'Quite the day' for anthem singer McGarity

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 -- There was a performance of the national anthem prior to one of Triple-A Charlotte’s contests a few weeks ago -- just as there is before every sporting event in the United States -- during which Knights reliever Aaron McGarity and his teammates began to talk about the rendition.

“We [didn't have] a bad anthem, you could say, but one that was lacking a little bit of speed, pace or spirit or maybe all three,” McGarity said. “And I was like, ‘Man, I think I can do a better job than this person.’

“The guys were like, ‘Maybe you should ask.’ [And] I was like, ‘Maybe I will.’”

McGarity asked, and he received.

After getting cleared by the White Sox, the Knights and Charlotte manager Pat Listach, McGarity sang the anthem prior to a 5-1 loss to Nashville on Aug. 29. But he did more than sing. McGarity also caught the ceremonial first pitches and then retired Tyler Black on a one-pitch popup for the Knights’ final out.

“Yeah, it was quite the day,” McGarity said. “Quite the day.”

This story is not about a polished artist who took years of vocal lessons and finally earned an opportunity. It’s more about a 29-year-old who was part of his middle school choir and did a couple of plays, including the co-male lead as Will Parker in an eighth-grade production of "Oklahoma!"

“Our chorus teacher was more of a classics guy,” McGarity said. “But that was the extent of my formal singing training.”

Let’s not forget karaoke as well.

McGarity has faced bases-loaded, nobody-out situations, and he has pitched through them with a 2.58 ERA with five saves, eight holds and 54 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings over 49 games for the Knights.

Tough mound challenges were nothing compared to the nerves once the anthem idea became a reality.

“They gave me a date and then I got all nervous, and man, my legs were shaking like crazy out there,” McGarity said. “You couldn’t tell in the video, but I could feel it.

“I would say the song itself is pretty straightforward. I don’t want to belittle anyone else’s attempts, but the song is not the part that is difficult. It’s the tempo of it and keeping yourself collected. I’ve seen myself sing it so many times, and a couple of points in there, I wish I could sing those notes again.

“When you look back at yourself, you wish you could have done it a little bit better. But I think I did good, and the guys thought I did good.”

Baseball is McGarity’s profession, one he has executed successfully during his first season in the White Sox organization -- where he signed as a free agent on Feb. 1. He’s a bit too old to be a prospect, and as a right-hander throwing in the 89-to-92 mph range, McGarity doesn’t have the eye-popping velocity to catch teams’ attention.