Heavenly Hats and Not Enough Homers

August 11, 2026

Peace (And Defeat) Be With You

The Chicago White Sox gave out 40,000 mitres, the fancy hat that the Pope wears, to fans at Tuesday night’s game in honor of Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago-area native, White Sox fan, and devout headgear wearer.

What’s funnier than seeing 40,000 people wearing pointy Pope hats with a White Sox logo at a baseball game?  Nothin’.

It was an unabashedly garish, ostentatious display of fandom and came just hours after vicious storms ripped across the Chicago area knocking down trees and power lines and flooding streets. But the skies softened and the weather cleared long before first pitch at Rate Field, as if a Heavenly presence said, “Thou Shalt Play Ball.”

And the Sox did, and played well for a few innings there, relying on a sermon of home runs and solid pitching to jump out to a 4-0 lead on the Cincinnati Reds.

It was meant to be.

But alas, the White Sox bullpen was guided not by the hand of God but rather the farts of Beelzebub and, after the fourth inning, so were the Sox bats and the final score of this one, in ten innings, was Reds (the color of Satan) 5, White Sox (the color of Sox) 4.

Well, Goddamn.

This game will be remembered for a long time for the hats, the hats, the music, the hats, the missed opportunities, the questionable calls to the bullpen, (spoiling another gallant effort from starting pitcher Sean Burke) and, yes, those lovely hats.

And for a touching moment.

Before the sixth inning, comedian and White Sox fan Pat McGann addressed the faithful along with a Catholic Priest who asked all 40,000 Pope hat wearers to, just like they do at Catholic mass, show each other a sign of peace.

So we beat the crap out of a few Reds fans.

Just joking.

We, it appeared to be just about all of us, turned and shook hands and smiled at our neighbors and laughed and said, “Peace be with you.”

Forgive me here when I say it was one of the most inspiring plays you’ll ever see at a ballpark. Sports should be fun. And faith should be joyous.

Yeah, the Sox lost. No, the Pope probably doesn’t even care, and yes, many blessed capitalists were actually buying the hats off people in the ballpark, selling them outside the ballpark, and posting them on eBay.

That’s America. That’s its own sign of peace.

But it doesn’t take away from a gesture of goodwill. Even on a losing night.