On Tuesday, August 11, the Chicago White Sox hosted a “Pope Hat Night”, giving away over 40,000 replica papal miter hats emblazoned with the team logo. This was in honor of their most famous fan, Chicago-born Pope Leo. 

Scenes of the night quickly went viral with media outlets including EWTN News posting about the “peace be with you” that happened at the stadium, along with all the fans wearing papal miter hats while enjoying the game. 

The Senior Director of Marketing for the White Sox, Mike Downey, told EWTN News “There's never been an American pope in the history of the world. Right. And how cool is it that we now have one. And he is a huge baseball fan, seemingly.”

Chicago priest Fr. Tom Hurley worked with the White Sox marketing team to bring the idea to life and led the crowd in the sign of peace that went viral. He says looking back, “It was probably one of the most memorable nights I've had in my 33 years of being a priest.”

Now, the tribute has reached the Holy Father himself.

The White Sox presented Pope Leo with one of the viral “Pope Hat Night” miters, bringing the Chicago celebration all the way to the Vatican, and giving the team’s papal fan a fitting piece of hometown baseball history.

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