Get up early (for a Saturday) and hit the road for the South Side...

It's that time again... time for the White Sox Annual Yard Sale at the park (U.S. Cellular Field).

The line was long when we got there, but it was awfully spread out, with lots of people bringing chairs to sit in while they wait.

The best thing about the event is that all the proceeds go to White Sox Charities.

With that in mind, we went looking for clothing.. we had bought jackets here in the past (yes, authentic, player-worn jackets), and they didn't have ANY this year! They really brought out the odd stuff... banners used around the city for "Rally Monday", the rally downtown before the World Series, empty bottles of Champagne from each of the locker room celebrations during the playoffs ($60-$100), full sheet World Series Tickets (un-printed with seat info). I wanted some bunting that was displayed at the park (MLB authenticated), but that was $50 each and the bunting was small.

They had the regular selection of things - used hats, bats, helmets, an AWFUL lot of catcher's gear this year compared to last, lots of equipment bags, helmet bags... and of course what everybody goes after - jerseys. The real deal.

We weren't even close to being the first one's in line, and back in January, at Sox Fest, they always set up a "Garage Sale" room that people must have rifled through, because the jersey selection - though large - didn't have a lot of jerseys by the somewhat major players, let alone the major players. If you wanted a jersey of a pitcher that was barely in the majors for a few weeks, there were a ton of them (including ones for the World Series complete with World Series patch on the sleeve). There were prior years players that they haven't got rid of yet. Lot's of BP windshirts and "tops" (wouldn't call them jerseys).

The surprising pieces to me were at the extreme left of the left rack in the row of racks.

Here were the jerseys of Major players now gone. Jerseys you would have NEVER seen in any rack in any year. These were put aside as special and if you were lucky, you could ask to get one. The one that caught my eye? FRANK THOMAS. NEVER would have been in the rack. Now that he's gone, he's there. Now granted, it was REALLY expensive (I think $1,000), but it was still in the rack. I knew that I had hit the right part in the rack... they guys that are gone... tons of Carl Everett jerseys... Shingo Takatsu... guys who were good and made a difference. But the one guy I thought that made a difference and we hated to see him go, was the one I was after. I snatched it up and walked away from the racks quickly. The Jersey? Aaron Rowand.

That's all we bought this year... nothing else caught our eye... the great thing is that THIS year at checkout, you got a form to fill out stating that the items you bought were to benefit a charity, thus ding..ding..ding..ding..ding Tax Writeoff.

I just love going to the park for special events, like this one, when there isn't a game. It's just feels special. There was another event going on that you had to pay to participate - playing catch in the outfield. It's reall typical for Dads to bring their youngsters, with their mitt and balls, and you're allowed onto the field for an hour to play catch. the day before Father's Day. How cool is that?