This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO – Mike Tauchman gave major credit to his wife, Eileen, for her role in the exceptional charity week set up this season by the couple, earning Tauchman the White Sox nomination for the prestigious 2025 Roberto Clemente Award.
The hard-nosed, 34-year-old outfielder also smiled when talking about sharing the news of this honor with his father.
“You know it’s funny, I was excited to tell my dad. That was one of his favorite players growing up,” Tauchman told me of his dad’s connection to Clemente. “I felt incredibly touched to kind of receive that. It’s a huge honor.
“It’s not something that you set out for. Certainly not something I set out for. But it’s a huge honor, obviously. Roberto Clemente’s legacy of not just being a great ballplayer, but a compassionate human being, carries on today through our game.”
Tauchman’s charitable endeavors with his wife stemmed from their daughter, Remi, who was born with a cleft palate and initially required an NG tube for the first three months of her life. Having your child battle illness or adversity at any age is just as tough for his or her loving parents, but the Tauchmans “turned their family’s experience into an opportunity to support others facing similar challenges,” according to the White Sox nomination announcement.
They organized a care-package initiative during a White Sox home game at the end of June, and alongside staff, players’ families, and partners, assembled care packages for parents and children navigating hospital stays for cleft and other craniofacial conditions. These comfort bags included stuffed animals for babies, a non-spill sippy cup, a silicone spoon, a $20 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card, a blanket, a long charging cord, a baby book, and essentials for post-surgery care such as lip balm and wipes.
Packages were delivered to a nearby children’s hospital, intending to ease the burden families often feel during these difficult moments. Timed around National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month this July, they launched a fundraising campaign at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. The couple pledged to personally match donations up to their goal of $18,000, a tribute to Tauchman’s jersey number and commitment that doubles the impact of every dollar contributed.
To further inspire participation, donors sending $18 or more automatically were entered into a raffle for a unique White Sox gameday experience, including a meet-and-greet on the ballpark’s warning track. Those donations have now gone north of $50,000, per Tauchman, being used for various things such as transportation and meals for families handling hospital stays.
Of course, the best news is that Remi is doing great and was with her mom and dad near the White Sox dugout at Rate Field pregame Monday when Jim Thome, the ’02 Clemente Award winner, presented Tauchman as the ’25 White Sox nominee.
“She’s doing so great, so happy, and so full of energy, and being able to kind of give back to something that was so personal to us, it was something really important to me and my wife,” Tauchman said. “Honestly, my wife deserves a lot of credit. She kind of had the genesis of what we did, it was kind of her thinking that was something she wanted to do.
“Then the White Sox were so supportive and helpful through everything. We are both just very very grateful. We are extremely grateful for everybody that contributed. Our lives have obviously changed so much in the last year. It’s something that’s really special for us and we hold kind of near and dear to our hearts.”
Entering Friday’s series opener with the Padres, the 8,995 pitches thrown by White Sox rookies represented the highest 2025 total for any Major League team and the 5,887 pitches seen by their rookie hitters ranked third overall, per Statcast. It’s important to have quality veteran production and leadership during an ongoing rebuild from a player such as Tauchman.
His work made a definite difference on the field, in the clubhouse and clearly off the field.
“Something I remember when I was a really young player, it was just being in the big leagues was so overwhelming that getting comfortable and establishing myself, all that stuff was probably more of a priority,” Tauchman said. “Then as I’ve progressed through my career, you are almost not panicking all the time, so you have more time to devote to things like that.
“I’ve played with guys who were extremely generous, compassionate people. Being able to use our platform for that, it’s really positive."