Tag: Guaranteed Rate Field

Notre Dame’s Rylie Mills throws out first pitch before baseball game

He probably won’t switch sports because of this, but it’s an interesting thought.

Earlier this summer, Notre Dame defensive end [autotag]Rylie Mills[/autotag] was one of three university athletes to sign NIL deals with the Chicago White Sox. As part of the deal, Mills and the others were allowed to throw out the first pitch before a game. Mills’ time came Sunday before the White Sox faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in the last game before the MLB All-Star break:

Mills grew up in nearby Lake Bluff, Illinois, so it makes sense that he would sign a NIL deal with a local professional team. However, his presence at Guaranteed Rate Field was not enough for the White Sox on this day as they suffered a 9-4 loss, their record 71st defeat before the All-Star break.

While Mills surely is getting some decent money from the White Sox, it’s unfortunate that he signed this deal at a time when the team is historically bad. Alas, you must go where the money leads you in this NIL era.

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Notre Dame appearances at MLB ballparks through the years

The Irish have been well-represented during ceremonial first pitches.

This is an exciting week for Notre Dame. Not everyone can say they’ve been at MLB’s two oldest ballparks during the same week, but this year’s Irish will be able to make that claim. They’ll face Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Tuesday before meeting Boston College at Fenway Park on Friday. The best part for us at Fighting Irish Wire is that we’ve been credentialed for both games, so we’ll be reporting the action directly from these historic venues.

With these two games taking place during the final week of the regular season, we thought it would be nice to take a look back at Notre Dame figures making appearances at MLB ballparks over the years. We’re not talking about when the football team has played games there or former Irish players who have made the big leagues. We’re talking about when figures have made appearances on behalf of the university. If you have a really good memory, maybe you can recall at least one of these: