In Chicago, a metropolis the place baseball allegiance has no center floor, one of many first questions folks requested was whether or not the Chicago-born pope cheered for the White Sox or the Cubs.
The traces dividing Cubs and Sox followers should not at all times clear. Typically talking, North Siders root for the Cubs, since Wrigley Discipline is on their aspect of the town. South Siders are normally loyal to the Sox, who play at Price Discipline in Bridgeport, on the South Facet. Suburbanites are likely to observe the identical geographical divisions, however are typically thought of a grey space.
Followers from either side appeared to initially declare the brand new pope as their very own. A spokeswoman for the Cubs first stated that she couldn’t affirm whether or not he was a fan, and issued a press release from Tom Ricketts, the chief chairman of the Cubs, assuring the brand new pope that he could be welcomed at Wrigley Discipline.
“Not solely would we welcome Pope Leo XIV to Wrigley Discipline, he may sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Sport’ or, since three of his predecessors visited Yankee Stadium, together with Pope Paul VI who delivered the 1965 ‘Sermon on the Mound,’ we might invite the pontiff to do the identical on the Pleasant Confines,” Mr. Ricketts stated.
By afternoon, the marquee at Wrigley Discipline declared that the brand new pope was a Cubs fan.
However in suburban Chicago, the pope’s brother John Prevost set the document straight to WGN, a tv station that for many years broadcast Cubs video games and helped create a fan base far past Chicago.
“He was by no means, ever a Cubs fan,” Mr. Prevost stated. “So I don’t know the place that got here from. He was at all times a Sox fan.”
