The March 15, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated featured the ever-colorful and once again owner of the White Sox, Bill Veeck on the cover. One of baseball’s most imaginative and controversial owners, Veeck’s reputation for showmanship and fan-friendly ideas had already made him a legend in the game. Best known for stunts like sending Eddie Gaedel—the 3-foot-7 pinch hitter—to the plate in 1951 and for promoting fireworks, giveaways, and constant ballpark entertainment, Veeck believed baseball should always put the fans first. By 1976, as the sport wrestled with labor disputes and the emerging era of free agency, Veeck remained one of the few owners openly sympathetic to players while still championing the idea that baseball should be fun, unpredictable, and accessible. The article captured Veeck as a stubborn independent spirit—cigar in hand, wooden leg propped up—still convinced that the game needed more characters and fewer boardroom executives. Luckily for White Sox fans, Veeck was both.

Nancy Faust became a beloved part of the game-day experience for the Chicago White Sox when she began playing organ at Comiskey Park in 1970. At a time when many ballparks treated organ music as quiet background noise, Faust turned it into a form of live entertainment, cleverly reacting to what was happening on the field with playful riffs, pop songs, and musical jokes that fans quickly learned to anticipate. Her quick timing and sense of humor helped energize crowds during some lean years for the White Sox, and she became one of the first ballpark organists to truly interact with the game and the fans. Over more than four decades with the team, Faust’s music became as much a part of the White Sox identity as the crack of the bat, making her one of the most recognizable and influential organists in baseball history.

After 41 seasons with the Sox, the Most Valuable Organist in baseball history called it a career but on the Past Our Prime podcast, Nancy tells us what it was like to work for the carnival show that was Bill Veeck. She talks about how she helped Harry Caray turn the 7th inning stretch into a nightly event and how taking the opposing pitcher out became an anthem( Na, na, na, on the South Side starting in 1977 and continuing to this day. And she recalls how she started a trend in baseball by combining Jesus Christ Superstar and future Hall of Fame slugger Dick Allen: the invention of the walk-up song.

She’s a true original spirit who played for the White Sox longer than any player in team history. The uber talented MVO, Nancy Faust on the Past Our Prime podcast.

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