In the middle of the third inning at the White Sox home opener, ozzie guillen found himself reacting in real time to a surprise he didn’t script: the team announced it will retire his No. 13 jersey in August. The moment landed with the force of something both immediate and long-awaited, punctuated by a standing ovation from the crowd.
What happened in the third inning when Ozzie Guillen heard the announcement?
The White Sox delivered the news during the game, announcing the honor in the middle of the third inning. The timing mattered: this wasn’t a press release read in quiet; it arrived inside the noise and rhythm of a live ballpark, with thousands of fans absorbing it at once. The reaction was instantaneous—an ovation rising from the stands, turning a routine inning break into a shared recognition of a franchise figure.
Guillen’s response, captured in the moment, was not polished. “Oh my God, ” Guillen said. “Wow. I don’t know how to react. I’ll just say thank you to the White Sox organization. ” A tribute can sometimes sound ceremonial even before the ceremony exists, but this one unfolded as surprise, with Guillen’s voice landing somewhere between disbelief and gratitude.
Why are the White Sox retiring No. 13, and what does it honor?
The team will hold a formal ceremony on Aug. 8 to retire the number. The honor reflects Guillen’s impact in multiple roles: as a player, as a manager, and later as a TV studio analyst for the team.
As a player, Guillen was a three-time All-Star and spent 13 seasons with the White Sox from 1985 to 1997. The résumé in the record books is specific: he was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1985 and won a Gold Glove at shortstop in 1990. The span of seasons and awards captures consistency and elite defense, but the timing of the announcement—at a home opener—signals something beyond statistics. It’s the sort of recognition meant to connect eras of fandom, from those who watched him play to those who learned his story later.
As a manager, Guillen was hired in 2004 and led the White Sox to a World Series championship in 2005. His last year as manager was in 2011. The list of milestones, by itself, can read like a timeline; in practice, it is a condensed portrait of why a franchise chooses to elevate a number into permanent memory.
What did Jerry Reinsdorf say about the decision, and what makes this honor rare?
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf framed the decision as both personal and historical, emphasizing how fans already treated the number. “Ozzie is truly one of a kind, and his passion for baseball and the White Sox is unmatched, ” Reinsdorf said. He added that Guillen’s “knowledge of the game, combined with his energy and ability to motivate his teams, helped deliver a World Series Championship to White Sox fans and the city of Chicago after an 88-year drought. ”
Reinsdorf also spoke directly to the symbolism of the jersey number itself: “The number 13 has always belonged to Ozzie in the hearts of our fans, and this season, we wanted to make it official by retiring his number. Like many of the White Sox legends, there will never be another 13. ”
The rarity is measurable. Guillen will become the 13th player in White Sox history to have his jersey retired, joining Nellie Fox, Harold Baines, Luke Appling, Minnie Minoso, Luis Aparicio, Paul Konerko, Ted Lyons, Billy Pierce, Frank Thomas, Jackie Robinson, Mark Buehrle and Carlton Fisk. The distinction is also categorical: Guillen is the first White Sox manager to earn the honor.
When is the ceremony, and what did ozzie guillen say it means to him?
The White Sox will formally retire the number on Aug. 8. In the immediate aftermath of the surprise announcement, Guillen reached for language that was raw and unmistakably human. “I can die on August 9 now. My God, this is the biggest news, ” Guillen said.
In the span of a few sentences, he moved from shock to thanks to something deeper: the feeling that a career’s worth of effort, emotion, and identity had been translated into a permanent place in the organization’s story. That’s what jersey retirements aim to do—freeze a relationship between a team and a person into something visible, so that future seasons still have a way to point back and say: this mattered.
Image caption (alt text): ozzie guillen reacts as the White Sox announce the retirement of his No. 13 jersey during the home opener.
