White Sox' Hendriks, Cancer-Free, Makes Debut In Emotional Return

CHICAGO —Liam Hendriks tends to wear his heart on his sleeve to begin with, which made Monday a more emotional day than most.

For the first time this season, the 33-year-old Chicago White Sox reliever, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January, returned to the mound in an emotional debut at Guaranteed Rate Field. Hendriks, who announced in April he was cancer-free, was greeted by multiple ovations in his return to the White Sox despite giving up a pair of runs in a 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

Hendriks was greeted with an overwhelmingly positive response as he made his way to the bullpen and when he emerged in relief. Fans chanted his name as he made his way to the mound after a group of fans held up letters that read “Team Liam” as he prepared to make his season debut.

“It was great being back out there,” Hendriks told reporters after Monday’s loss. “Getting back, putting cleats on, running out, doing all that. I felt good, I felt strong, I felt comfortable out there.”

Hendriks, who recently made a couple of minor-league appearances as he prepared to return to the big leagues, said Monday was the best he has felt since being diagnosed. Since Hendriks announced he is in remission from the cancer he was diagnosed with, the Sox said they would take the process of Hendriks’ return slowly to ensure that everything was where it needed to be with the pitcher’s health before he returned to the team.

Hendriks said he was overwhelmed by the support he has received not only from Sox fans and from the organization but from baseball in general. On Monday, fans at Guaranteed Rate Field wore "Close Out Cancer" T-shirts, which helped to generate $100,000 that will go toward cancer research on Hendriks’ behalf.

“It was humbling walking out there and seeing the amount of people wearing my shirts and the amount of people having signs or flags,” Hendriks told reporters.“The amount of people that were chanting when I came into the game. It was a very humbling and sobering moment.”

Sox general manager Rick Hahn called Hendriks’ return a testament to the pitcher’s hard work and commitment. He said when Hendriks was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma over the winter that it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility Hendriks could miss the entire season.

But after being declared cancer-free in April, Hendriks made it a point to return as soon as possible.

“He was very clear that part of his motivation was to get back as quickly as possible, and he didn’t want to rule out the first two months of the season,” Hahn told reporters on Monday “He was able to do so much while getting treatment — it did hit him for a few days, as it would anybody — but the fact that he was able to maintain somewhat of a throwing schedule and was occasionally off a mound and was able to long toss and be by the complex, he never really atrophied his base down all the way to zero.

“And that allowed him to come back, once he was cleared, over the course of five or six weeks, which is awfully remarkable.”

On Sunday, the Sox released a video announcing Hendriks’ return. The video, was chronicled the reliever’s cancer journey and featured his Sox teammates, lasted just 90 seconds, but Hendriks’ wife said the tribute was enough to make her husband cry for the first time.

In a tweet accompanying the video, the Sox wrote, “Your journey has been an inspiration. We couldn’t be more proud. Welcome back, Liam Hendriks.”

"He has not cried in this journey at all. Even when he rang the bell (after finishing chemotherapy), he got a little choked up," Kristi Hendriks told reporters on Monday. "But when he saw that his teammates were really rooting for him, and they were so excited he was back, he got very emotional.

“(Monday) he was excited and he was nervous. I take nervous as a really good competitive spirit. You are really only nervous when you care about something. So I’m excited for him.”