Emanuel Joins Daley At White Sox Home Opener
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Attending his final Chicago White Sox game as mayor, Rich Daley tried to bring a new fan into the fold on Thursday at the White Sox home opener: his successor, Rahm Emanuel.
Mayor Daley and Mayor-elect Emanuel went to the game separately, but stood and talked to each other at Daley's seats along the third base line during the pregame activities at Thursday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Daley wore a White Sox cap and Emanuel, a Cubs fan, wore a White Sox jacket.
The sight of the incoming mayor in a Sox jacket prompted a few fans sitting behind Daley and Emanuel to tell the mayor-elect "Get outta here."
But Daley said he wants to convert his successor to a Sox fan.
"I'm trying, I'm trying," he said, laughing. "It worked, I got the jacket. Now he's trying to convert me to the Cubs."
Emanuel said he's going to give the jacket to Daley as a going away present.
"He hasn't got one this whole time, I'm going to give him as a going away gift," Emanuel said.
Daley's family has had seats along the third base line since his dad, Richard J. Daley, was mayor.
"We've had the seats going back to my father. My father, at one time, sat on the first base line. By 1955, he moved to the third base line, so we've been actually in the same seats we've had that many years," Daley said. "We've got a lot of good memories here."
The mayor said he's excited about his favorite team's chances this year, with new slugger Adam Dunn added to the roster, longtime Sox veterans Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski re-signed to new contracts and a deep starting rotation with Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson, John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Jake Peavy.
"Give a lot of credit to Jerry Reinsdorf. Kenny Williams and Ozzie have put a team together, good team this year," Daley said.
When he leaves office next month, Daley will have a lot more time to go to games, not that he didn't attend plenty already.
"Yeah, I like to watch baseball anyway," he said.
