White Sox share a special day with Schaumburg man
Tuesday was a big day in Glendale, Ariz., for 31-year-old Eric Von Schaumburg, a former three-sport athlete from Schaumburg who was visiting his favorite team, the Chicago White Sox.
Von Schaumburg, who has battled ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) for the last two years, spent the day at Camelback Ranch, the spring training home of the White Sox.
Although he can't speak and communicates by typing on a computer and has difficulty gripping a baseball, the diehard Sox fan got the royal treatment in training camp. Von Schaumburg threw out the first pitch and met many of the players, as well as manager Robin Ventura, former White Sox legend Bo Jackson, and executive vice president Ken Williams. His fiancee, Lindsay Rudhman, was there to share the day with him.
“It was unreal,” Von Schaumburg relayed to MLB.com White Sox reporter Scott Merkin. “I'm still on Cloud 9.”
Ventura presented him with a Sox jersey and Von Schaumburg's name on the back, and before the day ended it was decorated with autographs from everyone who met with him.
To learn more about Von Schaumburg's battle with ALS and how to help, go to his website at fightlikeachampion.org.
• Marty Maciaszek contributed to this report. For a full report on Von Schaumburg's visit with the White Sox, go to Scott Merkin's report at http://tinyurl.com/qh5ykop.