White Sox manager ready to make pitch for charities

DETROIT - The White Sox are off Monday, but manager Ozzie Guillen and several players and coaches will be at the River East Arts Center for a good cause.

A limited number of tickets remain for "Salsa and Stars with Ozzie Guillen & Friends," a fundraising event held by Chicago White Sox Charities and the Ozzie Guillen Foundation.

Salsa musicians Ruben Blades, Tito Nieves, Gilberto Santa Rosa and Ocho y Mas will perform at the event.

Guillen is looking forward to the fundraiser, which he usually holds in Venezuela.

"I am excited," Guillen said. "It's the first time I've done it in Chicago. That's the first time I'm going to help someone in Chicago, letting people know what we are doing. Most of the stuff in Chicago I do is stuff behind the scenes with Easter Seals and kids with autism."

In addition to Guillen, Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Alexei Ramirez, Manny Ramirez, Chris Sale, Dayan Viciedo, Omar Vizquel and Joey Cora are scheduled to attend. Tickets are $350 each and are available at whitesox.com/community or by calling 312-674-5387.

Guillen hopes to raise much of the money with a silent auction featuring baseball memorabilia, and the White Sox' manager said the prices are right.

"With the silent auction, mine is going to start at 20 or 30 bucks to make sure people get involved," Guillen said. "Say you want a bat signed by Manny Ramirez for $20? Everyone has an opportunity to be a big part of it. I want to help and I want to give everyone opportunities to bid for what's on the table and there are pretty good items.

"I've got Manny's lineup card from his first game with the White Sox. How much are you going to give me? $20? I don't care. That's $20 to help someone. The auction is going to be very good because of that.

"If we get $20, we'll take $20. If we get $2 million, we'll take $2 million. When you do this to help someone else and make sure every penny goes to that place, you take what they give you."