THE FOUR POLISH FRATERNAL
ORGANIZATIONS UNITE TOGETHER FOR
FOURTH "POLISH-AMERICAN NIGHT AT
CELLULAR FIELD"

Chicago, Illinois - On Tuesday evening, June 9, 2009, the four Polish Fraternal Organizations, PNA, PRCUA, PFA, and PWA united once again for an evening to host Polish-American Night at U.S. Cellular Field (Sox Park) which was also called Polish Heritage Night.

Members of the Polish National Alliance, Polish Roman Catholic Union of America, Polish Women's Alliance and Polish Falcons of America cheered on the Chicago White Sox although they were defeated by the Detroit Tigers. There was large sections representing all the groups that attended the evening baseball game. Over eight hundred tickets were sold from the groups that made up for the 35,000 plus fans attending that evening.

Prior to the start of the game, Vice President of PNA, Paul C. Odrobina, Vice President of the PRCUA, Anna Sokolowski, Vice President of the PWA, Sharon Zago, Vice President of the PFA, Robert Gorny, President of the PRCUA, Paul M. Odrobina (Paul's Son) and Mary Jane Robles (Anna Sokolowski's Secretary) met with A. J. Pierzynski and had their photo taken with him. They were also introduced by the announcer with each of them featured on the scoreboard. The National Anthem was sung by Laureen Jancezek-Wysocki, who is from the Lyric Opera as a regular chorus member. There was a Polish Dance Group (Wesoly Lud) that performed outside the gates of Cellular Field and on the field to entertain the fans as they entered the park and before the game. A Chicago Polka band also performed outside the field and had fans dancing their way in to ball park. The biggest cheer that evening came from the crowd when Vice President Paul C. Odrobina threw out the first pitch to Sox Pitcher John Danks and threw him a perfect strike ball.

Throughout the evening, we learned about many of the current and former White Sox players were Polish and played for the club. We never knew that so many players were Polish from just one team. Image all the other Polish players who didn't play for the Sox. What a history lesson we learned that evening. Polka music and Bobby Vinton played between the innings to have the fans dancing in their seats and in the aisles.

The final inning for the Sox got the game tied andmade the game so exciting that went into an extra inning.  This concluded the fourth Polish-American Heritage Night of 2009. The four fraternal organizations would like the thank the Sox and their staff for a wonderful evening and hope the members and fans join us again next year.

Watch the Introductions of the Four Fraternal Vice Presidents and Paul Odrobina throwing out the first pitch to John Danks below or on you tube.

Story and Photos by Robert M. Jadach

To See The List of White Sox Players who are Polish - Click Here

To View Full Version of Photos, Click on the Thumbnail Below