The White Sox gave us some exciting news late last week. While they didn’t make another signing or trade Dylan Cease just yet, they probably did the next best thing and unveiled their initial promotional schedule for the 2024 season. After taking a look at all the items, our crew decided that we wanted to rank each of them and determine the best – and the worst – of this year’s selection of giveaways.
Overall, outside of just a few items, our team was fairly split on their enjoyment of each of the items. The following Sox On 35th members contributed to each item’s rating on a scale of 1-10:
- Joe Binder
- Jordan Lazowski
- Nicole Reitz
- Nik Gaur
- Michael Suareo
- Tim Moran
- Maddie Spagnola
- Thatcher Zalewski
- Duke Coughlin
- Brian Barry
- Matt Cotner
- Tommy Gross
- Dwayne Banks Jr
- Ike Gordon
Let’s get to it!
Clear Tote Bag
Thursday, March 28 vs. Tigers | All Fans
This one didn’t get too much love from our team, with the highest rankings coming from the very kind Jordan and Nik, who both gave it average grades of 5.5 out of 10. Joe – according to sources – was rather critical of the bag, giving it just a 0.1/10 and texting Jordan, “How on Earth do you give a clear tote bag a 5.5?”
Grade: 3.4/10. Long story short: there are much better giveaways on this list.
White Sox Hoodie
Saturday, March 30 vs. Tigers | First 15,000 Fans
There were mixed reviews on this hoodie, with the highest grades at or above 9.0/10 coming from Duke, Dwayne, Jordan, and Maddie. The rest of the team seemed rather underwhelmed, at least compared to some of the other items on this list. It’s a unique design – but perhaps just not the taste of many on our crew.
Grade: 7.5/10. It ranks among the lowest giveaways on our page (which I think is unfair). I guess our page isn’t too excited about being part of the “South Side Crew.”
White Sox Crewneck
Saturday, April 13 vs. Reds | First 15,000 Fans 21+
Another item that saw some incredible highs (a perfect 10 from Maddie!) but overall, an underwhelmed crew. When questioned about his crew-low 5.2 rating, Joe replied, “I had high hopes, because last year’s looked awesome. The design didn’t do anything for me this time around.”
Grade: 7.9/10. The crew largely agreed with Joe here – though, Nik, Jordan, Maddie, Tim, and Ike all gave it grades at 9.0 or above.
White Sox Hockey Jersey
Saturday, April 27 vs. Rays | First 20,000 Fans
Now we’re getting into some of the higher-ranked items. While initially joked about by many White Sox fans as looking too Royals-esque for their liking, the late-60s/early-70s design came back to strong grades from our crew. Well, all of them except for Duke, who called the jersey “painfully mid.”
Grade: 8.7/10. If not for one other particular throwback giveaway, this would have been the highest-ranking giveaway for our crew.
White Sox Quarter Zip
Saturday, May 11 vs. Guardians | First 20,000 Fans
Another throwback design comes into play for another highly-rated giveaway, with the generous Maddie giving out her third perfect 10.0 already! She was joined by Nik this time in giving a perfect rating. The lowest grade here was a 6.8 from Tim, who didn’t seem overly impressed.
Grade: 8.4/10. The throwback design to a very popular cursive font is what does it here – it’s not the best item, but it deserves the higher ranking it gets here.
Luis Robert Jr. Bobblehead
Saturday, May 25 vs. Orioles | First 20,000 Fans
The only bobblehead giveaway of the year is of the only player most fans feel will be here for another year or two. Dwayne was the most impressed (9.6/10) while Brian was the most critical (6.1/10). It’s unclear if the White Sox plan to release any more bobbleheads this year – they did throughout the season last year, most notably in the form of a Dylan Cease bobblehead.
Grade: 8.4/10. After last year’s bobblehead received an 8.43/10 from our crew, there is remarkable consistency.
Hawaiian Shirt
Saturday, June 8 vs. Red Sox | First 20,000 Fans
An annual classic for White Sox fans, could it be perhaps losing some of its luster among fans? Matt and Duke were both hyped about it, giving it a 9.5/10, though the rest of the crew gave positive but less enthusiastic scores. Credit to the White Sox, however – this is a much different design from last year in that it’s a *tad* more muted.
Grade: 7.3/10. Last year’s grade was a 7.35 – so, again, remarkable consistency.
Southside Basketball Jersey
Saturday, June 29 vs. Rockies | First 20,000 Fans
Many of these giveaways, as you’ll notice, are yearly giveaways that are changed in style each year. This year’s basketball jersey remains white but brings a Southside jersey flare to it that led to much higher overall grades from our page than last year. It even received a few votes in the 9.0 range from Nik, Thatcher, Dwayne, and Duke.
Grade: 7.4/10. Much better than last year’s 5.55/10 – they’re trending in the right direction with a more unique style.
Throwback Jersey Vest
Saturday, July 13 vs. Pirates | First 15,000 Fans 21+
And here it is: the giveaway of the year, according to our crew. The lowest grades here came from Nik and Nicole, who both clearly hate fun (they gave out 8.0/10 grades). The most enthusiastic was Ike, who gave a score of 1000/10 before our resident math nerd Jordan had to reign him back in. Overall, the White Sox listened to the fans and knocked this one out of the park.
Grade: 9.4/10. Bring back the vests.
White Sox Football Jersey
Saturday, August 24 vs. Tigers | First 20,000 Fans
The annual football jersey just hasn’t hit among those on our page. It’s an improvement over last year’s “Chicago Raiders” design, and the use of the #51 (likely Dick Butkus) is a nice homage to what is generally a generic number on the jersey. The highest grade here came as an 8.5 from Michael – but he’s a Packers fan, so what does he know?
Grade: 6.6/10. It did better than last year’s 5.68/10 – or perhaps our crew has just gone soft.
Here are the final rankings for the items:
- Throwback Jersey Vest: 9.4/10
- White Sox Hockey Jersey: 8.7/10
- White Sox Quarter Zip: 8.4/10
- Luis Robert Jr. Bobblehead: 8.4/10
- White Sox Crewneck: 7.9/10
- White Sox Hoodie: 7.5/10
- Southside Basketball Jersey: 7.4/10
- Hawaiian Shirt: 7.3/10
- White Sox Football Jersey: 6.6/10
- Clear Tote Bag: 3.4/10
What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with our crew’s rankings? Let us know in the comments!
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Featured Image: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
The vest and crewneck are by far the best items.
LuBobblehead is a must-have.
And remember: just say no to anything from the Campbell Soup-era C logo,