Mark Buehrle was on his lawn mower cutting the grass last summer at his Missouri home when he received a call from Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
Buehrle returned the call and received what he called “insane” news.
The Sox will unveil a statue of the retired left-handed pitcher on July 11 at Rate Field as part of a reunion for the 2005 World Series championship team.
The Sox made the announcement Friday during a panel discussion on the ’05 champions at SoxFest Live.
“Unbelievable,” Buehrle said. “Kind of loss for words. They retired my number (No. 56 in 2017), it’s an incredible honor. To put a statue up, of me, out there, forever. I guess the number could be unretired and get taken out and put it back into play. But the statue, unless someone tears it down or does something to it, it’s always going to be there.
“I really don’t have words for it, but it’s an amazing feeling.”
Buehrle spent 12 of his 16 major-league seasons with the Sox (2000-11), going 161-119 with a 3.83 ERA in 390 games (365 starts) for the club. Four of his five All-Star selections came with the Sox, as did three of his four Gold Glove awards.
Buehrle pitched a no-hitter on April 18, 2007 against Texas and a perfect game on July 23, 2009 against Tampa Bay.
He made a franchise-record nine opening-day starts (2002-06, 2008-11) and put in work throughout the year, pitching at least 200 innings for 14 consecutive seasons while with the Sox, Miami Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays.
“That’s something I’ve always said, you go deep into games, your wins are going to come, everything else is going to come into play if you are out there late in the game, eating enough innings,” Buehrle said. “That’s what my job was to do. That’s why I took pride in it.”
Teammates José Contreras and Freddy García and Hall of Famer Harold Baines were also on stage as part of the 2005 panel discussion and offered congratulations. During the event, Buehrle also bought a round of beer for the fans in attendance Friday at the Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport.
“It was good to come back and see a couple of guys, it’s probably been 10 or 12 years since I’ve seen some of these guys,” Buehrle said. “I don’t keep in contact with a lot of guys. Maybe a text here or there around Christmas time. It’s good to see them and some video stuff.”
In addition to a video on the 2005 team, the Sox also showed a preview of the making of Buehrle’s statue. He will be the 10th person, and ninth statue , at the ballpark.
“Just an unbelievable honor that you don’t play this game for that reason and then when it happens, you don’t know how to act,” Buehrle said. “You don’t know what to do when it comes to this because you don’t play for it.
“It’s the way I am.”
