Mack Liederman

Tim Anderson talks to a young player who got his tooth knocked out. Michael Kopech inspired a teen pitcher recovering from leukemia. And the team let Shermann Thomas, the TikTok historian, film at their field.

Chicago United is an upstart team that has brought together athletes across the city to play a sport distinctly rooted in Chinese American tradition.

Ana Sierra is the one-woman operation behind the West Side’s semi-professional women’s basketball league. The league has become a gathering space for residents and entrepreneurs.

Removing speed bumps legally can take up to a year. The city's process is slow, but, "I have never seen residents go to this length,” Ald. Raymond Lopez said.

An elite group of five contestants are racing to visit 367 Vienna Beef hot dog stands before the challenge ends in four weeks. The owner of Byron's in Uptown said the contest has helped boost business.

The luchadores returned to Logan Square after a year off because of the pandemic. “It takes a very rare breed to do this — a very rare breed, indeed," one said.

Brady Nelson, 12, loves baseball — and he might just be Eloy Jiménez's biggest fan.

"Settings like this are wonderful to bring the community, police and first responders ... together,” one of the organizers said.

Ted Erikson is an accomplished swimmer who conquered the English Channel, among other feats — but it's Lake Michigan that always calls him back.

The Chi-League pro-am highlights talented local players who can grow the game and serve as role models to young kids of all genders. 

“Who am I to turn down these kids?” says coach Jo Gotangco. “I had dreams of playing at a higher level. And if I can bring a kid to fulfill the dream ... that’s the reward."

NBA stars and other pro players joined up-and-coming Chicago basketball players at the tournament at Chicago State University.

Garfield Park Little League teamed up with The BASE Chicago to hold an anti-violence protest followed by a baseball game for kids.

Last fall, podcaster Jake Mintz made a bold and ultimately dead-wrong declaration about the White Sox hiring Tony La Russa. He just biked from New York to Chicago to honor a pledge.

“I cannot think of anything in Chicago more historical than the Daley family and 16-inch softball,” said George Bliss, curator of the 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame.

“Our city is crying out for help right now, and these are the young men that can come back and help us," Horton-Tucker's high school coach said.

Baseball has been enduringly white — but a team of Black teens from the South Side is showing they're leaders on and off the field.

For a city that often lacks basic track equipment and proper indoor running spaces, the newest doors of Gately Park open year-round opportunities.

After learning the sport on the fields of West Englewood and Auburn Gresham, Trey was selected by the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association for the All-State Team. He's the only freshman to receive this year’s honor.

“People used to say: We’re as rough and tough as the steel that we pumped out of these steel mills. But because of that image, we were always told there’s a certain traditional lifestyle we must live to,” an organizer said.