Dye still has fond memories of White Sox's 2005 World Series run
As expected, Jermaine Dye drew huge applause from the home crowd Saturday night when he headed to the mound and threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Chicago White Sox played the Cleveland Indians.
A popular player from 2005-09, Dye is best known for winning MVP honors while helping the Sox sweep the Houston Astros in the World Series during his first season in the South Side.
Nearly a dozen years later, the memory is still fresh in the former right fielder's mind.
"I think any time you win a championship in a big city, where it hadn't been done in a long, long time, everybody remembers," the 43-year-old Dye said. "Nobody's ever going to forget bringing a championship to this great city. I think you learn to appreciate families that grew and have been entrenched in being a White Sox fan all of their lives. You hear stories about how people, their mom or dad was able to see us win a championship before they passed away.
"Stuff like that makes you appreciate all the hard work you put in. You're not just going out here for the team you play on or the name on your back and for the players on your team. You're actually also playing for a city. There are people behind you. When you're grinding away they're grinding away mentally for you, too."
Dye is in town to promote the 2017 Celebrity Golf Classic, which will be played on June 12 at the Glen Club in Glenview.
Proceeds benefit the Fresh Start Caring for Kids Foundation, and more information is available at freshstart.org.
"Infants, kids and teenagers that are either born with deformities or if it happened in an accident or you get it by disease, we have teamed with up with Comer Children's Hospital," Dye said. "And the doctors and all the surgeons and the hospital, they donate the (operating rooms), they all donate their time to give kids a second chance in life and perform surgeries.
"As a foundation, we have to raise money for things like the medicine, sutures, expenses of bringing the kids and their families into town and putting them up, making sure they are fed and taking care of them."
As he helps the Fresh Start Caring for Kids Foundation, Dye is also keeping tabs on the White Sox, who are still in the early stages of a rebuilding project.
Along with A.J. Pierzynski, Scott Podsednik and Tadahito Iguchi, Dye was a veteran addition to the 2005 roster and it paid off big.
The Sox haven't been able to recapture that roster magic, and they've made just one postseason appearance since winning the World Series.
After a fourth straight losing year in 2016, general manager Rick Hahn tired of the mediocrity and is transitioning to a young team.
"It's a business," Dye said. "I mean, at some point, as an organization or any business, when you feel like things aren't going the way you want them to go, sometimes it's the time to make changes. I think with the acquisition of (manager Rick) Renteria, from what I've heard and seen so far and just talking to him, he's a hard worker.
"He's trying to put a culture here and get back to playing hard every day and going out there and putting the work in and bringing it to the field every day. That's what it's about."