Ron Kittle, the 1983 American League Rookie of the Year, got married Friday night in a suite at Rate Field while the Chicago White Sox were beating the Kansas City Royals 22-1. White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf officiated the ceremony.
Kittle married his girlfriend, Barbara, during Chicago's 10-run third inning. The score that night was the most runs the White Sox had put up since a 22-13 win at Boston on May 31, 1970.
Teammates Harold Baines and Greg Walker, both members of the 1983 White Sox squad, attended the ceremony with their spouses. "My better half doesn't want any notoriety, recognition. She wants to keep it to herself," Kittle said Saturday. "But I invited Harold Baines and his wife and Greg Walker and his wife, and we did it and I was pretty excited. I think Jerry is excited. We've become a family over the years."
Kittle said Reinsdorf's decision to officiate was in keeping with his superstitious habits. "He's so superstitious he might marry somebody today in the bottom of the third," Kittle said of Reinsdorf.
According to the Associated Press, the 1983 White Sox, who won the AL West that season, were honored before Saturday's game between Chicago and Kansas City.
Kittle noted that he is himself ordained and officiated a wedding in the outfield last season on Bill Veeck Day. The double role now gives him a unique distinction. "Now I'm the only player to marry someone at the park and get married at the park," Kittle said. "And I'm good."
Other members of the 1983 team at Saturday's pregame reunion included Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, who serves as a White Sox special adviser, along with Richard Dotson and Greg Luzinski.
