Los Angeles Dodgers John Ely was born and raised in the Chicago area and is making his first hometown major start on Thursday at Wrigley Field. Despite growing up in the area, he was a White Sox fan, so he will not have any emotional conflict in today’s game.

“I had no other choice,” he said. “My dad would have disowned me if I was a Cubs fan.”

Despite Ely making the league minimum of approximately $400,000, he will only leave 10 tickets for family and friends. He expects dozens more friends to attend, but he says he cannot afford tickets for all of them.

“I need a couple more paychecks before I start giving out those kinds of tickets,” he said.

We understand that it’s a tough economy and even though you make $400,000, after all the taxes and union fees, you’re take home is probably $250,000.  We completely understand John.

BTW: At the time of this writing, Ely pitched 7 1/3, giving up 1 ER and 4 hits.  Not bad for a homecoming.  He may take the loss though.  The Cubs are leading 1-0 in the top of the 9th.

Information from The Los Angeles Times was used in this article.