Following the death of former Chicago White Sox pitcher Bobby Jenks on Friday, numerous outlets in the sports media space highlighted how important Jenks was to the White Sox’s 2005 World Series victory, recalling his biggest career moment, recording the final out in the series-sealing Game 4 matchup against the Houston Astros. ESPN was not one of those outlets. At least not initially…
Reporting on his passing on Saturday, ESPN shared a post on X that stated how Jenks was “a two-time All-Star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, who was on the roster when the franchise won the 2005 World Series.”
Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, who was on the roster when the franchise won the 2005 World Series, died on Friday in Sintra, Portugal, the team announced. https://t.co/S2jqBZM3WR
— ESPN (@espn) July 5, 2025
While the network’s article on his passing did indeed mention the fact that Jenks closed out the 2005 World Series for the White Sox, the post on social media, which included a link to the article, did not, which subjected ESPN to a significant amount of criticism from many in the sports media landscape.
On Sunday, ESPN made sure to highlight Jenks’ importance on the 2005 White Sox team throughout the World Series by reposting a tribute from the Chicago White Sox social media team for Jenks, touching on some of the key highlights of his career that were previously forgotten in their original social media post.
“Bobby Jenks began the 2005 World Series with a save and ended it with one, helping propel the White Sox to their first title in 88 years,” wrote ESPN in their latest social media post on Jenks. “The team paid tribute with a moving video remembrance of Jenks, who died Friday at 44.”
Bobby Jenks began the 2005 World Series with a save and ended it with one, helping propel the @whitesox to their first title in 88 years.
The team paid tribute with a moving video remembrance of Jenks, who died Friday at 44.pic.twitter.com/z5P2tbRINx
— ESPN (@espn) July 6, 2025
Originally characterizing Jenks as simply a player on the White Sox roster in their World Series run in 2005 was obviously a gross misrepresentation of just how important he was throughout the entirety of the White Sox postseason run, sporting a 2.25 ERA throughout his eight postseason appearances in 2005.
Despite correcting the clear oversight in the original social media post on X, a number of baseball fans weren’t exactly quick to give ESPN credit for giving Jenks his proper credit, especially because the original post was never amended.
It’s too late for ESPN to walk back the “on the roster” tweet tbh
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) July 6, 2025
Waited until broadcast time to even attempt correction/update . Baseball will be better when not on @espn
— StlBattleHawks (@StlBattIeHawks) July 7, 2025
It took y’all a day to walk back the tweet. You get no credit.
— Marcus S. (@marcus_child) July 6, 2025
Lmao got bullied into posting this after that garbage headline
Next time don’t undermine the dead for no reason
— Will Applebee (@NOTSCWill) July 6, 2025
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.