Jeff Tweedy and Jack White, two great veteran Midwestern rockers, are both baseball guys. And you know how baseball guys are. They love stats and random achievements and personal missions. Tweedy and White have both set themselves missions in the world of Major League Baseball, and both of them have now completed those missions.
Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, who will release the solo triple album Twilight Override next month, wanted to throw out the first pitch at every ballpark in the National League Central division. (The picture above, of Tweedy in St. Louis, was the only one on Getty. I am not trying to slander Cubs fan Tweedy by putting that one in the article.) Tweedy threw out the first pitch at a Reds game in 2022, and that was his fourth. The final task remained incomplete until very recently.
Yesterday, Tweedy posted a lovely message on Instagram. He and his wife Susie just celebrated their 30th anniversary, and she wanted to celebrate by completing that mission. They did it, with Tweedy throwing out the first pitch at a Pirates game. I don't know if it was a strike, but he got it across the plate. Here's what Tweedy wrote:
Susie said that all she wanted for our anniversary this year was for me to complete my mission of throwing out a first pitch at every ballpark in the NL Central. I did it, honey! You’re welcome! Seriously though how lucky can one guy get?!? Here’s to the next 30! OxO
1995 Jeff Tweedy looks a lot like Jack White. Weird. Anyway. White's history with the national pastime is well-documented. He became a meme for looking grumpy at a Cubs game in 2014. He once played an instrumental National Anthem before at Opening Day in Detroit. Another time, he went to a game, left to play a show, and returned before the game was over. He has his own Topps baseball card. He makes bats, and one of his bats is in the Baseball Hall Of Fame.
White, who now owns a cellphone, posted about his own MLB mission on Instagram earlier this week. White and two buddies, Lalo Medina and David Swanson, had themselves what White calls a "longtime mission of seeing a baseball game in every major league baseball stadium." White and Tweedy both referred to their hobbies as missions, which is cute. White and friends recently finished their self-appointed task by watching the Tigers beat the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. But White isn't entirely convinced that his quest is complete. In his post he offered up a question "for the baseball public:
is it necessary that we see a game in the temporary stadium that the Tampa Bay Rays are currently playing in? Have we completed the journey or not since the stadium is only temporary? Note; we have seen a game already at the temporary home to the Athletics, Sutter health park in Sacramento.
I can't claim to be part of the baseball public, but I do know that Jack White doesn't like to half-step. I hereby predict that he will bring his ass to Tampa Bay.
