Back in 2005, a Chicago White Sox fan by the name of Robert Francis Prevost attended Game 1 of the World Series. As White Sox closer Bobby Jenks was on the mound to close out the contest, the broadcast took a shot of the crowd, which featured Prevost cheering on his favorite team.
What the world didn’t know at the time was that Prevost would be elected as the pope 20 years later.
That’s right, Prevost now goes by the name Pope Leo XIV, and he’s been very open about his sports fandom since taking up his new job.
Well, Pope Leo’s fandom got taken to another level recently, as former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski gave the pope the baseball from the final out of Game 1 of the 2005 World Series … the same one the pope attended in person.
Jenks successfully closed out Game 1 of the World Series, striking out Adam Everett to give the White Sox a 5-3 win. Pierzynski, the team’s starting catcher in 2005, caught the final out, which was likely why he still had the ball in his possession before giving it to Pope Leo.
The White Sox went on to win the next three games in the 2005 World Series, sweeping the Houston Astros to claim the South Side’s first World Series title in 88 years.
It was a miraculous run for the White Sox, who lost just one game during the entire postseason en route to winning the World Series. Perhaps Prevost’s attendance at Game 1 had something to do with that. Divine intervention would certainly explain the team’s sudden reversal of fortune in 2005, even if no one knew the future pope was cheering the team on at the time.
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