the bobby jenks memorial patch

bobby jenks passed away just over a year ago just before the white sox celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 2005 world series championship team, of which jenks was a big part. he had been diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer earlier in the year. he was only 44 years old.

the white sox quickly moved to add a memorial patch to their uniforms for the remainder of the season, settling on a black diamond design with jenks' number 45 in white. you can see the patch on curtis mead's 2026 topps heritage chrome refractor parallel

the black diamond memorial has been the white sox' standard design for former players and coaches since at least 2012, but they sometimes use a name or nickname rather than a number. they have also used a different design for reinsdorf family members.

for their city connect jerseys, the white sox inverted the colors of the patch, and the black on white version is seen on this 2026 topps finest colson montgomery xfractor parallel

jenks was a rookie in 2005 when he helped the chisox win their first championship since 1917. he had two saves in both the alcs and the world series, and he was on the mound for the final out of the fall classic. he wound up pitching for chicago for all but one season of his career, and his 173 saves are second to bobby thigpen in team history. 

the white sox also installed a panel for last season near the backstop at whatever new comiskey is called these days

i didn't really follow his career, although i was aware of his elite closer status thanks to playing fantasy baseball while he was active. i'm glad i took a bit of time to read up on his career and i feel badly for him that his career ended the way it did, with a botched surgery that led to an emergency, life saving surgery, a period of addiction to painkillers and ultimately another surgery that removed all hope of pitching again. rest in peace bobby jenks.