Here at Sox On 35th, we boast a talented and passionate group of contributors who provide coverage all year long. In this edition of our “Meet the Team” article series, we get to know Brendan Gallian.
About Me
Hi, I’m Brendan Gallian, and I’m a contributor for Sox On 35th. I grew up in Oak Lawn, right in the heart of Sox country, and was raised a Sox fan by my parents, both Sox fans themselves. Despite this, I was never fully invested in Sox fandom until the infamous 2016 season.
So, the White Sox of my formative years were a mix of rebuilding and just plain awful teams. They were “mired in mediocrity,” for lack of a better term. My scant memories of the great collapse of 2012 aside, I didn’t experience a winning team until I was a sophomore at Oak Lawn Community High School in 2020. I loved the 2021 team, then had that brief joy ripped away the next year.
In the fall of 2023, I began to pursue a journalism degree at the University of Illinois. As the Sox continued their tumble, I started to rise through the ranks of the school paper, the Daily Illini. I covered cross country and track & field my freshman year, then hockey and baseball my sophomore year. In the spring of 2025, I earned the role of Sports Editor and covered the football team through its bowl-winning 2025 season.
Through it all, I am a rabid collector of Sox memorabilia, a proud Eagle Scout, and a history buff. I volunteer at both the Champaign County History Museum and Oak Lawn Library Local History Department, where I do whatever is needed to help keep local history alive.
I’m thrilled to be here at Sox On 35th, and I can’t wait to continue covering the team.
Fast Facts
- Page Role: Minor League Contributor
- Hometown: Oak Lawn, IL
- Current Town: Urbana, IL
- Education/Major: Journalism – University of Illinois
Baseball Fandom
- Favorite White Sox Player: How can I pick just one? Honestly, it’s probably Dylan Covey. I felt bad for him after his 0-7 rookie season, and figured that I’d start rooting for him. I was a weird kid. I also have an affinity for guys like Avisail Garcia, Lucas Giolito, Nicky Delmonico, Daniel Palka, Ron Kittle, Jim Landis, Nellie Fox, Dick Allen, and Minnie Miñoso, to name a few.
- Favorite non-White Sox Player: Josh Hader was one of my favorite players growing up, as were Charlie Blackmon, Zack Greinke, and Curtis Granderson. I also consider myself a fan of “Spaceman” Bill Lee.
- Favorite Thing About Being a White Sox Fan: Cheap Tickets! Seriously, though, both of my parents are Sox fans, so it’s nice that we can all root for the same team as a family. I also enjoy the community aspect of fandom, especially since I live in the South Suburbs.
- Least Favorite Baseball Team: The Guardians, thanks mostly to the crucial late-season sweeps that the Sox suffered at their hands in 2020 and 2022.
- Favorite White Sox Uniform: The red-and-blue road uniforms worn from 1971-1975. It’s an odd color combination for the Sox, but I really like it.
- “Mount Rushmore” of White Sox Players: Frank Thomas, Minnie Miñoso, Ed Walsh, Dick Allen
- Favorite In-Person White Sox Memory: I was at Jim Thome’s 500th home run game, but being 2 years old at the time, I have no memories of that fateful day. I do remember April 26, 2019. It was the team’s first time back home after the Tim Anderson bat flip game against the Royals, and I wanted to go out there and cheer him on.
My father thought it was a waste to go and sit in the cold for three hours to watch a meaningless game, but he ended up mistaken on a few counts. One, it ended up being a bonkers game, and two, we weren’t out there for three hours — we were out there for more than four.
The Sox trailed the Tigers 8-1 and 9-2 at points before coming back to win 12-11 on Anderson’s walk-off home run. Jose Abreu also went deep twice … well, technically once. In the bottom of the seventh, Abreu homered to put the Sox ahead 12-10, but upon review, he passed Anderson on the basepaths. The home run was instead ruled a single, and the score was now 11-10. Kelvin Herrera allowed a game-tying homer in the eighth to set up Anderson’s heroics. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a Sox game.
- Least Favorite In-Person White Sox Memory: I’ve been lucky enough to avoid any true disasters. The game on October 2, 2016, wasn’t very fun, though. It was the final game of the tumultuous 2016 season. Chris Sale got shelled by the 103-loss Twins, Byron Buxton hit an inside-the-park home run on the very first pitch, and it ended up being Sale’s last game with the Sox (and, for a time, Adam Eaton’s as well).
- Favorite Baseball Movie: Field of Dreams. I love the book Shoeless Joe, on which the movie is based, and while there are some key differences between the book and movie, the movie still portrays the magical, mystical powers of baseball that W.P. Kinsella wrote about.
- Favorite Baseball Stat: OPS+. It’s simple enough that I can understand it and has a clear, understandable formula (100 x (OBP/lgOBP + SLG/lgSLG – 1)), but also allows for basic comparisons between players from vastly different eras and environments.
- Favorite Ballpark Food: I love a good helmet sundae. The ice cream is usually nothing special, but the novelty helmet really makes it.
- Favorite Ballpark: PNC Park lives up to the hype. It’s a beautiful stadium with a great location. I also enjoyed Comerica Park, Busch Stadium, and Atrium Health Park, home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (though there might be some bias in that last one).
- Ballpark You Want to Visit: I’ve been to 17, and I never thought I’d be able to make it to that many. One that I haven’t been to yet is Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It’s close enough that I could make it out there during a weekend, and I’ve heard great things about it.
- All-time Favorite Broadcaster: I really enjoyed Hawk Harrelson, but I love Jason Benetti. He was the voice of the Sox as I was growing up, and I loved his puns and the fact that he made some awful baseball watchable. I wish he were still calling games on the South Side.
Personal Questions:
- Favorite Fast Food: A bit of an odd pick: Blaze Pizza. I like their crust.
- Favorite TV Show: Good Eats. I can’t cook all that well, but I love this show. Alton Brown delivers my kind of humor throughout. I had the pleasure of meeting him this past spring.
- Favorite Hobbies: I collect White Sox memorabilia and baseball cards, enjoy a good book, and love getting outside, whether it’s playing baseball or hockey with my friends, taking a hike, or even the occasional camping trip.
- Dream Vacation: Alaska, specifically Denali and Gates of the Arctic National Parks. I’ve never been north of Minneapolis, so I can only imagine Alaska as a completely different world from everything I know. I’ve seen pictures of Gates of the Arctic, and I just think it’s beautiful. I’d love to make it up there one day.
- Favorite Band/Artist: I never listened to music growing up, then when I finally did, towards the end of high school, I got really into the Beatles. I don’t know how that happened; none of my friends or family like the Beatles, but now I do.
- Who has inspired you the most in your life: With all due respect to my family, friends, teachers, coaches, and, most of all, my mother, I believe that my father has played the greatest role in shaping me. Look no further than these photos. There’s him, dressed as speedster John Cangelosi in the mid-1980s, and me, in the same style of uniform, dressed as Dylan Covey some 35 years later (alongside Andrew Vaughn).
With him always having the Sox game on TV and his memorabilia collection literally spilling into every corner of the house — much to my mother’s chagrin — it’s inevitable that I turned out the way I did.
- Favorite Professional Team Aside from Baseball: The Blackhawks. I’m not nearly as big a hockey fan as I am of baseball, but the Hawks are still appointment viewing for me.
- Favorite Personal Sports Moment: I was, as my coach once said, “the best scorekeeper” my high school baseball team ever had. That is to say, I rarely got into games. Sure, I got my share of hits, and I had a few doubles. But my absolute favorite moment didn’t involve any of those.
In the last regular season game of my junior season, I found myself at the plate in every kid’s dream scenario: bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the final inning, trailing three. Yeah, I was nervous; who wouldn’t be? A grand slam was out of the question. I’ve never hit a home run at any level.
My mind was racing a mile a minute as the first pitch whizzed past. Ball one. The hard-throwing pitcher’s second offering nearly hit me in the head, prompting a visit from their pitching coach. Our coach called me over. He told me to get right up on the plate in hopes of drawing a hit by pitch.
I stepped back into the box, my feet right on the inside line. The pitcher went into his motion, fired, and drilled me in the hand. We later tied the game, then lost in extras.
- If you could have dinner with four people, dead or alive, who would it be: Grantland Rice, Hunter S. Thompson, Jon Bois, and Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys, not the former Giants pitcher). They’re four of my biggest creative muses, and I’d just love to pick their brains.
- If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to: 1955, and no, not as a Back to the Future reference. I just think it would be cool to see my hometown 70 years ago, plus I’d be able to attend the short-lived Oak Lawn Round Up Days festival. It doesn’t hurt that the Sox were pretty good that year, too.
Follow Me
- Twitter: @BrendanGallian
- Instagram: @brendangallian
