Quietly, Will Venable was hired as manager of the Chicago White Sox in November 2024.
On Opening Day, he joined Dave Roberts of the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Ron Washington of the Los Angeles Angles as Major League Baseball’s three respective Black managers.
No big deal, according to his three daughters, led by 9-year-old McKinley.
“I woke up to my daughters tapping me on the shoulder telling me that they’re ready to start the day and to wake up and get out of bed,” Venable said before the game.
“But yeah, once I got up and going, [I] certainly felt the spirit of the day and certainly felt the butterflies for sure.”
Venable, who played nine MLB seasons, was a star in baseball and basketball at Princeton. He batted .249 with 81 homers and 135 stolen bases, mostly for the San Diego Padres during his career.
He also paid his dues before landing his first managerial position.
He was hired by the Chicago Cubs in 2017 as a special assistant to team president Theo Epstein, then served as first-base coach, and third-base coach.
He was a bench coach for the Boston Red Sox during the 2021-22 seasons, before becoming Texas manager Bruce Bochy’s associate manager. Bochy says Venable was invaluable during the team’s 2023 World Series title campaign.
During the 2023 offseason, Venable turned down a chance to interview for the New York Mets managerial opening, saying he preferred to remain in Texas.
He now guides a team predicted to win under 54 games in 2025.
While Venable’s job is not easy, he has at least a few years of job security as he attempts to improve the lowly White Sox.
Venable got off to a great start with an 8-1 home win over the Angels. It marked the first time Chicago had a winning record since March 30, 2023.
The first-year skipper was doused with Gatorade and White Sox players joyously paraded him around the clubhouse in a shopping cart.
“Opening Day, it’s fresh, it’s new and it’s exciting,” Venable told reporters.
“And it’s the one time that you are really uninhibited in your focus on how special this opportunity is.”
Naturally, Chicago lost its next two games to fall under .500, but Venable has his shot at managing and that is all that matters.
The Reid Roundup
Will Venable enjoyed his first game as manager of the Chicago White Sox on Opening Day at age 42. L.A. Angels manager Ron Washington, 72, was managing his 1,438th…L.A. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently signed a four-year contract extension worth about $8.2 million annually, making him MLB’s highest-paid manager…St. Louis Cardinals centerfielder Victor Scott II hit a three-run home run in the Cardinals’ 9-2 series sweep clinching a win over Minnesota on March 30. He also made several sparkling catches during the weekend…Caleb Love ended his collegiate carer with a heroic 35-point effort in Arizona’s loss to Duke in an NCAA Tournament East Region semifinal. The St. Louis native finished 5-5 against Duke during his career with North Carolina and Arizona…Kelvin Sampson, who preaches tough defense, saw his Cougars hold Tennessee to just 15 first-half points in a dominant 69-50 win in the Midwest Reginal final. Houston will face Duke at the Alamodome in San Antonio for a spot in the national championship game…Walter Clayton Jr. and Florida will face Johni Broome and Auburn in the other national semifinal game…QB Manny Wilkins completed 17 of 22 passes for 189 yards and rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns in the St. Louis Battlehawks’ season-opening 31-6 win over host Houston last Friday…Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network has former Missouri receiver Luther Burden falling into the second round of the NFL Draft. Other mock drafts have the ESL native tumbling too. The silver lining is that Burden, if picked late in the first round, could join QB Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders or Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City…Former Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day for the Chicago White Sox. Sporting dreadlocks and a White Sox jersey, Rose threw a strike.