(Editor’s note: During the month of February, The Athletic will highlight each member of the Black Aces, the 15 Black pitchers from either the United States or Canada to win 20 games in a Major League Baseball season. This series will conclude Feb. 28. Click here to read about the other members of the group.)
Ferguson Jenkins was a Major League Baseball pitcher for 19 seasons. He last appeared on the mound Sept. 26, 1983, for the Chicago Cubs.
More than 40 years later, the 81-year-old Jenkins has yet to slow down.
Jenkins works at pitching clinics and speaks to groups about baseball. He’s always on the road attending memorabilia shows, golf tournaments and other events that serve as fundraisers for various charities.
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“I just try to keep busy,” said Jenkins, a 1991 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. “The nice thing about baseball is it taught me to understand the people that enjoy the game and want to hear about the game when I played.”
It also keeps Jenkins — a Chatham, Ontario, native who lives in Texas but enjoys return trips to Chicago — in the public eye and connected to fans of all ages. It affords Jenkins the opportunity to see how stories about his career have been passed down to new generations.
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Jenkins’ current state of going nonstop is a reminder of his time in the majors. During his playing career, Jenkins didn’t take the normal days off. A relentless work ethic ultimately resulted in Jenkins winning 20 games in a season — and becoming a member of the Black Aces — not once, not twice … but seven times, including six straight with the Cubs from 1967-72.
Jenkins’ motor was one of the first things a young Dusty Baker noticed during a spring training game when he was in the outfield. Baker, who broke into the majors with the Atlanta Braves, saw Hank Aaron running a lot, but seeing a pitcher doing the same was slightly different.
“I’d never seen (pitchers) train like that,” Baker said. “I said, ‘Man, why do you run so much?’
“He goes, ‘Dusty, why do you think I won 20 games six years in a row, or pitched 300 innings?’”
For Jenkins, it was all about consistency in every facet, including his preparation. That was the foundation of his Hall of Fame career. It allowed him to be a force with four MLB teams and become the first of only four pitchers to retire with at least 3,000 strikeouts while also allowing fewer than 1,000 walks. He finished his career with 3,192 strikeouts.
Jenkins first signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1962 and made his MLB debut in 1965. He played in seven games that season, then only one game the following season before being traded to the Cubs.
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It didn’t take long for Jenkins to make his mark in Chicago, as he recorded his first 20-win season and earned the first of three All-Star selections in 1967. He led the majors with 20 complete games that season.
From there, the 6-foot-5, 205-pounder with a fastball and hard slider became the rock of the Cubs rotation — and a face of the league. He won the NL Cy Young Award in 1971 with a 24-13 record and a 2.77 ERA. He earned All-Star Game appearances in 1967, 1971 and 1972.
In addition to physical preparation, Jenkins said his longtime partnership with catcher Randy Hundley was key to his success. Jenkins said Hundley, the father of future two-time All-Star catcher Todd Hundley, caught most of his games with the Cubs. Jenkins played at a time when many teams only had four-man rotations, and he and Hundley would strategize.
“Back then, there were only nine pitchers on the staff,” Jenkins said. “The manager of the opposing ballclub might have one or two pinch hitters and a pinch runner, so we would take into consideration going over all these different hitters that would possibly get a chance to come to the plate.”
When Jenkins started a game, there was a good chance he’d finish it. During his six-year run of 20-win seasons, he never had fewer than 20 complete games — including 30 in 1971. Jenkins led the league in complete games three times over that six-year span.
Bill North, Jenkins’ former roommate and a Cubs teammate in 1971 and 1972, said Jenkins was as tough as anyone in his era. He wasn’t afraid to pitch inside to get a batter off the plate.
Wrigley Field has a reputation for being a hitter’s park, and North noted that while Jenkins gave up a lot of home runs (he allowed at least 25 home runs in seven seasons with the Cubs), he was impressed with how Jenkins would remain poised to minimize the damage and finish the task on the mound.
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“Wrigley is a tough park to pitch in, but that’s how good he was,” North said. “He’d rather pitch in the Grand Canyon, but you know he’s still got to get (batters) out. He did that there and everywhere. Six years in a row winning 20 games … that’s pretty good. That means you could pitch in a phone booth.”
After compiling a 14-16 record for the 1973 season, Jenkins was traded to the Texas Rangers that October. Texas’ Turnpike Stadium, later expanded and renamed Arlington Stadium, had similarities to Wrigley in that it was not considered a pitcher-friendly park. Turnpike Stadium once was an old minor-league stadium.
“They never considered that Turnpike Stadium was my early ballpark in Texas and the dimensions never changed,” Jenkins said. “It was a small yard. The wind blew out hard to right (field) a lot of times, and you had to be really careful late in the game to left (field).
“There were always little idiosyncrasies about certain fields that you really had to do your homework.”
Jenkins’ homework paid off the following season. He won 25 games in 1974 and led the league in wins and complete games (29). It was Jenkins’ last 20-win season, but that ’74 season made him the first (and only) player to earn Black Aces recognition in the AL and NL.
Jenkins spent 1976 and 1977 with the Boston Red Sox before returning to the Rangers from 1978-81. The last two seasons of his career were spent with the Cubs. On May 25, 1982, Jenkins fanned Garry Templeton to earn his 3,000th strikeout.
Career strikeout # 3,000 for Fergie Jenkins! #Cubs @fergieajenkins pic.twitter.com/f8EACVU50k
— Baseball4Ever (@Baseball4Ever31) March 21, 2022
For his career, Jenkins won 284 games and posted a 3.34 ERA.
Jenkins has experienced athletic success throughout his life. He was a high school letter-winner in multiple sports and shined in basketball, track and field and hockey, along with baseball. He also played with the Harlem Globetrotters from 1967-69. Jenkins became the first Canadian member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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As he continues life after retirement, Jenkins reflects on his beginnings. He was a young pitcher from Canada who worked hard to make it to the majors. He continues to work equally hard, remaining in the public eye with speaking engagements and signings at memorabilia shows.
His secret to success? Consistency. Particularly if what’s being done works well.
“You’ve got to take that to heart,” he said. “If you’re not consistent, you’re not going to win.”
(Illustration: Ray Orr / The Athletic; top photo: Bettmann / Contributor)
