!) -- Bryan Horowitz |
For all the obscure stats whizzes out there, this one’s for you. See how well you can compare players and their stats before the timer runs out. Three strikes and you’re out! Play free >> |
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