| Ferguson Jenkins | |
|---|---|
 Jenkins with the Chicago Cubs in 1973 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1942-12-13)December 13, 1942 (age 82) Chatham, Ontario, Canada | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 10, 1965, for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 26, 1983, for the Chicago Cubs | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 284–226 |
| Earned run average | 3.34 |
| Strikeouts | 3,192 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1991 |
| Vote | 75.4% (third ballot) |
Ferguson Arthur "Fergie"Jenkins[a]OC (born December 13, 1942)[1] is a Canadian former professionalbaseballpitcher andcoach. He playedMajor League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 to 1983 for thePhiladelphia Phillies,Chicago Cubs,Texas Rangers andBoston Red Sox.
Jenkins played most of his career with the Cubs. He was aNational League (NL) and CubsAll-Star for three seasons, and in 1971, he was the first Canadian and Cubs pitcher to win aCy Young Award. He was a 20-game winner for seven seasons, including six consecutive seasons for the Cubs. He was the NL leader inwins, in 1971, and theAmerican League (AL) leader in wins, in 1974. Jenkins was also the NL leader incomplete games in 1967, 1970, and 1971, and the AL leader in complete games in 1974. He led the NL instrikeouts in 1969 and had over3,000 strikeouts during his career. His 284 victories are the most by a black pitcher in major league history.[2]
Jenkins playedbasketball in the off-season for theHarlem Globetrotters from 1967 to 1969, and pitched two seasons in Canada for theminor leagueLondon Majors following his major league career.[3] Jenkins became the first Canadian to be inducted into theNational Baseball Hall of Fame in1991; he remained the only one untilLarry Walker's election in2020.[4]
Jenkins was born and raised inChatham, Ontario, the only child of Delores Jackson andFerguson Jenkins Sr.[3][5] His father, a chef andchauffeur,[6] was the son of immigrants fromBarbados, while his mother was a descendant of captive Africans enslaved in America, who escaped through theUnderground Railroad before settling inSouthwestern Ontario.[3][5] Both of his parents were good athletes; his father was anamateur boxer and semi-professionalbaseball player for theChatham Coloured All-Stars.[5]
A talented athlete, Jenkins competed intrack and field,ice hockey, and basketball in his school years, lettering five times. When he began playing bantam baseball in his teens, he started out as afirst baseman. He honed his pitching skills by throwing pieces of coal from a local coal yard, aiming at either an open ice chute or the gaps of passingboxcars.[3] He was also encouraged to continue working on his pitching by Gene Dziadura, a formershortstop in theChicago Cubs minor league system, and aPhiladelphia Phillies scout. Many training sessions involving the two followed, until Jenkins graduated from high school.
In 1962, Jenkins was signed by Philadelphia Phillies scoutTony Lucadello.[3] Jenkins made his major-league debut as a 22-year-old in 1965, as arelief pitcher. He was traded the following year to the Chicago Cubs, along withAdolfo Phillips and John Herrnstein, for pitchersLarry Jackson andBob Buhl. Jenkins would become one of the best pitchers in the majors. In his first full year as a starter for the Cubs (1967), Jenkins recorded 20 wins while posting a 2.80ERA and 236 strikeouts. He finished tied for second in the Cy Young Award voting, followingMike McCormick of theSan Francisco Giants. He was also selected for theAll-Star Game for the first time that season.
The following year his numbers improved; once again he won 20 games, his ERA dropped to 2.63 and his strikeout total increased to 260. Jenkins established a reputation for achieving his pitching feats and his statistics while spending most of his career pitching in a "hitter's ballpark"—Wrigley Field in Chicago.[7] Furthermore, in 1968, Jenkins lost five of his starts in 1–0 ball games.
Jenkins had his best season in 1971. On April 6, 1971, Jenkins started the Cubs' opening-day game. The Cubs defeated theSt. Louis Cardinals 2–1 in 10 innings at Wrigley Field. Jenkins pitched the complete game for the Cubs, andBilly Williams hit a home run in the final inning for the victory.[8] On September 1, 1971, Jenkins threw another complete game against theMontreal Expos and hit two home runs. The Cubs won the game 5–2.[9] He was namedNL Player of the Month (for the only time in his career) in July, with a 6–1 record, a 2.14 ERA, and 49 strikeouts.
That season, Jenkins threw a complete game in 30 of 39 starts and received a decision in 37 of them, finishing with a 24–13 record (.649). He walked only 37 batters versus 263 strikeouts across 325 innings.[10] He played in theAll-Star Game and finished seventh in MVP voting. Jenkins also posted a .478 slugging percentage, hitting six home runs and driving in 20 runs in just 115 at-bats.
Jenkins won the 1971 NLCy Young Award. Jenkins was the first Cubs pitcher and the first Canadian to win the Cy Young Award (Quebec nativeÉric Gagné is the only other Canadian to match the feat). He received 17 of 24 first-place votes. He was outpitched in several statistical categories byNew York Mets pitcherTom Seaver, but Jenkins pitched in hitter-friendly Wrigley Field and Seaver worked in pitcher-friendlyShea Stadium.
In 1972, Jenkins completed his sixth consecutive season with 20 or more wins.[11] By the middle of the following season, he expressed that he did not feel like playing baseball anymore. He finished the season, but registered a 14–16 win–loss record.
Jenkins was traded from the Cubs to theTexas Rangers forBill Madlock andVic Harris on October 25, 1973.[12] Texas managerBilly Martin was pleased with the trade, describing Jenkins as a workhorse and a winner.[13] In 1974, Jenkins achieved a personal best 25 wins during the season, setting a Rangers franchise record which still stands. He finished second inCy Young Award voting for the second time in his career behindCatfish Hunter in a very close vote (90 points to Jenkins's 75); surprisingly, Jenkins actually finished ahead of Hunter inMVP voting (118 points to Hunter's 107), and his fifth-place finish on the MVP leader-board was the highest of his career. He was named the American LeagueComeback Player of the Year byThe Sporting News.
Jenkins achieved his 250th win against theOakland Athletics on May 23, 1980. Later that year, during a customs search inToronto, Jenkins was found possessing 3.0 gramscocaine, 2.2 gramshashish, and 1.75 gramsmarijuana. In response, on September 8,CommissionerBowie Kuhn suspended him indefinitely. However, Jenkins' suspension lasted only two weeks before, in an unprecedented action, an independent arbiter, Raymond Goetz, overturned the suspension and reinstated him and he returned to the league. Eventually, when he went to trial, the judge gave him an absolute discharge for lack of some evidence.[14] Jenkins was not punished further by MLB for the incident, as he remained active until his retirement following the 1983 season. It has been suggested that this incident delayed his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.[15]
Jenkins continued playing professional baseball in Canada after retiring from MLB in 1983 and pitched two seasons for theLondon Majors, a minor league team of theIntercounty Major Baseball League, operating inLondon, Ontario.
Jenkins ran for theOntario Liberal Party in the1985 Ontario general election, in the riding ofWindsor—Riverside, but placed third with 15% of the vote behind theNDP'sDave Cooke.[16]
Jenkins led the league inwins twice (1971, 1974), fewestwalks per 9 innings five times,complete games nine times, andhome runs allowed seven times. He led the league in strikeouts once (1969, with 273). His streak of six straight seasons with 20 or more wins (1967–1972) is the longest streak in the major leagues sinceWarren Spahn performed the feat between 1956 and 1961.
Jenkins, fellow CubGreg Maddux,Curt Schilling, andPedro Martínez are the only major league pitchers to ever record more than 3,000strikeouts with fewer than 1,000 walks.[17] OnlyRobin Roberts andJamie Moyer allowed more home runs over a career than Jenkins. Jenkins achieved his 3,000th strikeout on May 25, 1982, againstGarry Templeton.
As a hitter, Jenkins posted a .165batting average (148-for-896) with 54runs, 13home runs, 85RBI and 41bases on balls. Defensively, he recorded a .954fielding percentage.[10]
Jenkins is one of theBlack Aces, black pitchers with at least 20 wins in a single MLB season.[18]
In 1974, Jenkins, then with theTexas Rangers, became the first baseball player to win theLou Marsh Trophy, an award given annually to Canada's top athlete. He was also named theCanadian Pressmale athlete of the year four times (1967, 1968, 1971, and 1974).
In 1987, Jenkins was awarded theOrder of Sport, marking his induction intoCanada's Sports Hall of Fame.[19] Jenkins was inducted into theCanadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 1991, became the first Canadian ever elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame inCooperstown, New York.[20] The1991 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, held in Toronto, was dedicated to Jenkins; he threw out the ceremonial first pitch to conclude the pregame ceremonies. Jenkins was inducted into theOntario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995,[21] and was inducted ontoCanada's Walk of Fame in 2001. He was appointed the commissioner of the now-defunctCanadian Baseball League in 2003; the league's Jenkins Cup went missing when the league folded and has been missing ever since.[22] He was inducted into theTexas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2011, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame created the Ferguson Jenkins Heritage Award in his honour to commemorate those one-of-a-kind events or special moments in time that so embellish the long history of sports in Ontario.[23]
On December 17, 1979, he was made a Member of theOrder of Canada for being "Canada's best-known major-league baseball player".[24] Governor GeneralMichaëlle Jean officiated at his investiture into the Order, which finally occurred on May 4, 2007, more than 27 years after he was appointed.[25] On May 3, 2009, the Cubs retired jersey number 31 in honor of both Jenkins andGreg Maddux.[26] On December 13, 2010,Canada Post announced Jenkins would be honoured in Canada with his own postage stamp. The stamp was issued on February 1, 2011, to commemorateBlack History Month.[27] On May 20, 2022, Jenkins was honored with a statue outside Wrigley Field.[28][29]
Jenkins had three daughters with his first wife, Kathy, whom he divorced in 1987.[30]
Jenkins had one child, a daughter named Samantha, with his second wife, Maryanne. In December 1990, Maryanne broke her neck in a car accident near their ranch inGuthrie, Oklahoma. She died from pneumonia in January 1991.[30][31]
In December 1992, Jenkins' girlfriend, Cynthia Takieddine, and Jenkins' three-year-old daughter, Samantha Jenkins, died ofcarbon monoxide poisoning in her car nearPerry, Oklahoma.[31] It was ruled amurder-suicide although Takieddine's motives were not clear in the suicide note. It did say she loved Samantha and could not bear to leave her.[30]
Jenkins was married to Lydia Farrington from 1993 until her death in 2018.[32]
| Preceded by | Major League Player of the Month July 1971 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |