Doug Padilla, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Paul Konerko spent after emotional day

CHICAGO -- There was a moment early in the first game of the 2005 World Series when a Houston Astros player reached first base and remarked to Paul Konerko about the excitement of the pregame ceremonies.

At that point, Konerko has said, he knew the Chicago White Sox were better prepared mentally to win the championship.

Well, on Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field, Konerko was that Astros player, who he always has declined to name, except the stakes weren’t nearly as high.

A 30-minute pregame ceremony designed to celebrate Konerko’s storied career was filled with love, emotion and appreciation, and it left Konerko drained before the contest even started. That he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts wasn’t a surprise. In typical Konerko, self-aware fashion, he apologized for his performance.

“The place felt really small,” said Konerko, who gave a nearly nine-minute speech of his own and received gifts that included the ball from his Game 2 grand slam in the 2005 World Series, while the club unveiled a statue of his likeness on the concourse.

“It felt like everybody was right on top of you. You know, for me, here, playing for the team and just everything that’s gone on since I’ve been a player here, it’s not like I needed anything. I have it right in my head and the fans, we have it in our heads. It has been good. That was kind of icing on the cake -- beyond icing on the cake. I have to apologize for the game. To go out and try to play a game after that, I mean, I’m pretty good about distractions, but no way. I was a mess out there.”

By mess, Konerko did not mean sad or teary eyed, just a bundle of emotions all at once that he had a problem containing. Excitement, pride and embarrassment were probably just a few of those feelings.

“That was probably the toughest circumstances to go play against a good team, against good pitching and still trying to win a game,” he said. “Hopefully, they will cut me some slack on that one. I apologize. It was just very odd. As many games as I’ve played, none of them ever felt like that going into it. It was awesome.”

Because Konerko also has an ability to recognize things around him, he was hyper-aware of Saturday’s opponent, the Kansas City Royals. Whether it was the ceremony or Friday night’s celebration of their first playoff berth in 29 years, the Royals were unable to match the early energy of the White Sox, who used that advantage to ride to a 5-4 victory.

“Yeah, I mean, I expected maybe a couple of [Royals] guys to maybe be out there; their whole team was out there,” Konerko said. “It was kind of an odd time. It threw things off. We’re creatures of habit. It was kind of odd that there really was no start time. It was like, whenever it’s done, we’re going to play.”

In front of Saturday’s sold-out crowd, Konerko said the Royals look very similar to the 2005 White Sox team that stormed through the playoffs. After the game, he reiterated that thought.

“In some weird way, I’ve seen those guys grow up, too,” Konerko said. “I’ve been around to see the [Eric] Hosmers and the [Mike] Moustakases and the [Alex] Gordons, and you play so many games against these guys. Of course, you’re always trying to win, but you see their careers kind of happening, too, and now you see them going to the playoffs.

“What I told them was true. That team right there looks a lot like the team that won the World Series here, as far as how they’re built. Good luck to them. I hope they do it. I hope they get the same feeling I had. It was great. But just for all of them to be out there, really cool. It was nice.”

Along with the surprise of the World Series ball, the White Sox also unveiled a bronze Konerko statue on the left field concourse. He received an oil painting of his greatest moments, a framed collection of baseballs signed by every player on the 2005 team and two guitars -- a 1976 Gibson and a 1963 Fender Stratocaster.

During the game, the White Sox played video clips of current and former teammates congratulating him on a successful career. There were clips from opponents, opposing managers and even players in other sports, such as Blackhawks Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp and Bulls Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.

Metallica’s James Hetfield even offered his congratulations during the pregame ceremonies.

“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. “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 Hetfield 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.”

Konerko eventually left the game in the seventh inning and walked off the field after being replaced by Andy Wilkins at first base. The fans roared and Konerko took a curtain call, then was left with just one game to play before his career ends.

“I feel less anxiety about going into [Sunday] than I did today because of the ceremony and all that and having to talk and speak and all that stuff,” Konerko said. “What am I going to do? Strikeout twice? I did that tonight. At this point, you’re just going to go out there and try to go a couple at-bats, two, three at-bats, see how it goes.

“What I want to do is go out there and hit a couple of balls hard, [and] hopefully they’ll get down. With this outfield, these guys that play for Kansas City, they seem to be everywhere, so hopefully if I hit a couple, they’ll get down. But if they don’t, that’s fine. I think we all know at this point, it’s kind of irrelevant the result, but I just want to go out there and attack for a couple more at-bats, a few more innings, and then I’ll be seeing you guys.”

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