Chris Sale Puts White Sox Jersey Fiasco Behind Him With 'Throwback' Joke

Chris Sale’s ability to throw a baseball isn’t really in doubt. But the left-hander raised a few eyebrows off the field last season during a bizarre incident with the Chicago White Sox’s front office.

Sale has changed “Sox,” though, and he’s clearly ready to put that thread behind him.

The Boston Red Sox’s prized offseason acquisition addressed the media Tuesday at the team’s spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., and it wasn’t long before he was asked about last June’s fiasco in which he cut up the White Sox’s throwback uniforms before a start.

“It wasn’t exactly between the white lines, but it all goes into just the passion I have for playing the game,” Sale told reporters in a press conference aired on NESN. “Things are going to happen. Nobody’s perfect. You’re going to make mistakes.

“All I really want to say on that is, you live and you learn. I have two sons now: a 6-year-old and a 2-month-old. I tell them, ‘You’re going to make mistakes, but if learn from your mistakes, that’s the key.’ Everybody here has made a mistake. If you learn from it, you become a better person. If you keep making the same mistakes, well, you’re kind of spinning your tires.”

Sale then was asked how he’d react if the same incident happened in Boston, and he responded with a zinger.

“I don’t think they have throwbacks here,” Sale joked.

Technically speaking, Sale is incorrect. The Red Sox rocked 1975 throwback uniforms and have had a few other retro jerseys up their sleeves in recent years. But the 27-year-old ace still got his message across: His White Sox days are over, and his focus is on living up to the high expectations he’ll face this season in Boston.

“It was something I learned from,” Sale added. “I’ll leave it at that.”