RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Thousands of White Sox fans attending Tuesday night's game got to take home a free hat fashioned in honor of team fan Pope Leo XIV. Now, listings for the exclusive pope hat are appearing online for sale.
Sellers on eBay and Facebook Marketplace are hawking the black-and-gold mitre hat featuring the White Sox logo.
One eBay seller is offering the hat for $129.99, and as of Wednesday evening, they've sold 15 hats with four still available. Other listings, advertising the pope hat as a "unique" and "collectible" item, noted their stock as unworn. Most hats found by the Sun-Times were selling between $50 and $100, but it's unclear if all of the hats are authentic.
Fans are given pope hats while entering Rate Field for Tuesday’s White Sox game.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Erik Lipinsky, a lifelong White Sox fan, took to Facebook to sell a hat, listing it for $50. Lipinsky, 30, went to the game with his brother but traded in his own hat.
"I traded one in for a [White Sox] T-shirt, and it's a pretty cool T-shirt. Hindsight, I feel like the hat is actually more valuable," he said.
Lipinsky said he has attended about 11 games this season.
After listing the hat on Facebook, he received 20 responses.
"I'm selling to [a guy on Facebook]," he said. "I'm meeting him up at Walgreens in, like, 20 minutes."
He's gotten his fair share of freebies thanks to the team's regular game day promotions. He lines the man cave in his basement with the items, typically Sox bobbleheads, he said.
The White Sox didn't return a request for comment.
The giveaway was initially for 2,500 fans purchasing a special ticket package, but was expanded to the entire stadium of nearly 41,000.
Brooks Boyer, White Sox executive vice president, told the Sun-Times Tuesday that the giveaway caught the attention of the pope, whose brother confirmed to the team’s front office that the pontiff had heard about the event.
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