Ferguson Arthur Jenkins

Major League Baseball pitcher

• Born: December 13, 1942
• Place of Birth: Chatham-Kent, Canada

Education: Chatham Vocational High School

Significance: Ferguson Arthur Jenkins was one of the outstanding Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers of his era, compiling a win-loss record of 284–226 and a 3.34 earned run average (ERA). He played most of his career with the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers. A member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jenkins was particularly significant as a pioneering black pitching star and one of the most successful Canadian ballplayers. Until 2020, Jenkins was the only Canadian elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.

Background

Ferguson Arthur Jenkins Jr. was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, on December 13, 1942. His mother, Delores Jenkins, was a descendant of slaves who had escaped to Canada, while his father’s family had emigrated from the Bahamas. His parents were both athletic (his father played baseball semiprofessionally), a trait that also quickly became apparent in Jenkins. He competed successfully in basketball, track, and hockey in high school, and would even go on to play in the top amateur hockey league in Canada.

Yet it was baseball at which Jenkins truly excelled, playing in various leagues from his teenage years on. Even before then, he developed a strong throwing arm and precise control by throwing rocks at various targets with his childhood friends. Though he began at first base, where his height and long arm span were useful, he filled in as a pitcher in one game and eventually began to focus on that position. A scout from the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL) saw Jenkins’s potential and supported his development as a pitcher. After Jenkins finished high school, the Phillies signed him in 1962, and for several years he played on various minor-league teams.

Life’s Work

Jenkins made his major-league debut as a relief pitcher for the Phillies on September 10, 1965. He pitched only a few more times for the Phillies before he was traded to the Chicago Cubs, who made him a starter. Jenkins’s first stint as a Cub, from 1966 to 1973, was the highlight of his career and established him as one of the top pitchers of the era. He had six consecutive seasons with twenty victories or more, tying the Cubs record set by Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown. He would eventually claim the Cubs record for career strikeouts, with 2,038. His success was particularly impressive as Wrigley Field, the Cubs’ home field, is known as a "hitters park," favoring batters over pitchers. Jenkins became known for his accurate control and his belief in throwing strikes and making the batter work. He was the first—and as of 2016 remained the only—pitcher to have at least three thousand career strikeouts while giving up less than a thousand career walks.

In 1973, when many thought Jenkins had exhausted himself with his heavy schedule, he was traded to the Texas Rangers of the American League (AL). He became the first twenty-game winner in Rangers history in 1974, when he won a career-high twenty-five games. He was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 1976, but in 1978 he went back to Texas, where he pitched for four years. He finished his major-league career with two lackluster seasons for the Cubs, retiring after the 1983 season. Jenkins became one of the few pitchers to have won at least one hundred games in both the NL and AL.

Jenkins was a tough, durable pitcher who led the National League in starts in 1968, 1969, and 1971 and in complete games in 1967, 1970, 1971, and 1974. Throughout his career, he lost little time to injuries. Jenkins was also a fine defensive player and an excellent hitter for a pitcher, hitting thirteen home runs over the course of his career. However, Jenkins never pitched in the World Series or in any postseason game, as none of the teams he played for ever reached the postseason. He did appear in three All-Star games, including in 1967, when in three innings he struck out six of the best AL hitters, including Mickey Mantle and Rod Carew, ranked as one of the great pitching performances in All-Star history.

Jenkins had one brush with the law when he was arrested for the possession of illegal drugs in 1980. Although he maintained his innocence and the charges were eventually dismissed, he was suspended for twenty games. After Jenkins was not admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1989, his first year of eligibility, many blamed the arrest as a blemish on his record.

Impact

Jenkins received many honors in baseball both during and after his career, and many of his pitching statistics remain among the all-time leaders. In 1971, he won the Cy Young Award, given each year to the pitcher voted best in each league. (Jenkins and others would suggest that his lack of postseason appearances hurt his chances of winning the award in any of his other great years.) He became a national hero in Canada as one of that country’s first and best-known baseball stars, and won the Lou Marsh Trophy, presented to an outstanding Canadian athlete, in 1974. In 1979, he was made a member of the Order of Canada, though he did not actually receive the official insignia until 2007. In 1987 Jenkins was made a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, before becoming the first Canadian admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. He was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, Canada’s Walk of Fame, and the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), an organization of baseball statistics experts, voted Jenkins number ninety-six on the list of the top one hundred twentieth-century baseball players. Jenkins has also chartered a charitable foundation, the Fergie Jenkins Foundation. In 2009, the Cubs retired his jersey number, 31, and in 2011, Canada issued a postage stamp in his honor. The Cubs unveiled a statue of Jenkins outside of Wrigley Field in 2022.

Personal Life

Jenkins was married three times. His first marriage was to Kathy Williams, with whom he had three children. It ended in divorce in 1987. His second marriage, to Mary-Anne Miller, ended with her death in a car accident in 1991. They had one child. He married Lydia Farrington in 1993. After Jenkins’ baseball career ended he unsuccessfully ran for political office in Ontario before retiring to the United States.

Bibliography

“Fergie Jenkins.” Baseball Reference, 2024, www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jenkife01.shtml. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

Jenkins, Ferguson, and Lew Freedman. Fergie: My Life from the Cubs to Cooperstown.Chicago: Triumph, 2009. Print.

Mitchell, Fred. Chicago Cubs, Where Have You Gone? Ernie Banks, Andy Pafko, Ferguson Jenkins and Other Cubs Greats. New York: Sports, 2013. Print.

Rogers, Jesse. “Chicago Cubs Unveil Statue of Hall of Fame Pitcher Fergie Jenkins Outside Wrigley Field." ESPN, 20 May 2022, www.espn.com/mlb/story/‗/id/33952134/chicago-cubs-unveil-statue-hall-fame-pitcher-fergie-jenkins-wrigley-field.  Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

Talley, Rick. The Cubs of ‘69: Recollections of the Team that Should Have Been. Chicago: Contemporary, 1989. Print.

Thomson, Cindy. "Fergie Jenkins" Society for American Baseball Research, sabr.org/bioproj/person/fergie-jenkins/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

Turcotte, Dorothy. The Game Is Easy, Life Is Hard: The Story of Ferguson Jenkins, Jr.Grimsby: Fergie Jenkins Foundation, 2002. Print.