Playing Against the Chicago White Sox Front Office in the Nicky Lopez Charity Classic

By Paul M. Banks

As we enter into late July, the 2024 Chicago White Sox are still on pace to tie the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in a 162 game season. On the field, simply put, they are atrocious. However, away from the diamond, in the field of philanthropy, they are elite. Starting second baseman Nicky Lopez hosted his first annual "16 Charity Softball Classic on July 11 to raise money for Chicago White Sox Charities, The Andrew Weishar Foundation and Jwegstrong Foundation.

Nicky Lopez with the Omaha Storm Chasers, 2023Photo byWikimedia commons

It was a beautiful evening to play softball on Chicago's Southside with a great group of people who were all raising money for great causes.

The event was staged at Mount Greenwood Park, which contains ballfields that are under the care of White Sox charities. Upon entering the park, the signage, complete with the famous Sox Park scoreboard pinwheels, alerts you to this fact.

A friend of mine, who works for Ankin Law (a firm that Lopez has an endorsement deal with) recruited me to join his team the "Ankin All-Stars."

In the Nicky Lopez charity tournament, first place gets you a sky box at a Sox game and the opportunity to take batting practice on the field before the game. I am assuming that Sox scouts will be on hand for that, because well, they have a winning percentage of 26% right now. The runner-up prizes are golden box tickets to a game, plus a free patio party beforehand.

So the stakes were high, but unfortunately, the Ankin All-Stars never practiced together beforehand...and it showed. Our first opponent was the White Sox front office. They weren't physically imposing by any means, but they hung a nine spot on us in the first inning.

Ok, so now that those coveted prizes are out of reach, we can just have fun, play loose and easy, right?

We got slaughter-ruled, losing 22-0. As the number two hitter and second baseman, one of the table setters if you will, I was the only member of the team to even reach beyond second base.

Interestingly enough, the White Sox front office side lost to the team that eventually won the tournament, 15-1. Every team, win or lose, is guaranteed two games and our second opponent was the current naming rights sponsor of Sox Park, Guaranteed Rate. Surely, we'll fare better against these loan officers than we did against a team of people who work for a Major League Baseball team, right?

Well, I finally scored our team's first run of the night and I did so by running through a stop sign at third and making a head first slide. I celebrated this like we had just won the Super Bowl, because, well, given how awful out first game went this just simply felt euphoric.

1983 American League Rookie of the Year Ron Kittle, a White Sox legend through and through, really seemed to enjoy my showmanship. He was watching the game from the "dugout" and told me as much in between puffs of his cigar after the game.

By the time the fifth inning came around, we actually held a 4-3 lead! OMG! This is not a drill, people! But alas, we fell 9-5 in the end and the Ankin All-Stars were eliminated.

However, all that did was give us more time to enjoy the free stuff, sweet treats and time at the Southside Irish pub down the street. And it was a VERY Irish pub too, as someone etched "IRA" on the door to the men's room. And I seriously doubt they were referring to the Inflation Reduction Act or Investment Retirement Accounts.

Then again...maybe they were. Perhaps it was somebody on the Guaranteed Rate team who scribbled that.

All in all, this was a night for giving, as the winner of the 50/50 raffle donated his $771 in winnings right back to White Sox charities. Plus I had an exclusive with Nicky Lopez, which I'll be posting in this space later this week.

Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times.