It took Juan Uribe about 10 seconds into an interview to utter the unlikely catchphrase that endeared him to White Sox writers for many years and capture his personality.
“Every time I come here,” he said Saturday morning. “I be a lotta happy.”
Typically reporters would clean up a quote like that. But “a lotta happy” was perfect the way it was phrased, because it accurately described Uribe’s sense of self. There was a lot of him and he was always happy.
On Saturday afternoon, after talking to Uribe, I ran into White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams.