With the Copa America trophy making a tour of all 10 stadiums that will be hosting games for the 100-year-old tournament this summer in the United States, a few members of the Chicago Fire got a chance to meet and bond with some new fans on Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field.
Fire midfielders Michael Stephens and Joey Calistri, and defender Eric Gehrig – all Chicagoland natives – spent a few minutes kicking a soccer ball around with Chicago White Sox players Dioner Navarro, Todd Frazier, Jose Quintana and Tyler Saladino and were joined later by Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon.
Navarro, a catcher who grew up in Venezuela, showed off his ball-juggling skills to the Fire players. He played soccer growing up and said he likes to attend matches whenever he gets a chance. He said he attended three Fire games in 2013 when he played for the Windy City’s other baseball team, the Chicago Cubs.
The Fire seem to be quite popular with the other pro sports teams in town. On Saturday, Chicago Bulls players Nikola Mirotic and Cristiano Felicio attended the Fire’s 2-1 loss to the Montreal Impact and took part in the club’s "Ignite the Fire" ceremony, waving scarves with a longtime season-ticketholder before kickoff to pump up the crowd.
Stephens stuck around the baseball field after Tuesday’s hangout session to throw out the first pitch for the White Sox’ game against the Los Angeles Angels.
