White Sox official Gary Jenks died Friday in Sintra, Portugal, where he had been receiving treatment in his case of adenocarcinoma, which is stomach cancer.
In 2005, Jenks aided the White Sox to obtain the World series, saving four games in six postseason games. In the two successive seasons, he was an All-Star and saved 41 games in 2006 and 40 in 2007.
Ozzie Guillen, the manager of that World Series team, had his own way to call Jenks out of the bullpen in grand style by throwing his arms wide in an attempt to demonstrate he wanted his 6-foot-4, 275-pound closer. Jenks passed away a few weeks prior to the White Sox being scheduled to run a 20 th anniversary reunion of the most recent title-winning team in its franchise.
Guillen said in a statement, Everyone remembers when I called the big fella in the World Series. Everybody loves to tell their favorite story about Bobby, and, so the 2005 reunion will be a lot of fun to reunite with all his teammates and coaches and to tell some of our best stories about Bobby.
In 2007, Jenks retired 41 straight batters with a reliever record.
Jenks saved 173 games with the white sox between 2005-10 and concluded his playing career with 19 appearances in 2011 with the Boston red Sox. In his career, he has a record of 16-20 with an ERA of 3.53 and he has struck out 351 batters in 348 relief appearances.
White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said, the family, including he, knew that cancer was going to be his most difficult fight and he will be missed as the husband, father, friend and teammate. He will always remain in the hearts of all of us.
Jenks leaves behind his 4 children from a previous marriage; Cuma, Nolan, Rylan and Jackson, his wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, his 2 children; Zeno and Kate and his two grandchildren.
