Baseball enthusiast Jack White took part in a celebrity baseball game at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama, leading his Third Man Records team against the Texas Playboys, Alabama Slammers and other squads taking part in Florence-based designer Billy Reid’s annual Shindig, AL.com reports (via Pitchfork). The university itself confirmed that the rocker graced their field Friday.
Jack White (White Stripes) was on campus today playing baseball with @Billy_Reid & the #BillyReidShindig. #roarlions pic.twitter.com/pERhOj3Qnv
— U. of North Alabama (@north_alabama) August 26, 2016
White played first base and had a couple at-bats for the Nashville-based Third Man team that donned yellow-and-black jerseys, a 1950s-inspired flannel uniform that is also available for purchase through the Third Man online shop. It’s unclear how White fared in the game and whether the Third Man team was victorious.
White has a long history with America’s pastime: In 2009, it was rumored that the then-White Stripes singer had donated $170,000 in order to restore a baseball field in his hometown of Detroit. Five years later, White threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park in July 2014.
At the start of the 2016 baseball season, White announced that he had teamed with the Tigers’ second baseman Ian Kinsler to invest in a baseball bat company called Warstic; it’s unknown whether the Third Man team used Warstic bats during the celebrity baseball games.
A photo posted by Beau Patrick Bedford (@beaubedford) on Aug 26, 2016 at 1:55pm PDT
See ya later, Jack White @thirdmanrecordsofficial @texasplayboysbaseball #billyreidshindig
A photo posted by Abigail Enright (@abigail.enright) on Aug 26, 2016 at 12:55pm PDT
