CHICAGO -- Emotions were flowing at Rate Field Saturday, with the White Sox celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 2005 World Series championship prior to a 6-2 loss to the Guardians.
But when Toby Hall met with the media somewhere around the sixth inning, his tears were not of the happy variety. Hall was choking up for the man who was not there, Bobby Jenks, the iconic ‘05 White Sox closer and one of Hall’s closest friends, who passed away on July 4th after a battle with Stage 4 adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer.
That level of sorrow was felt across the 27 players and 14 coaches, broadcasters and White Sox personnel related to that ‘05 team and in attendance. Following speeches from Jermaine Dye, Geoff Blum and manager Ozzie Guillen, beer was handed out to the group on the field and Mark Buehrle called for a Rate Field-wide toast to Jenks followed by Guillen asking the crowd of 21,785 to give Jenks a standing ovation.
Jenks was the Windy City Thunderbolts’ manager in 2024, and Hall took over during Jenks' leave of absence this season. They had talked on July 1, according to Hall, going over player transactions and moves he wanted to make as a big part of everything.
“It got to a point where he goes, ‘I need you to run everything, make your own moves,’” Hall said. “And then it went to, ‘I can’t make it from Portugal to come out here for the reunion,’ which we had been striving for, to get him out here.”
Hall, who played for the White Sox from 2007-08, was in attendance Saturday with Jenks’ wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, and their two children, Zeno and Kate. As Hall explained the next part of his conversation with Jenks, his voice began to crack.
“Then he said, ‘I want you to stand and represent me with my wife and kids,’” Hall said. “And I said, ‘Bobby, I’ve got you. Whatever you need.’
“We just started talking and he goes, ‘Toby, I’m not scared anymore.’”
Memories of Jenks have been pouring out across baseball since his death, with the Rockies and Cubs paying tribute to the burly, hard-throwing right-hander on their stadium scoreboard during the Fourth of July weekend. But his absence was truly felt this weekend on the South Side.
Neal Cotts and Jenks lived in Chicago during the same offseasons when they were with the White Sox, frequently throwing together. The southpaw and Jenks’ bullpen mate from ‘05 remembers a great closer, ranking second in saves in White Sox franchise history with 173, but also a really good individual.
“The thing about it is Bobby was a huge personality, a huge human being,” A.J. Pierzynski, the catcher from the ‘05 team, said of his 6-foot-4, 275-pound friend and teammate. “For him not to be here, it’s a huge hole.”
A moment etched in White Sox fans’ collective minds is Pierzynski jumping into Jenks’ arms after Orlando Palmeiro grounded out to shortstop Juan Uribe for the final out of the historic ‘05 four-game sweep. And there certainly was a great deal of reveling Saturday in one of the more underrated World Series champions in recent memory.
“Thank you to every single White Sox fan who believed in us in 2005,” Dye said in his speech.
“None of this happens without all of you in the stands cheering for us,” Blum added.
This pregame program concluded with Paul Konerko throwing out a first pitch to Pierzynski, with all of their teammates standing behind Konerko. As the players dispersed, Buehrle briefly placed a Jenks No. 45 jersey on the back of the mound. Hall was wearing a similar jersey during his emotional interview session with the media.
“I want you to understand, yeah, he’s a legend,” Hall said. “But the dude started becoming a really good coach, manager and he influenced a lot of good, young kids. I spoke to our team about [how] we lost a really good one and take your memories that you’ve had with Bobby Jenks and take that with [you] the rest of your career. I want people to remember him, not just as the '05 champ. I want them to remember him as an amazing person.”
“It was a completely different human than the one I knew, in a good way,” Konerko said of his chats with Jenks over the past few years. “That's the bummer of it all, that after so long fighting a lot of things, he was in an awesome place. And he was actually not only in a good place himself, he was putting other people in good places. That’s hard to do.”