Hello everyone,

Well, it is almost summer vacation. The long hot days have a soundtrack, and at my house that soundtrack is made up of two things: cicadas singing in the trees, and baseball playing on TV. I think baseball is the perfect summer sport that can just be  on in the background. It doesn’t matter if it is MLB, NPB, or high school teams at Koshien, nothing makes me happier than that rhythm of the game on the radio or on TV.

Do you know who else agrees with me? The Pope! That’s right, Pope Leo XIV is the first American born pope and he grew up in Chicago. Chicago has two teams, the Cubs (which are older and more famous) and the White Sox. Pope Leo is a White Sox fan, even though his mother loved the Cubs! Pope Leo was even in the Stadium for game 1 of the 2005 World Series where the White Sox played the Astros. Now, near that seat, there is a mural of him at the game.

The team has also celebrated having a famous fan. You can now get Pope shirts! I think they look really cool. After the Pope wore a White Sox hat in Rome, the team returned the favor by offering Pope hats to their fans.

 

There is one famous Japanese player on the White Sox now, Munetaka Murakami. The team is playing better than expected and Murakami is a big part of that. If they keep winning, maybe he will have the chance to meet Pope Leo in the future. It can’t hurt to have a little divine intervention on your side during a long season!

Have a great summer.