CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura played the last 151 games of his career over two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, his boyhood team growing up in the area of Santa Barbara, California.

Listening to Vin Scully call his at-bats was a thrill, and he cherished the little things, such as seeing the panoramic tableau stretch out behind the Dodger Stadium outfield every time he came to the park.

At SoxFest on Friday afternoon, Ventura recounted that brief period of time during which his adult life and childhood intersected.

Jeff Samardzija didn't hide his excitement about joining fellow newcomers David Robertson and Melky Cabrera with the White Sox. AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

"I think it's going to be like that for him," he said about Jeff Samardzija, his new starting pitcher.

Yes, Samardzija has many fond memories about growing up a White Sox fan in northwest Indiana, and he will be asked to recount them all season.

At SoxFest, Samardzija, a Valparaiso High graduate and famous Notre Dame football player, met with waves and waves of reporters, many of whom covered him during his Cubs tenure, which ended with a trade to the Oakland A's on July 4. The Sox landed him in a deal during the winter meetings, much to his delight.

Few players are as easygoing and down to earth as Samardzija, a media favorite on the North Side. Take his first memory of going to a Sox game:

"We had this old conversion van and we popped a flat [tire] about four miles from the exit," Samardzija said. "We're on the Dan Ryan [Expressway], and cars are going about 100 mph zooming past us, and me and my pops are down there on our hands and knees trying to fix the lug nuts. That's my first memory. Then, we went to the game and they ended up beating the Blue Jays. I was watching Carlos Delgado play. I have a lot of fond memories of being a kid, and when this happened all those memories came back and I started to relive them."

Now that's an authentic commercial for Sox tickets.

"We almost died on the Dan Ryan, but we made it to the game. Call the ticket office at "

Samardzija is guaranteed to be on this team for only 2015 -- don't expect another summer sell-off on the South Side -- before he tests free agency. The 30-year-old is making $9.8 million this season and is expected to command a new deal worth well more than $100 million. He has said he will definitely go on the market, not only to fill his bank account, but for the good of the union.

No matter how long he'll be here, the Sox are using him on all of their marketing materials, from ticket-plan mailers to mini-calendars. They made a lot of moves in the offseason to improve an 89-loss team, but Samardzija was the biggest addition.

Immediately after the trade went down, the Sox bought a full-page ad in the Times of Northwest Indiana, Samardzija's local newspaper. The Sox are actively selling tickets to groups from that area, in which his family still lives.

"It's smart," Samardzija said with a smile when told about this business plan. "Smart. I would do the same thing if I was them."

But seriously

"It's cool," he said. "I'm pinching myself with what's going on and how much they've thrown me in the fold, and I haven't even made a pitch for these guys. So all I can do is pitch the right way and do everything I need to do to return the favor."

That sounds like a fair deal. The Sox only expect him to pitch like an ace along Chris Sale and Jose Quintana.

Samardzija became a legitimate star last season, posting a 2.99 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP in 33 starts for the Cubs and A's. He started twice against the White Sox, pitching nine shutout innings in an extra-inning loss at Wrigley Field. He came to the Cell in September with the A's and threw seven shutout innings in a loss. He's allowed only three runs in 32⅓ innings in four starts against the Sox.

"I'm glad we got him on our side of the field now," pitching coach Don Cooper said. "We've seen him on the other side. He was a tough nut."

A nut that has been a major league starter since only 2012, throwing 608 innings over 99 starts. The past two seasons he's thrown more than 200 innings. With that in mind, Cooper thinks the best is yet to come.

"He's got a chance to continue to climb and really, really get better," Cooper said. "He's good now. Think about it, if he has a good year "

Cooper's face lights up as he starts to think of the millions Samardzija will command as a free agent, before snapping back to reality.

"I'm hoping we can sign him," he said. "I'm hoping he likes what's going on. I'm hoping he sees we're going in a great direction. I hope he realizes, 'Hey, I do live down the block. I grew up here watching.' I hope it all works out."

Samardzija wasn't eager to talk about his future, but he is very cool with talking about the present, particularly how general manager Rick Hahn reconstructed the Sox with a host of new faces, such as closer David Robertson, outfielder Melky Cabrera and designated hitter/first baseman Adam LaRoche, among others.

"I'm really excited to see an aggressive front office like that," he said. "Having a plan is one thing. Going out signing free agents and making trades is one thing. But when you come out and you know what you want and who you want and the type of guy you want, I think that's the next level."

Samardzija, who is very bright -- and not just because he gave up football for baseball -- likes to see himself as a simple guy, an old-fashioned archetype of a ballplayer. He sees the same from the new teammates.

"These guys are all professionals," he said. "They come out and they care about one thing, that's performing well and winning ballgames. We don't see these guys with big Twitter accounts. They don't have charity events going on. These guys like to do one thing: pick up their leather and play baseball. I fit 100 percent with that. That's what I'm excited about."

Samardzija lives in Arizona in the offseason, and he's been working out at the team's Glendale complex.

"It's still sinking in," he said. "I'm at the facility working out every day, and I see all those old signs and old pictures celebrating [the World Series] on the double-decker bus. It's slowly sinking in."