It wasn’t former President Barack Obama.
It wasn’t the Pope, either.
And it wasn’t even a member of the White Sox’s 2005 World Series championship team.
After a thriller ceremonial first-pitch visitor was teased and hypothesis swirled that a main Chicago-adjacent title was on the approach for the largest home playoff sport in more than twenty years, the reveal turned out to be an actor most followers didn’t seem to acknowledge.
Actor Belmont Cameli throws out the first pitch before sport three of the ALDS between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox during the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Rate Field in Chicago, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Actor Belmont Cameli appears to be like on after throwing the first pitch prior to sport three of the American League Division Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians at Rate Field in Chicago, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. Getty Images
Belmont Cameli, a Naperville, Ill., native and lifelong White Sox fan, took the mound before Chicago’s 9-3 Game 3 loss to the Guardians on Wednesday.
Cameli is finest identified for enjoying hockey star Garrett Graham in Prime Video’s “Off Campus,” but he’s far from who followers hoped would be out there with a probability to clinch their first playoff sequence in Chicago since 1906.
MLB.com’s Scott Merkin appeared to begin the hypothesis on Tuesday by teasing a “big name” for the first pitch in a submit on X.
“No hints given, so have at it,” Merkin wrote, kicking off a guessing sport.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during the dedication ceremony for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in John Lewis Plaza, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images
NBC Chicago quickly ran a story declaring that “rumors run wild,” floating names such as Windy City celebrities like Obama, Pope Leo XIV, Michael Jordan, Paul Konerko, Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose, among others.
The chatter unfold across social media, too, with White Sox followers on Reddit, X and elsewhere tossing out everyone from Frank Thomas to Mark Buehrle to Hawk Harrelson and other members of the 2005 team.
The huge reveal didn’t go over properly, to say the least.
Pope Leo XIV wears a Chicago White Sox cap, on the day of his common viewers in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican June 11, 2025. REUTERS
“Absolute miss here by the Sox,” the standard This Day in Chicago Sports X account wrote. “Not that it matters or that Sox fans needed the ‘first pitch’ to get them juiced but this is embarrassing.”
“Y’all were hyping up this first pitch so much i was starting to think it was the Pope and it actually ended up being the same dude that was at the Blackhawks game yesterday,” @nickyyknowsball wrote on X.
“Are you telling me Sox fans thought the Pope of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church was throwing out the first pitch today and it was just a guy from one of the horny hockey shows?” @W_B_Rick wrote on the platform.
The first-pitch dud may have been an omen for the White Sox, who took the lead in the first inning but could not maintain it in a blowout loss.
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