The No. 14 is significant for Konerko and the Pope.
Pope Leo XIV is continuing to endear himself to the Chicago White Sox fanbase in the coolest ways possible.
On Saturday afternoon, the White Sox were honoring members of their 2005 World Series team that swept the Houston Astros. Before he was selected to lead all Catholics worldwide, Robert Prevost (which was his given name) actually got the chance to attend Game 1 of that series, even appearing on Fox’s broadcast of the game in the ninth inning.
Being the superfan that he is, he likely would have gone to today’s event, but work stuff got in the way (and by “work stuff” I mean being the head of the Catholic Church). But he did get to make his presence felt in a unique way.
During the ceremony, Chicago honored Paul Konerko, the captain and first baseman of that title-winning team. Konerko wore the number 14, and given Leo’s new title you can probably spot the noticeable connection between the two.
The pope sent Konerko a custom No. 14 jersey with his title on the back.
Konerko was stoked to receive the unique and thoughtful gift.
“Especially when all that went down, I got a lot of text messages and a lot of back and forth with people,” Konerko said. “It’s obviously really cool, the fact he was here when we played in the World Series.”
The former MLB star said that he will also send the Pope a signed jersey of his own, even if it’s a little less sacred than the one he got.
“I’m not sure he’s as excited for mine to get there as the other way around,” Konerko said. “But I’ll return the favor, for sure.”