We’ve already had a tribute to and look back on Paul Konerko‘s tremendous 18-year career here on Call to the Pen but on Saturday Paul Konerko got to finally have his own day at U.S. Cellular Field on the Southside of Chicago. It was well deserved and a long time coming.
We’ve known all season that this would be the Chicago White Sox Captain’s last but he hasn’t had all the fanfare that has been in the form of the game’s farewell to Derek Jeter, however, Konerko is very much like Jeter in so many ways just without the New York spotlight and recognition.
Konerko is the “everyman,” that guy that anyone can relate to, he has shunned the spotlight and for the most part quietly, and other times (like his World Series grand slam in 2005) not so quietly, did his job and did it well. A humble man, Konerko is the the essence of the people of the the Southside and they know that.
Mandatory Credit: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images
The White Sox were not the only team to honor Konerko this season. The New York Yankees and Derek Jeter, in one of my personal favorite moments of the season, presented Konerko with a video tribute and a base signed by the team. Seeing the two Captains together with Jeter honoring Konerko was a truly beautiful sight, one I won’t soon forget. The Chicago’s NorthSiders, the Cubs, also gave Konerko the number one and four for his uniform number 14, from the Wrigley Field score board like Jeter recieved the number two.
Of the tribute from the Yankees, the very first team whose game Konerko first attended at the age of six, he told the Chicago Tribune back in August,
"“As far as the whole retirement thing, it’s the highlight of the year for me so far. (The Yankees were) all I ever knew as a kid. The fact that I’m getting a gift for something I did on the field in all the time between then and now is mind-boggling. You don’t think about things like that. As classy move by them. You don’t expect it, and to have Derek out there as the guy giving it to me, that’s pretty cool, even for someone who tried not to pay attention to that stuff.”"
However, as it should be the true send-off for the White Sox Captain was set before the Sox fans who came to send their Captain off in grand fashion, very grand. In fact it was much more spectacular than many thought it would be. Well it was grander than Konerko thought it would be, that is for sure. The White Sox went all out and why shouldn’t they?
More than once Konerko, a family man whose wife Jennifer and three children were in attendance Saturday, had the opportunity to leave the White Sox for more money or the chance to be closer to his family who reside in Arizona but if Konerko truly embodies one quality that quality would be loyalty.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
The White Sox honored that loyalty with a video tribute that included messages from Derek Jeter to Metallica’s James Hetfield to former teammate Mark Buehrle who laughed and said, “I’m jealous.” He received a bat bench from his current teammates and artwork from his former ones.
Konerko was not far behind Jeter in gifts when he was presented with a 1963 Fender Stratocaster guitar alongside an invitation for him to play the National Anthem before a game at the Cell.
Even with all that he had already been given and all the fanfare and chants of “Pau-lie, Pau-lie, Pau-lie” from the crowd the final two gifts bestowed upon Konerko were like his career, tremendous. They were thoughtful, generous, all around amazing actually and one, came from a fan.
It was certainly a prized possession of mine, but it wasn’t hard to do,” said Chris Claeys. “It was the right thing to do. I just thought Paulie should have it.”
Three weeks ago, the White Sox contact the fan who caught Konerko’s grand slam ball from Game 2 of the 2005 World Series and asked what it would take to get that ball back to give to Konerko. The fan, Chris Claeys, who could have held onto the ball or sold it for quite a large sum of money returned the ball — for free.
That particularly special moment of Konerko’s career was commemorated in another was by the White Sox. A statue of Konerko raising his fist after hitting that grand slam was unveiled in left field, standing next to the statue of Hall of Famer and long time member of the White Sox, Frank Thomas.
Shrouded in balloons that were “set free,” in the words of White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, the statue was seen for the first time by Konerko who shook his head in disbelief. You can watch the scene unfold in the video below.
Finally, it was time for the White Sox Captain to speak. He began by saying,
"“This is way more you ever dreamed that could happen when you pick up a bat and you’re six years old and when you find yourself here 32 years later with all this going on. It’s not something that you think is going to happen.”"
He thanked everyone from his family to the organization to his teammates and finally he thanked the fans,
"“When you look at that statue, when you look at that number that’s going right over there (number 14 will be retired next season), just realize when you’re looking at it, when I’m not here, that your fingerprints are all over it,” Konerko said, “I wouldn’t be here without you guys.”"
Jennifer Konerko echoed her husband’s sentiment after the White Sox went on to beat the Kansas City Royals by a score of 5-4,
"“He knows he’s indebted to those fans, the people who stuck with him through thick and thin.”"
She then added a little more that so encompassed the Paul Konerko that the fans know and adore, so much so that you can almost see him saying the words.
“He says it’s reinforced to him that people are good.”- Jennifer Konerko
Now it’s been further reinforced to the fans, one of which I am, that Paul Konerko is the man we’ve loved and respected over the years. Paul Konerko is a true gentleman, a humble man who loved the game of baseball and adored his fans much in the way that they adored him.
I feel priviledged to be one of those fans, one who was lucky enough to see Konerko play multiple times over the years at both U.S. Cellular Field and O.Co Coliseum in Oakland, those are moments I will always treasure.
Although the ceremony seemed to overwhelm Konerko and all that were in attendence it’s a moment we know Konerko will always treasure. It’s almost as though in one night Konerko seemed to have gotten all the fanfare that Jeter has recieved over the course of the season, maybe more and it was most certainly earned and deserved.
Congratulations to another Captain on a brilliant career!