White Sox World Series champion A.J. Pierzynski calls in to debrief his visit with Pope Leo XIV
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How did A.J. Pierzynski’s Vatican visit and meeting with Pope Leo XIV make headlines?
AJ and the Pope, the duo that everyone wanted. The Pope is a huge White Sox fan, so it's awesome. Very cool to see AJ meet him in person. He posted, seven-year-old me at my first communion would have never thought I would get to meet the Holy Father, Pope Leo. I was honored to give him the last out ball from game one of the 2005 World Series, the game he attended. I remember, I was there. I was there, Kratz, when... And there's a great picture of... The Pope with the Pruszynski jersey and AJ's fam. Really good stuff out there.
That is courtesy of the Foul Territory podcast. And that's right. AJ Pruszynski. Unless it's the White Sox or the Rangers or a team he played for, your most hated player or one of them in Major League Baseball, the villain himself, got to meet Pope Leo the past week at the Vatican. And then he just hung out in Italy. You could say, picking up from where we left off of our Olive Garden discussion, he took a tour of Italy.
I see what you did there.
He actually did, though. Like, if you saw AJ on Instagram, he posts a lot on his stories and stuff, and you can see, like, south of Italy. I saw at some point he got to Italy, and then I saw a picture of him at the Vatican, and he was wearing a suit, and I'm like... he's gonna meet the pope and he wouldn't tell me i messaged him on instagram like are you gonna meet the pope and he's like wait for the pictures i'm like you're meeting the pope so where are we on who all has now met the pope or been able to like of the locals number one chuck swirsky yes number two did brady johnson meet him yeah because he presented him with a cubs hat yes yes Okay, number three, we know that random fans have talked to the Pope and then asked him about the Cubs and he said they lost.
Yeah. Did Canerco?
Canerco, yes. Canerco about the Pope. No, wait.
Or did they just give him his jersey?
I think they gave him his jersey.
I think they just gave him his jersey. Maybe it was Chuck. Was it Chuck that gave him?
No, Chuck gave him a Bulls jersey.
Of course, of course.
And then Caleb Williams' jersey is now... Signed autographed jersey is with the Pope. I didn't recognize the guy in the suit who gave it to me.
Okay, I was going to say not presented by Caleb.
So this is still pretty... Didn't Alexei meet him too?
Or no?
Alexei Ramirez?
No, no, no. Alexei!
Alexei Lalas?
No, the... Oh, Alexei Lalas. The political... Alexei Janoulias.
Oh, Alexei Janoulias. I love Alexei Janoulias.
Did he? He did.
Maybe.
Okay.
Pretty random how it works.
We're still trying to figure out if he's going to get tumblers like the Jesse White tumblers. Remember when he first got elected to Secretary of State, we thought he might get the Alexi Janoulius tumblers.
There we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Didn't carry on the tradition of Jesse White.
So we are waiting to connect with AJ. We know he's got the Foul Territory podcast, but Ray also wore his Da Pope shirt. Da Pope! Specifically to welcome in AJ. So that was also really, really cool to see.
Thanks to Joe Obvious for sending it.
Oh, thanks to Joe from Obvious Shirts for being able to do so. Ray, where are we? Are we still waiting for AJ?
I will say the Pope shirts are all over. Being at the game last night, the White Sox game last night, every one of the stands, when you pop off the red line, you walk into the stadium, lots and lots of Pope Leo, as there should be on the south side.
773 texted in with Chris Tannehill, Tanne did not get to meet the Pope.
He did go to the Vatican. I want a t-shirt, I think, with the Pope and with Monet on it together. Like a caricature style.
That would fit my... Do we really want to cartoon the Pope, though? Or has he already been cartooned?
What details did hosts share about how A.J. announced his trip and Vatican photos on Instagram?
Come on, now.
Well, people are dressing like the Pope at games.
We cartooned him when the news broke. The day of. We did two hours of breaking news coverage of the Pope is from Chicago!
I just talked to AJ Pierzynski. He's going to log on in a second here. Log on. On video.
You meet the Pope, and then the next thing you know, you can just join a show whenever.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How did A.J. Pierzynski’s Vatican visit and meeting with Pope Leo XIV make headlines?
0:00–3:44
2
What details did hosts share about how A.J. announced his trip and Vatican photos on Instagram?
3:44–4:46
3
Which Chicago figures and athletes have previously met the Pope and given him jerseys?
4:46–11:48
4
How did the hosts set up A.J. Pierzynski’s live call and react to his arrival?
11:48–14:48
5
What did A.J. describe as his personal, emotional experience meeting Pope Leo XIV?
14:48–17:13
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Rahimi & Grote Show
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