White Sox fans added flowers and messages of remembrance to “Big Bad No. 45” to a growing memorial atop the 2005 World Series monument at 35th and Shields on Monday for beloved closer Bobby Jenks, who died last week at age 44.
“When he came out, you knew everything was going to be OK,” La Grange fan Pat Reisinger said outside Rate Field, imitating one of former manager Ozzie Guillen’s signature wide gestures that would summon the hefty Jenks from the left-field bullpen. “I get chills thinking about those moments.”
The team will honor the big man at the center of a slew of the biggest moments in franchise history by adding “45” patches to players’ uniforms for the rest of the season, Sox officials said.
A moment of silence was held for Jenks before Monday’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, and the tributes are sure to keep pouring in throughout the Sox ‘05 reunion weekend that starts Friday, which Jenks had hoped to attend.
“You can pick up the theme when everyone talks about Bobby and what a great teammate he was. Just a big heart,” said Sox general manager Chris Getz, a former infielder who played with Jenks in 2008-09. “He was just this fun-loving kid, and obviously a tremendous competitor on the mound.”
The two-time All-Star best known for locking down the Sox’ ‘05 World Series sweep in Houston died Friday in Portugal, where he had been undergoing treatment for a form of stomach cancer.
Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of Jenks’ MLB debut, when the fireballer seemingly came out of nowhere to anchor a Sox bullpen in desperate need of a lockdown closer en route to their postseason dominance.
Throwing 100 mph at a time when hitters weren’t used to it, Jenks tied a then-major-league record by retiring 41 consecutive batters in 2007, and he closed out the Sox’ famed “Blackout Game” — the 2008 season’s tie-breaking 163rd game against the despised Twins — to seal an AL Central Division title.
Jenks notched 173 saves with the Sox through 2010, powered by that fastball, a devastating curveball and knee-bending slider for 334 strikeouts.
“He really was a unicorn,” said Getz, who also lamented the loss earlier this year of another former Sox teammate, reliever Octavio Dotel, who died earlier this year when the roof collapsed at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic.
“I tell players all the time, you’re gonna look back at your careers and it’s not going to be, ‘Well, I played with this All-Star,’” Getz said. “It’s the relationships that you have with your teammates. It’s the most important thing.”
MLB Network will air Game 4 of the ’05 World Series at noon Tuesday as a tribute to Jenks.
Coming and going
The Sox put first base Fox Lake product Ryan Noda (.088, one home run) on the 10-day injured list with a quad strain and called up infielder Tristan Gray, who has hit .280 with nine home runs while splitting time at second base, third and shortstop at Triple-A Charlotte.
Miguel Vargas will get most of the time at first, according to manager Will Venable, who said center fielder Luis Robert Jr. will return to the lineup “in the next couple days” as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
