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Fergie Jenkins is a retired Major League pitcher who, over a 19-year Major League career, established a reputation for consistency and durability. Jenkins pitched for the Arkansas Travelers in the mid-1960s, only the second Black man to play for the Travelers, before going on to pitch with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs, the Texas Rangers, and the Boston Red Sox. He won a Cy Young Award, was selected three times for the All-Star team, and is a Baseball Hall of Famer.

Ferguson Arthur “Fergie” Jenkins Jr. was born on Dec. 13, 1942 (although some records say 1943, Jenkins has always maintained that it was 1942) in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. He was the only child of Ferguson Arthur Jenkins Sr. and Delores Jenkins. Growing up in Chatham, Jenkins was a talented and versatile star athlete, lettering in track, hockey and basketball at Chatham Vocational High School. Jenkins never wholly abandoned his other athletic pursuits; he played for the Harlem Globetrotters on a number of occasions during the baseball off-season.

Jenkins signed with the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 1962 and was initially assigned to the AAA Buffalo Bisons of the International League. Jenkins spent part of three seasons — 1963, 1964 and 1965 — in Arkansas pitching for the AAA Arkansas Travelers before finally reaching the Major Leagues for good in 1966.

Baseball card featuring Ferguson Arthur (Fergie) Jenkins; 1983
(Courtesy of the Museum of American History, Cabot Public Schools)

Jenkins played only four games for the Travelers in 1963, one of which he started, and totaled only 10 innings. He was then sent down to the Class A Miami Marlins in the Florida League. (His absence likely made life harder for the Travelers’ first Black player, Dick Allen, who was then left to endure the stress of integrating the Travelers alone.) In 1964, Jenkins started the year in Arkansas and appeared in 11 games, starting in nine of them. He compiled a record of 5-5 before he was sent down to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts, where he spent most of the season. He started the 1965 campaign with the Phillies, but after only seven appearances, he was sent down to the Travelers, where he compiled a record of 8-6 with an ERA (earned run average) of 2.95 in 122 innings. He also recorded 112 strikeouts. That performance was enough to warrant a spot in the majors, although the Phillies traded Jenkins to the Chicago Cubs on April 21, 1966.

Appearing in 60 games in 1966, 12 of which he started, he compiled a 6-8 record with an ERA of 3.31 in 182 innings pitched. The following year, he hit his stride, recording the first of six straight 20-win seasons. From 1967 to 1972, Jenkins won at least 20 games, while also striking out at least 200 batters each season. He averaged 314 innings pitched over that six-year span.

Jenkins led the National League in complete games four times. He also was the National League leader in starts on three occasions and victories twice. He is one of only four Major League pitchers to record more than 3,000 strikeouts while issuing fewer than 1,000 walks. He led the National League in fewest walks per nine innings five times, and he was also the leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio five times. Overall, he achieved 284 wins against 226 losses, pitched 49 shutouts, and compiled 3,192 strike-outs, finishing with a career ERA of 3.34. in 1971 Jenkins became the first member of the Chicago Cubs, as well as the first Canadian, to win the Cy Young Award.

In the 1967 All-Star Game, he struck out American League All-Stars Harmon Killebrew, Tony Conigliaro, Mickey Mantle, Jim Fregosi, Rod Carew and Tony Oliva. In 1991, Jenkins was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Following his retirement as a player, Jenkins began working as a pitching coach at the minor-league level, while also engaging in charitable work, especially in support of his Fergie Jenkins Foundation, supporting hundreds of charities across the United States and Canada. — William H. Pruden III

This story is adapted by Guy Lancaster from the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. Visit the site at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.