Monday, September 01

CHICAGO -- The on-field results for the 2025 season have not been exactly what the White Sox desired within this latest rebuild incarnation, although progress has been made. But their Rate Field promotions and giveaways have been World Series-caliber successes.

There’s an underlying theme to this overall ’25 process based on the 125-year-anniversary of the franchise and the 20-year celebration of its World Series championship.

“Yeah, the fan response has been awesome,” White Sox senior director of marketing and promotions Mike Downey told me during a recent interview. “We knew when we were planning this last year and coming up with all these ideas that this was going to be a really fun and creative promotional schedule. The White Sox are fortunate to have some really cool history.

“I wish we had more World Series wins, but what can you do? Doing a lot of research in the offseason and just looking back and seeing how baseball has been shaped over the last 125 years and how much of that has been by people within the White Sox organization, that’s what we were trying to convey with this promotional schedule.”

During the weekend of July 11-13, the White Sox celebrated the ’05 champions with the Mark Buehrle statue dedication and ensuing ceremony, along with an on-field reunion that following Saturday. Fans received an ’05-themed Hawaiian shirt on Friday, a Buehrle replica statue on Saturday and a Sunday bobblehead of Buehrle, José Contreras, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia -- representing the four straight complete games they threw in the ’05 ALCS.

Lines started early and wrapped around the stadium for that particular series finale. Some of the other giveaways include bobbleheads for Ray Durham, Ozzie Guillen, Bill Veeck and Ken Griffey Jr., the Hall of Famer who had a short stint with the White Sox as part of their exciting 2008 American League Central title run.

How can anyone go wrong with the Aaron Rowand Christmas Vacation bobblehead for Christmas in July on July 28, or the Robin Ventura puffy shirt themed bobblehead on Seinfeld Night on July 29? Those were among the many special ticket offers through the White Sox.

Friday night’s contest against the Yankees featured a Puerto Rican Heritage jersey giveaway for the first 10,000 fans, but there also was a Puerto Rican T-shirt fans could purchase via special ticket offer. There was Reggaeton Night on May 23, a Juneteenth Day Party on June 19, the postgame Flo Rida concert on June 27 and the always-popular Elvis Night on August 22.

Let’s be honest: There are too many White Sox giveaways and theme nights to do justice to all of them. But the best still might be yet to come with a 1959 Comiskey Park replica AM/FM radio being given away on the final home game of Sept. 21.

“For me personally, the radio is the coolest item of the year,” Downey said. “Just the most unique and there’s so much that has gone into this one.

“Issues with production [meant] that we had to move it back. But when fans get that final product and they turn it on and they can sit in their garage and listen to this radio, that’s going to be very cool.”

Planning for the 2026 White Sox schedule already has begun. Downey creates a survey sent out to the entire front office, with their anonymous responses ranking the promotional efforts. He also asks for ideas.

Questions center on what’s missing, what can be improved upon and things of that nature. They try to have everything squared away by December or January.

“Once we get an idea solidified, I work with our design team and then our purchasing team to get this into production,” Downey said. “If it’s a shirt, for example, I’ll go to our design team and say, ‘I need a T-shirt, it’s gotta be 1959-themed, create something cool for me, give me three options.’ We’ll go back and forth until we get what our preferred design is.

“We go to our purchasing team. They handle all the logistics and select vendors. We don’t only use one vendor for every single thing. We bid it out, which is great for us because we get competitive bids.”

Best quality is preferred over lowest price, as has been shown by the ’25 excellence. A plan for the 125-year anniversary theme and logo caused a little front office consternation when the ’24 White Sox were approaching 125 losses.

They fell short of that ignominious number.

“If we had hit 125 losses, there’s no way we could have went out with the same marketing campaign,” Downey said. “We get it. Last year stunk. But you have a lot to be proud of being a White Sox fan. That’s what we are trying to convey through our promotional schedule.”

• It’s great to see José Abreu returning to Rate Field on Sept. 19 and 20. I’m guessing there will be more involved in recognizing one of the top players in franchise history than his scheduled throwing out a first pitch on Hispanic Heritage Night that Friday.

• I’m in my 50s -- yes, that’s still accurate. I’ve seen the University of Michigan football team win two National Championships and yet, I’m still nervous about the season opener tonight. Please remember, it’s been 1,400 days since the Wolverines have lost a football game to Michigan State and almost 2,100 since they last fell to Ohio State.

“We are rallying around each other, and we know stuff like this happens all the time. We just have to worry about tonight, the next night, and just going in there and competing. We are all willing to contribute to win.” – shortstop Colson Montgomery, on returning from injury and the White Sox playing through recent injuries to Luis Robert Jr. and Miguel Vargas

“I feel like a little kid. I left Chicago after the 2004 season as a player and then I came back here, I think it was in ‘14 when I was the first-base coach with the Padres. Today is the first time [since] that I put my feet on this field. A lot of good memories, friends, the fans. I think it was the best five years of my career here in Chicago.” – Jose Valentin, who threw out a first pitch prior to Friday’s contest

To subscribe to White Sox Beat, visit this page and mark "White Sox Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the White Sox or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.