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Konerko 'blown away' by retirement celebration

In his 16 glorious seasons with the White Sox, Paul Konerko took immense pride in keeping his head down and playing the game directly in front of him.

Konerko finally looked up on Saturday, before his second to last game prior to retiring.

To put it mildly, the Sox' 38-year-old captain was blown away by an emotional pregame ceremony attended by family members, current and former teammates, moving video tributes from an interesting mix that included Metallica frontman James Hetfield, Mark Buehrle, Ozzie Guillen, Derek Jeter, Jonathan Toews and Derrick Rose, and a wide range of parting gifts highlighted by the unveiling of a Konerko statue on the left-field concourse.

While addressing an adoring crowd of 38,160 at U.S. Cellular Field — only the White Sox' third sellout of the season — Konerko struggled to control his emotions and joked about asking manager Robin Ventura for the day off.

He did put his head back down and play in Saturday night's 5-4 win over the Royals, which was highlighted by Jose Abreu's 36th home run of the season — a franchise record for rookies.

But while going 0-for-3 before being lifted in the seventh inning to the last of multiple standing ovations, Konerko's head was clearly not in the game.

“You try to envision what these things are going to be,” Konerko said. “I knew when I signed back there would be an end to this and they would do things at the end. You just try to envision what they are and try to be prepared, but that was really cool and really … they just where on the money with everything.

“The fans … the place felt really small. It's not like I needed anything, but that was beyond icing on the cake. I have to apologize for the game. To go out and try to play a game after that, I'm pretty good about distractions, but no way. I was a mess out there.”

Before the game, Konerko thanked his family and just about everyone he's crossed paths with since arriving on the South Side in 1999. That included Sox fans, who have always been behind “Paul-ie.”

“I'm not even going to say fans, I'm going to say friends,” Konerko said from a podium set up at home plate. “All my friends in this building right now. You know, for some reason when I got here early in my career, I don't know what it was, I really hadn't done anything, but you guys treated me like I had been here and there was some kind of a connection I felt.”

The fans have always been Konerko's greatest gift, and he is also taking home an oil painting of his swing progression, a set of baseballs shaped into his uniform No. 14 and signed by every member of the White Sox' 2005 World Series championship team, a 1976 Gibson guitar and a 1963 Fender Stratocaster, the grand slam ball he hit in the World Series and, of course, the statute.

“I've done a really good job of keeping my head down and playing and not thinking I was anything while this whole career went on,” Konerko said. “It's the way I do it. It's the way I did it. Now you look up and you have all these people going out of their way for you and all that, it's just, I don't know.

“I feel uncomfortable about it sometimes but to see Derek Jeter up there or Terry Francona. I mean James Hedfield from Metallica said my name. It's crazy. Just because you can hit a ball with a bat. It's pretty cool. I don't know how else to say. I'm blown away by it.

“The Sox just, they really were on the money with everything they did. If I would have planned it myself, I don't think I would have done anything different. That's how good it was.”

And that's how great Konerko has been.

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Images: Paul Konerko calls it a career

Konerko receives grand prize during retirement ceremony

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