Joe Ruffalo (2026)

06/12/2025

Stopped by the lakefront last weekend to try and get shots of the now world famous pair of Snowy Owls, who somehow made their way to Chicago all the way from the Arctic. Knowing how far they traveled, it’s wild to see birds like this just hanging out in the middle of the city.

What I didn’t expect was to have a full-on Planet Earth moment unfold just minutes after pulling up. Perched up above both owls was a Peregrine Falcon that kept trying to pick a fight. Watching the owls flare their wings in self defense was wild to see, even from hundreds of feet away. One of those crazy “stop and watch” moments.

All we needed was David Attenborough narrating in the background.

📸: November 23rd, 2025

29/11/2025

Seeing Paul McCartney perform live is like walking back through each chapter of life.

Far before I knew how to read or write, I was introduced to The Beatles. Even as time moves on and things change year after year, the music has always remained a rare constant. I would venture to guess that most of the sold out crowd at United Center these past few days would also agree.

Tuesday night marked just my second time getting the chance to see Sir Paul, and the first in nearly nine years. Having it be the final show of his 2025 Got Back tour made it all the more special. At 83 years old, it's pretty remarkable to know that after over six decades, Macca is still performing near three hour sets filled with the greatest music ever written with zero breaks.

Other than the first photo, which I took shortly before Monday's show, all shots below were captured with my iPhone on Tuesday.

An unforgettable evening.

📸: November 24th & 25th, 2025

22/11/2025

The greatest pitcher of our generation officially retires a world champion.

Been a privilege to watch Clayton Kershaw pitch for the Dodgers for these past 18 years. Whenever Kersh took the hill, you just knew you were watching greatness. Hearing Vin Scully call his starts on those warm summer nights as a kid...all of it special. The end of an incredible era.

Here's a few shots that I took documenting Kershaw's final career start in Milwaukee a few months back.

📸: July 8th, 2025

11/08/2024

The spirit of the 1990's was alive and well on Friday evening, as Edwin McCain, Collective Soul, and Hootie & the Blowfish brought their "Summer Camp With Trucks" 2024 Tour to Tinley Park's Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre. I had a great time covering this one for the venue!

31/07/2024

The lone memorable highlight from yesterday's ballgame. Tedeschi Trucks Band co-founder Derek Trucks stopped by Guaranteed Rate Field to deliver first pitch, as the group arrived in town the day before their performance at Chicago's Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island.

It was pretty awesome to see Derek, one of my all-time favorite musicians, take the mound at the ballpark — especially given the fact that his great-uncle Virgil Trucks also pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1953-1955.

📸: July 30th, 2024

15/07/2024

It's been almost three months since I made a near three hour drive to watch Paul Skenes take the mound for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.

In just that short amount of time, a lot has changed. Skenes has gone from embarrassing MiLB hitters to becoming the most dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball. Since his debut on May 11th, Skenes hasn’t skipped a beat, remaining nearly unhittable in each of his 11 starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates. With a 6-0 record, the right hander has struck out 89 batters with 13 walks across 66⅓ innings this season. He has the most strikeouts with a sub-2.00 ERA through 11 starts since ERA became an official stat in 1913.

Ahead of Friday’s series opener on the South Side, Skenes appeared on the Dan Patrick Show to discuss his recent success and his first MLB All-Star selection. During the interview, he received a surprise call from NL Manager Torey Lovullo, informing him that he would be the starting pitcher for the 2024 MLB All-Star Game. Skenes will become only the fifth rookie pitcher to start an ASG, and the first in nearly 30 years.

Just hours after this exciting news, Paul joined his Pirate teammates in the outfield for batting practice in Chicago, which is where I took the photos included. It's amazing to see how humbly Skenes, at just 22 years old, continues to handle his rapid rise to fame. It's also inspiring to see the enthusiasm of a new generation of fans meeting one of the league’s most promising talents. Can’t wait to see Skenes battle against Judge, Soto, Henderson, and the rest of the American League squad in Arlington tomorrow.

📸: July 13th, 2024

01/07/2024

What a night! Pretty special anytime you have an opportunity to see and photograph the all-time greats. Had a blast covering Counting Crows and Santana for Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre on Saturday!

Thanks for taking a minute to check out my gallery! 📸

28/06/2024

“Back Where It All Began”

On Thursday afternoon, former Chicago White Sox great Chris Sale took the mound on the South Side for the first time in five years.

Sale began his career with the White Sox back in 2010 as an effective relief pitcher. With the help of Pitching Coach Don Cooper, however, Sale eventually transitioned into a starting pitcher two years later, and his career immediately took off. He earned MLB All-Star honors for seven straight seasons from 2012-2018 and led the American League in strikeouts in both 2015 and 2017.

In 2016, Sale was traded to the Boston Red Sox in a blockbuster deal for prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech. In 2017, he surpassed 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time, earning him the title of AL Sporting News Starting Pitcher of the Year. In 2018, he struck out Dodgers star Manny Machado to record the final out of the World Series. In 2019, he would set a record by reaching 2,000 career strikeouts in just 1,626 innings pitched.

Unfortunately, injuries would plague Sale the next few years, leading to him being traded to Atlanta in 2024. Since the trade, Chris has re-emerged as an elite arm, sporting a 10-3 record with 118 strikeouts and a 2.79 ERA. Everything was on display when he faced the White Sox in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. The 35-year-old lefty was in vintage form, ending the day with a very impressive final line:

7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K

In the bottom of the fifth-inning, Sale made history yet again, punching out Sox infielder Danny Mendick to collect his 2,307th career strikeout, passing Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for 56th on the all-time list.

📸: June 27th, 2024

27/06/2024

“The Sho Continues”

Shohei Ohtani hits his 25th home run of the 2024 season in his first at-bat of the ballgame on Wednesday night in Chicago. As a result of the homer, Ohtani passed Roy Campanella, setting a new Dodgers franchise record by recording an RBI in his tenth consecutive game.

📸: June 26th, 2024

26/06/2024

"Dodger Power"

After being away from 35th and Shields for a bit, I returned to the ballpark last night and was happy to have captured a couple of cool moments.

Photo 1: MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani blasts his National League-leading 24th home run of the season, while tying Roy Campanella for the franchise record of nine consecutive games recording an RBI.

Photo 2: Just two innings later, Dodgers star first baseman Freddie Freeman belted his 12th as Los Angeles takes down the Chicago White Sox en route to their 50th win of the season.

📸: June 25th, 2024

25/06/2024

“Ryne Sandberg: Second to None”

On June 23rd, 1984, Ryne Sandberg made history during the famous "Sandberg Game" against the St. Louis Cardinals. Forty years later, on the exact anniversary of his greatest individual performance as a Cub, Sandberg was honored by the organization at Wrigley Field as he joined Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Fergie Jenkins in Statue Row.

Former teammates such as Shawon Dunston, Larry Bowa, and Andre Dawson were in attendance, along with other familiar faces like Bill Murray, Tom Ricketts, and the current Chicago Cubs roster. The one and only Bob Costas, who called that legendary Sandberg game on NBC, was also there to help honor the 2005 National Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee.

Sandberg had shared back in January that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thankfully, after months of treatment, Ryno announced that he was cancer-free before being welcomed back warmly by thousands of passionate fans, many of whom were wearing his jersey. The turnout was incredible, and showed just how much Ryno means to Chicago and the entire Cubs fanbase.

Capturing these photos was no easy task with the huge crowd, and all were taken from outside Gallagher Way along Clark Street (and the candid portrait on Waveland). Given how many people were around the area, I am fortunate to have captured what I did. I will be returning to Wrigley Field soon to get some up close pictures of the statue as well, as I didn't have a clear vantage point to do so yesterday. Either way, it was a truly memorable afternoon helping honor an all-time great.

📸: June 23rd, 2024

11/06/2024

“A Summer Night In Milwaukee”

Already shared this image on my Instagram stories a couple of times and figured that I’d just post it here as well. I’m always a sucker for shooting neon signs. Leon’s in Milwaukee is about as iconic as it gets.

As I said on my stories, been in a bit of a creative rut the last couple of weeks, particularly around the ballpark. I’ve put so much time and energy into covering the team and game that I love over the last few years. I’m always trying to explore new ways to improve my Sox content, but just have felt like I’ve been striking out more frequently in my recent attempts. That being said, it’s been nice to take a temporary step away and focus on other things for a change.

The good news is that there are some fun shoots in the works the next few weeks and I plan on getting back to posting more regularly. Thanks for all the support!

📸: May 31st, 2024

Joe Ruffalo

06/12/2025

29/11/2025

22/11/2025

11/08/2024

31/07/2024

15/07/2024

01/07/2024

28/06/2024

27/06/2024

26/06/2024

25/06/2024

11/06/2024

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