Former White Sox pitcher Bobby Jenks compares closing to smoking crack
Bobby Jenks was a fan favorite during his six-year tenure with the Chicago White Sox that saw Jenks move in the closer’s role as a rookie en route to the Sox winning the 2005 World Series and today appeared at SoxFest and made an interesting comment about what closing is like.
Sox pitching seminar -Bobby Jenks on the first time he closed " It was like smoking crack ,the more you do it the more you want to do it "
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 25, 2014
Interesting quote from Jenks who has battled issues with drug and alcohol and when the Boston Red Sox released him in 2012, ending his MLB career, it was when he was serving a 45-day stint in rehab following a DUI arrest 10 weeks earlier.
But he looks healthy now as this photo from the night would suggest and with his demons in the rear-view mirror this was Jenks using humor as his way to express the addictive nature of closing out the ninth inning.
Here Comes the Boom. #WhiteSox RT "@CST_soxvan: Bobby Jenks. pic.twitter.com/x0s9z64rs8"
— Comiskey Park Hitmen (@CPHSox) January 24, 2014
Jenks racked up four saves in the 2005 playoffs after he had six in the regular season that saw Shingo Takatsu and Dustin Hermanson begin the season as the team’s closer. Without Jenks’ performance in clutch situations, the team may still be searching for their first World Series since 1917.