black diamond, silver diamond, white sox

for the 1992 season, the white sox added a diamond to the left sleeves of their jerseys to honor the passing of at least two members of their organization and family that occurred during the previous offseason.  the diamonds came in two different colors for their three different uniform schemes - black on the home pinstripes as seen on this 1993 o-pee-chee steve sax card

black on the away grays (as we will see in a bit), and silver on the alternate black tops as seen on saxy's 1993 leaf card

here are a couple more looks at the silver patch, courtesy of black jack mcdowell's 1993 topps stadium club murphy card

and dan pasqua's 1993 upper deck card

i've got three cards in the memorials binder for this one - robin ventura's 1993 topps black gold card represents the black diamond/white pinstripe combo

while frank thomas' 1993 fleer ultra card represents the black diamond/gray jersey set up i mentioned earlier

and it's the big hurt again, with his 1993 upper deck future heroes subset card that showcases the silver diamond/black jersey combination

one tidbit from a uniform source notes that the diamond is not a patch added to the jerseys, instead it is colored fabric woven into the uniform tops.

while i was researching this post, i noted that the hall of fame's website indicated that there were four people for whom the patch was worn.  some research online provided three names, and i decided to contact the hall of fame to see if they had any additional information.  i received a quick response from tom shieber, the senior curator, who referred back to the chisox media guide from 1992 and found that the diamond was being worn for two people - sheri berto (jerry reinsdorf's personal assistant) and maureen schueler (wife of general manager and former player and coach, ron schueler). it is possible that other personnel, possibly long time employee millie johnson (one of the three names i found online) who passed away in march of 1992 after working for the white sox for over 25 years, were "added" to the memorial, but the hall of fame has revised their website to acknowledge berto and schueler only. 

sheri berto died unexpectedly following an outpatient surgical procedure in november of 1991.  she was bulls and white sox owner jerry reinsdorf's assistant, and in addition to the uniform memorial worn by the sox, reinsdorf named the bulls' practice facility after her.  the bulls practiced at the berto center for over 20 years, but will soon be moving into a new facility near the united center.

maureen schueler died of leukemia in october of 1991.  her husband ron had been a pitcher with the white sox late in his career, retiring as a player in 1979 to become the team's pitching coach.  he also worked in the a's and pirates organizations before returning to chicago as the team's general manager in november of 1990.

the white sox have since been consistent in the use of a diamond when wearing memorial patches, although they have since added names or initials to the memorials, such as the one they are wearing this season for jerry reinsdorf's son david.  i will post about that after 2014 topps update is released, i am sure.