Team honors former pitcher, retires No. 56
Fans, 38,000-plus strong, chanted his name in unison.
“Buehrle! Buehrle! Buehrle!”
Team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf cracked wise.
“In case you weren’t aware, we don’t draw 40,000 people every day,” he said.
Mark Buehrle had a ball Saturday, when the White Sox celebrated Mark Buehrle Day by retiring his No. 56 during a pregame ceremony at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The left-hander also received a ball — the one he flipped between his legs on Opening Day 2010 against the Indians to retire Lou Marson in perhaps the four-time Gold Glover’s most memorable defensive play.
A fan named Tommy Maloney presented Buehrle with the ball as folks such as Frank Thomas, Ken Williams and Buehrle’s friends and family looked on from the infield. Maloney was 10 when then-Sox manager Ozzie Guillen flipped it to him later that game.
Maloney’s father emailed the Sox during that game, and the team arranged for Buehrle to sign the ball.
Maloney’s father reached out to the Sox again before Mark Buehrle Day. He said he and his son would be sitting in the same seats as they did in 2010. Maloney, now 17, also agreed to give the ball back to Buehrle.
“For him to give that up, that was pretty awesome,” said Buehrle, the 11th Sox player to have his number retired by the team. “I ended up signing him a ball, and I don’t know if we have something else in mind.”
The ball was but one highlight of the afternoon of adoration on the South Side for Buehrle, a 38th-round draft pick who played 12 of his 16 seasons wearing a White Sox uniform.
The man who owns two career no-hitters, including a perfect game, who was a five-time All-Star and helped the Sox to the 2005 World Series title, also became the new owner of an ATV and a pickup truck, which the Sox presented to him.
After a speech that lasted just over four minutes, during which Buehrle thanked family, friends, teammates and coaches, he watched and listened to his 9-year-old son, Braden, sing the national anthem before catching a ceremonial first pitch from his 8-year-old daughter, Brooklyn.
The Sox had some fun with that, posting a graphic on the video board in center field that read: “Brooklyn Buehrle — 85 mph. Mark Buehrle — 77 mph in his prime.”
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