Editor’s Note: This article is based on an interview we conducted with Christine O’Reilly, Executive Director of White Sox Charities, on June 13 at Rate Field. We were invited to the ballpark to record live interviews and reveal our work with White Sox Charities during this year’s Sox Serve Week.
White Sox fans have been called a lot of things over the years.
Passionate. Loyal. Opinionated. Occasionally irrational, depending on the bullpen usage or the state of the lineup on a given night.
But one thing that has never really been up for debate is that White Sox fans care. Yes, about the team, but also about the community that surrounds it. That’s part of what makes this year’s Sox Serve Week feel a little different.
For its yearly t-shirt competition, White Sox Charities is turning to three fan communities – Sox On 35th, From The 108, and Locked On White Sox – to go head-to-head-to-head. This will give fans a chance to support a good cause, back their favorite White Sox blog, and help direct money to a charity of that blog’s choice.
Maybe a little pressure for all of us here at Sox On 35th… but the good kind.
The competition will take place on June 23 during the game against the Cleveland Guardians. Each of the three fan groups will have its own limited-edition t-shirt available for $25, with the group that sells the most shirts earning the chance to select a charity that will receive $5,000 from White Sox Charities.
A Mission Bigger Than Baseball
For Christine O’Reilly, the Executive Director of White Sox Charities, the idea fits perfectly into what the organization tries to do every year.
“You know, our mission, we try to boil it down to a statement, and that’s making Chicago a better place to live, work and play,” O’Reilly told us at the ballpark on Saturday, when Sox Charities invited us into the CHSN studio to record some live podcast episodes. “A professional sports organization takes a lot from its community. It’s a lot to support professional sports in a community, and we really feel like there’s a responsibility to give back.”
That line probably matters more than anything else.
Yes, this is a t-shirt competition. And of course, we would like Sox On 35th to win, and we will almost certainly be annoying about it on social media. But the bigger picture is what White Sox Charities continues to do throughout Chicago and the South Side.
“If we can make an impact in people’s homes and in their hearts through our grant giving and through our philanthropy, we’re proud to do that,” O’Reilly said.
And that impact is not small.
O’Reilly said 96 cents of every dollar donated to White Sox Charities goes back into the community, a number she takes seriously because of what it means to the fans and donors who support the organization.
“I think the most serious part of my job is being a steward to those donors,” O’Reilly said. “It’s a heavy responsibility when people are contributing to White Sox Charities to make sure that we’re using those dollars to support things that make other people feel good.”
That work shows up in a lot of different ways.
There are the big events, like Beyond the Diamond, where the team comes together away from the ballpark. There are 50/50 raffles, scoreboard marriage proposals, and the moments fans remember for the rest of their lives.
There are also the programs that don’t always get the same attention but carry a massive impact. One of the biggest is the Amateur City Elite program, better known as ACE. Now in its 19th season, the White Sox created the ACE program in 2007 to reverse the declining interest and participation in baseball among African American youth, while offering resources and mentorship to pull kids away from the dangers of some of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods.
“You always hope that a kid makes it to the big leagues who came through our ACE program,” O’Reilly said. “But as important is being at those college graduations with these kids, with their families. We’ve got teachers and firefighters and coaches, and they all came through the ACE program.”
White Sox Charities supports ACE with nearly $600,000 per year, according to O’Reilly, and that investment is helping change the trajectory of kids’ lives across Chicago.
That is the type of work Sox Serve Week is designed to highlight.
What Sox Serve Week Is All About
This year’s Sox Serve Week runs from June 22 through June 28, with outreach events and fundraising opportunities taking place throughout the homestand against Cleveland and Kansas City. O’Reilly described it as a chance for the organization to showcase its commitment to the community every single day.
“Every single day we have an outreach activity where we’re out in the community or doing something here at the ballpark for a special group,” O’Reilly said. That includes a visit to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab with players’ wives, a Miracle League of Joliet event on the field at Rate Field, a Volunteer Corps event, and a recognition ceremony for White Sox Charities grantees.
The Miracle League event, in particular, is one O’Reilly lit up talking about.
“The kids come out, we put them in full uniforms, they get to pick their walk-up music, we have their pictures on the scoreboard,” she said. “It’s all kids with special needs, and it is just one of the most beautiful, amazing days.”
So yes, the t-shirt competition is fun.
But it is also part of a much bigger week.
Now, About Those T-Shirts
We got a chance to see our t-shirts right before the interview, and they really do look great. Obviously, we are biased toward the Sox On 35th shirt, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. But the full concept works because each design feels tied to the fan community it represents.
“It looks great. I love it,” was Christine’s first reaction when we asked her thoughts on our shirt.
We will be putting that quote on the bulletin board.
O’Reilly specifically pointed to the pinstripes and street signs as parts of the Sox On 35th design that stood out.
“I always love pinstripes,” she said. “That’s my favorite part of it. And I love the street signs because I think that’s such an iconic Chicago thing. I think it’s just super cool.”
Again, no bias from us, but she gets it.
Why Fan Communities Made Sense
What makes this competition especially cool is that White Sox Charities could have gone in a lot of different directions. They’ve done shirts before. They’ve also done bucket hat and plenty of other apparel-driven fundraisers during Sox Serve Week. But this year, they wanted something that tapped directly into the fan community.
“What I love and what I think is so representative of the Chicago White Sox is our fans are a community,” O’Reilly said. “Our Volunteer Corps is a community. Our ACE family is a community.”
That’s where Sox On 35th, From The 108, and Locked On White Sox come in. O’Reilly called these groups “below the grassroots level,” before correcting herself in the most accurate way possible.
“You’re at like the roots-roots level,” she said. “Really connecting with our fans and tapping into that passion and that pride and that love of the White Sox.”
That might be the best description of the White Sox internet community anyone has ever given. The fan blog and podcast space is not always polished, quiet, or rational. But it is real. It is where a lot of fans go to talk through the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of following this team.
And to White Sox Charities, that connection is valuable.
“You’re an amazing conduit to this community,” O’Reilly said. “We want to ride on your coattails and we want you guys to help us tell our story.”
That’s what makes this feel meaningful from our side, too.
Sox On 35th is, and always will be, a fan blog. At its core, it’s a group of people who care about the White Sox and decided to create something around that passion. To be included in a White Sox Charities initiative, see the shirts in person, and even film a TV promo at the ballpark is, admittedly, pretty surreal.
But it also says something about the relationship between the organization and the fans. O’Reilly summed it up well.
“We try to shout from the mountaintop about what we do, but you guys are our echo,” she said. “It’s all about building community and expanding our base.”
That community piece matters, especially for a fan base that has been through, well, a lot lately. O’Reilly has seen all of it, too.
“I’ve been with the White Sox a very long time, and I certainly have seen the bad and the ugly like you guys, and it pains us,” she said. “I think that’s one thing, we’re all cut from the same cloth. It hurts.”
That is probably something fans need to hear once in a while: the people inside the building feel it, too.
How Fans Can Help Beyond Charities Day
Of course, fans do not have to wait until June 23 to get involved with White Sox Charities. O’Reilly pointed to the Volunteer Corps as one of the best ways to serve alongside the organization throughout the year. The Volunteer Corps began in 2009, when the team put out a call asking fans to sign up and serve together in the community. The program has kept going ever since, with fans joining service opportunities throughout the year at schools, community centers, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and more.
“It’s an amazing way that fans can be a part of what we do,” O’Reilly said. “It’s really about that pride of being associated with the White Sox.”
That, ultimately, is the whole point.
Our Ask to All of You
This t-shirt competition is fun, and it’s going to be competitive (you know, in a light-hearted, fun way). Of course, we would very much like to win.
But whether you buy our shirt, the From The 108 shirt, or the Locked On White Sox shirt, the money supports White Sox Charities. It supports the work they do throughout Chicago with programs like ACE, community outreach through Sox Serve Week, grant recipients, youth baseball, and families across the city.
And if we win, we get to help direct $5,000 to a charity of our choice. That is worth rallying around.
So here is the ask:
Go to whitesox.com/charitiesday. Sign up for the interest list. Be ready when the shirts go on sale at 6 p.m. on June 23. Buy the Sox On 35th shirt. Call your sons. Call your daughters. Call your friends. Call your neighbors. Tell them to buy our shirt too.
Let’s win the competition.
But more importantly, let’s help White Sox Charities continue doing work that matters long after the final out.
We want to thank Christine for the time she took out to speak with us on Saturday. For the full interview with her and much more from the weekend, go to our YouTube channel below!
Don’t forget to click this link to get signed up to be notified when t-shirt sales begin on June 23. And, as always, we are incredibly thankful for your support – we could not do what we do without all of you.
Follow us @SoxOn35th for more throughout the season!
