Longtime gardener Roger ‘The Sodfather’ Bossard to undergo hernia surgery – The Denver Post

This Chicago White Sox season has seen 30 injury list moves since opening day, including multiple trips for multiple players.

Manager Tony La Russa was the latest to run out of time after the team announced on Wednesday he would be out of the dugout indefinitely due to an undisclosed medical issue.

Now, the injury bug has even spread to the field squad with news that longtime keeper Roger “The Sodfather” Bossard will undergo hernia surgery next week.

Bossard confirmed the surgery would sideline him for most of the final month of the regular season.

Bossard missed just seven home games in his 56 seasons working for the White Sox at the old Comiskey Park and guaranteed-rate ground – and two of those absences were because he was asked to go to Arizona for field work at their spring training facility. Bossard even worked on the ground at Sox Park at the start of the pandemic in 2020 when the season was delayed and only a few staff were allowed inside the stadium.

He has been the Sox’s head guard since 1983, when he succeeded his father, Gene Bossard.

The Sodfather, who was working the field on Wednesday and will be the rest of the family, had hoped the hernia surgery could be postponed until the offseason. But that wasn’t possible, so he’ll have the procedure performed on the Sox’s upcoming road trip to Seattle and Oakland.

Bossard said he would still be able to show up and supervise fieldwork in the final 11 games of the regular season after Sept. 12, but would not be allowed to perform physical labor. General manager Rick Hahn ordered Bossard to lay down his rake, telling his friend that his health was more important to his family and the organization than his iron man streak. He memorably worked out with a broken toe in 2017 and refuses to take days off.

Bossard’s doctor agreed and told him that rest was the only way to make the healing process successful.

The Sox have had a tough season at home, going 31-35 in Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. But the field was immaculate with near perfect summer weather after a tough start to the spring. Last May, Bossard confirmed what most observers thought – that this was the worst bad weather spring we’ve seen in decades.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” he said. “It’s horrible and it’s not just the Sox and the Cubs. These are the golf courses and everyone suffers. The plant is not growing as it should. The weather is brutal. It’s as bad as I’ve ever seen.

The White Sox remain in the hunt for the playoffs, so there’s still a chance Bossard will return if they have a long run in October. But that’s too far to contemplate — and the Sox are five games behind the division-leading Cleveland Guardians, which enter September.

Regardless, Bossard said he plans to return in 2023 for his 57th season and has no plans to retire.

“If you love what you’re doing, keep doing it,” he said.

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