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 -- Will Venable has 707 career hits, including 81 home runs, to go with 135 stolen bases over nine Major League Baseball seasons.
Venable has worked in the front office, coached on the basepaths, won a World Series title as the associate manager for Bruce Bochy’s staff with the 2023 Rangers, and now, Venable is helping to build the White Sox in his first year as manager. Those accomplishments don’t even factor in his time playing basketball at a high level for Princeton.
Certainly meaningful, but that’s athletics representing the work side of his impressive resume. Those worthy achievements still would come in a distant second and then below compared to Venable’s many joys gained from his family.
“Yeah, absolutely. Having a family is the coolest thing that I’ve done and accomplished,” Venable told MLB.com during a recent conversation. “To be able to experience this with them, that makes it even more special.
“We have fun, we enjoy being together, and certainly being a father of my family and being a son and a brother of the other Venable family, has been amazing. I’m very lucky.”
Venable and his wife, Kathryn, have been married for 12 years, but they were together for a long time prior, according to Venable, so she’s been part of every one of his professional seasons. Their four kids -- a 9-year-old daughter, 7-year-old twin daughters and a four-month-old son -- understand baseball as a way of life at such a young age.
And at that young age, they also already understand the job dad does.
“They are engaged somewhat and have some interest -- or as I have changed roles, they have come to understand a little bit of what each one does,” Venable said. “And they understand what this job means to some degree. They don’t know anything else, really.
“This baseball cycle of the year is what they have experienced every year of their life, similar to what I experienced every year of my life. It’s all the different cities and planes and travel, and all the fun stuff we get to do, it’s been a part of their life from Day 1.
“It’s always on, they are always around it, so I think while they are playing and doing other stuff, they are still paying attention,” Venable added. “They always know the score. They ask about my signs, and they know about the players, they know the players’ numbers.”
As for a favorite ballpark for his daughters over the years? Venable smiled and said that judgement comes from an entertaining factor other than food or amenities.
“They really base what they like on mascots, I think a lot,” Venable said with a smile. “We were with the Red Sox, so they spent time at Fenway and know Fenway Park, Tessie and Wally there. Obviously, the Rangers and Captain and that ballpark [Globe Life Field]. They love Southpaw. [Chicago Bulls’] Benny the Bull, they love Benny. They are into the mascots.”
With Venable’s dad, Max, being a successful player in his own right over 12 seasons, Will knew the baseball world from a young age as he mentioned above. There are responsibilities attached to the job, basically from February to what the White Sox hope will be late into October someday soon, and even on scheduled off-days, there are times where sacrifices must be made and opportunities might be missed.
“At the same time, that’s a great thing about baseball,” Venable said. “There is time where we get to check out a little bit and be with our family and really be engaged.
“They have done a lot of the stuff, the zoo and the aquarium and the lake, and stuff around the city. Our footprint was still pretty small when we were with the Cubs, so still plenty for us to explore, and they are excited.”
Venable and his family won’t be together on Father’s Day with the White Sox in Arlington, Texas, but with school out, they will have many summer chances to travel and join him at the Rate. His four kids helped pick Venable’s current jersey No. 1, but it’s Kathryn who keeps the family together during baseball season, according to Venable.
“One of the things I think about all the time is how lucky I am that my wife is so incredible with all the responsibilities she carries and the way she just dominates everything and runs our family, and gets everyone where they need to be,” Venable said. “That’s the other part of it. As great as baseball is, there’s no way that we could do it as a family without my wife.”