When the organist became a cover girl

And can you believe it, one player thought it was a little bit controversial!

We are THRILLED to announce that legendary Chicago White Sox personality and 40-year team organist Nancy Faust has joined up with South Side Hit Pen as a contributor. She has a million delightful stories to tell, and we're going to coax as many of them as we can out of her. Without further delay, here's Nancy's first story for us, going back to 1972.

A lot of people are curious about a picture that's shown up on Twitter and circulated online, with me and Bill Melton. I thought you might want to know the rest of the story, and see the entire picture — with Wilbur Wood!

The whole thing started out when the Chicago Tribune contacted me to ask that I be part of a photo shoot about summer clothing. I loved the idea. It was exciting to go to Saks Fifth Avenue and pick out some great outfits.

But when I showed up at the studio for the shoot, lo and behold the White Sox had provided a couple of players for me to pose with, Bill and Wilbur. No problem. I just did whatever the photographer asked, thinking it was going to be a small little story in the Tribune, no big deal, a really fun experience.

I found out later that Wilbur had written to my boss, White Sox GM Stu Holcomb. Wilbur was worried. He said that the photos we took weren't suitable or wholesome, and would be a bad image for baseball. Stu asked me about it, and I said I just did what they asked, and everything seemed just fine to me.

So on Saturday night, June 3, 1972, I got an early edition of the Sunday paper out the next day, and it turned out this wasn't a small article at all — I was on the cover!

C'mon, Wilbur / Chicago Tribune

I guess Wilbur objected to the cover. But there's another photo, inside the magazine, that most people haven't seen. Maybe that's what bothered him.

It was the centerfold of the magazine, and Bill and Wilbur were just whipping me around. I did see any harm; I was having fun!