CHICAGO – Fans greeted Derrick Rose with MVP chants as he walked to the mound wearing a No. 1 White Sox jersey on MLB Opening Day at Rate Field.

The Chicago Bulls legend threw a strike as his son, London, watched and later delivered a pitch of his own. For Rose, the 2011 MVP, and White Sox fans, it was a special moment.

“It’s always good,” Rose said shortly after the first pitch. “I had a few people betting against me, family members, saying I was going to pitch the ball the right way. But all jokes aside, it’s always great to be in Chicago with my kids and giving them the experience to do cool things like this.”

“My brothers are gonna tell me I did a great job. They’re my hardest critics, so I think I did pretty good.”

“It’s surreal,” Rose said of the MVP chants. “It’s always surreal, but like I said, I’m a business man now and a dad today. Just spending time with them today and just giving them this time to really take in the moment.”

Rose spoke to reporters while holding his son, London, who was born in 2019. No matter if London chooses to pursue a basketball or baseball career, or something else, Rose wants to be a supportive father.

“It’s whatever he wants, whatever he wants,” Rose said. “He’s very talented, so my job is just to tame him – he has a lot of energy and a loving kid. So I’m just in his life to just be there and just to help.”

Rose is opening a flower shop soon, a project he couldn’t speak much about on Thursday, but is part of the new phase of his life as a retired NBA player. Shortly after his retirement in January, Rose opened a pop-up flower shop in downtown Chicago, where fans could meet him. He hopes it helps make an impact on Chicago, along with other projects that he said are in the works.

Adding a 🌹 to Opening Day pic.twitter.com/BujQ9GZXkF

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) March 27, 2025

“No, it’s never old,” Rose said of the ovation he received. “Coming here, it’s one thing we wanted to establish, just having an imprint on Chicago alone and just doing projects like this. Like I said, me and my team, it’s something we talked about for a very long time. Shoutout to the Reinsdorf family for allowing us to do things like this. So I’m very fortunate.”

“It’s been a whirlwind, but at the same time I’m loving the moment of curating everything that you’re seeing from the commercials to the retirement commercials to the pitch to the flower shop. It’s for everyone to see that I’m trying to manifest something right now, and I’m involving my family in it making it the team.”

Rose made basketball look easy, winning rookie of the year and making three all-star appearances with the Bulls before injuries derailed his career. He considers himself a business man now, which has tested him in different ways than his basketball career.

“It’s challenging,” Rose said. “But at the same time, you won’t see perfection without imperfection. So developing, going through my ups and downs, suffering during the developing and realizing where I’m at. The projects that we’re working on, we’re borrowing from people, but at the same time putting our own twist on it.”