Chicago White Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks got back to baseball on Monday night after a fight with cancer.
At the highest point of the eighth inning of the White Sox’s inevitable 6-4 misfortune to the Los Angeles Heavenly messengers, Hendriks made a close to home return subsequent to going through treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Hendriks was greeted with rapturous applause when it was announced over the loudspeakers that he was warming up in the bullpen. When he finally made his way onto the Guaranteed Rate Field, the audience stood to greet the 34-year-old player.
“Yeah, it was great being back out there,” said Hendriks during his postgame press conference. “Getting back, putting cleats on, running out, doing all that. I felt good, I felt strong, I felt comfortable out there.
“Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to get the two-strike pitch where I wanted to. It was get ahead, generally, and then struggle to put them away. There were some positives from a purely baseball aspect, but there were definitely some things to work on. Get back, be available and be ready to go tomorrow.”
The diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that Hendriks received in December was made public in January.
While undergoing chemotherapy, he was able to play toss and throw some bullpens in Arizona. He also made six rehabilitation appearances for the Charlotte Knights, the White Sox’s Minor League Baseball affiliate.
At long last, on Monday, the White Sox enacted Hendriks from his physical issue restoration task permitting him to get back to Significant Association Baseball activity.
“Again, this is bigger than baseball, right?” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “This is about life and the diagnosis and the comeback and how he did it. And how good he was prior to [it] and how good he’s going to be afterward.
This simply transcends the scope of the game. What he’s finished and the way that he’s done it has been wonderful. It’s a motivation to everyone on this club, a motivation to everyone follows the game and is familiar with Liam.”
Hendriks was given some time at the mound to take it all in as he took the field against the Angels, where players, fans, and officials all stood to welcome him back.
He tossed 27 pitches, surrendering races to Zach Neto and Mike Trout. He eventually obtained a groundout from Shohei Ohtani to end the inning.
“All I kept saying to him the whole time was just: ‘Do you see how loved you are?’” Hendriks’ wife, Kristi, said during her Monday media session. “‘You are loved by fans, your teammates, the community, the city of Chicago, the cities you played for previously. They are all supporting you.’”
