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.

the finest cards not from the national

i saw fuji post a blog bat around yesterday about not being at the national. of course, chris started the bat around asking folks to post show worthy cards in lieu of attending the convention in chicago. well, i am not going to go that route, but i will share some of the recent additions to my collection that i might have found at the national if there were ever a return of bargain boxes.

these cards from 2026 topps finest are the newest to my collection, arriving in yesterday's mail.

yoshinobu yamamoto topps team finest insert

kirk gibson finest timelines insert

love this card. seeing another vin scully call on a card - especially one that features this moment - is fantastic. the back also shares jack buck's call

which i am fond of as well. i also added the card in refractor fashion

as denoted on the back

as you might suspect, i actually purchased two of each of these so that i could put one set in my dodger collection and one in my collection of cards featuring games that i have seen in person.

also in the mail with those cards yesterday was this 2025 topps update insert

commemorating a first pitch at dodger stadium by this gentleman name miyavi.

another card i received last week was this 2021 topps archives snapshots mookie betts 

it completes the (small) dodger team set for me.

the remainder of these cards are ones that have been in my scanned folder for a while, and it's time to show them on the blog. nothing big here, but the types of cards that i've found in dig boxes at past shows.

2004 fleer greats of the game blue parallels of davey lopes

and johnny podres

2013 topps triple threads amethyst matt kemp

and amber duke snider

2014 topps opening day blue foil parallels of carl crawford and hanley ramirez

2020 topps museum collection base and copper parallels of cody bellinger and sandy koufax

2023 topps update royal blue alex vesia

2024 topps cosmic chrome mike piazza galactic greatness insert

2025 topps holofoil parallels of joe kelly 

and justin wrobleski

that scanned differently for some reason

2023 topps clayton kershaw flagship insert

are those cards considered inserts? regardless, it's a bit odd to not be finding many new kershaw cards now that he is retired. chasing his stuff was a big part of the hobby for me the last 18 years so this year has been a bit of an adjustment. thankfully, there are still a ton of his older cards that i can chase. 

2024 topps allen & ginter minis of kershaw

and freddie freeman, 

although freeman's is an a&g back

2025 topps allen & ginter minis of freeman

and blake snell

and this time, snell's is the a&g back

i did find some bargain boxes at the national last year, but the primary reason i made the trip was to do the meet & greet with steve garvey and get a photo and autograph from the first baseman for the team of my youth. it was a great success as far as i am concerned. 

no in person autographs for me to show, but i'll share this 2025 topps museum collection sticker auto/triple relic card of the garv

that is my lone example from the legion of auto-relic cards that he had in the set.

there is a chance that i make it to the national next year in detroit, but regardless, i am sure i will have some cards to show off should this bat around be around again next year.