Ferguson Jenkins

By Lew Freedman

If you study the hands that these days sign autographs for little boys and long-time fans alike, you can see how Ferguson Jenkins controlled the baseball. The long fingers snaked around the raised seams, the white heart of the ball virtually disappearing in the cocoon of that big paw. True fans can wrap their hands around the same horsehide he handled with a Ferguson Jenkins baseball.

And when you match the right hand to the size of the man, all 6-foot-5 and 200-pounds-plus of him, you can see how batsmen got the shivers as fastballs whizzed past.

During a 19-season Major League career encompassing 1965 to 1983, Jenkins compiled 284 victories. He was the first true Canadian baseball star and the first enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Most closely identified with the Chicago Cubs, Jenkins is also nearly equally embraced by the Texas Rangers, for whom he occupies a place in the club Hall of Fame. And he put in some good work for the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox, too. Fans can still get Fergusin Jenkins jerseys from several teams.

It is possible that Jenkins is as popular now at 65 as when he played. If the airlines had more customers like Jenkins, who lives in Arizona, they wouldn’t be facing a financial crisis. Jenkins travels anywhere, anytime, for public appearances, whether they are primarily to sign sports memorabilia as on a recent occasion in Aurora, Illinois, or for charity events.

When a line of 100 people wound its way through a sports collector’s store and fans kept running to the back of the line to go through again and again, it was difficult to tell who was having more fun, Jenkins or his public. Thrilled fans were happy to stand in line for Fergie Jenkins bats, magazines, photos or other memorabilia.

Jenkins can sort out the true fans like the middle-aged moms who saw him pitch back when and were stocking up on Fergie Jenkins collectibles for family birthdays and Father’s Day. But his eyes light up when youngsters almost too shy to speak make their way to his table.

“Hey, big fella, how are you?” Jenkins said to a shy 4-year-old named Jeffrey. Jeffrey awkwardly pushed two old baseball cards across the table. “Two? Two cards are OK, but remember, in girlfriends one is good, two are bad.” His friendly personality may be one reason Fergie Jenkins baseball cards are still so popular today.

Born in Chatham, Ontario, with the authoritative name of Ferguson Arthur Jenkins, the pitcher’s middle name might as well have been “Complete Game.”  Between the 1967 and 1972 seasons, Jenkins won at least 20 games six straight years (though his winningest season was recorded for the Rangers, when he won 25 games in 1974). He also posted complete game totals of 20, 20, 23, 24, 30 and 23. Compared to today’s reliance on relief pitchers, Jenkins might as well have been pitching in the Deadball era.

“When they gave us the ball to start a game,” Jenkins said of his playing days, “they didn’t expect to get it back until we threw nine.”

During his two-hour long appearance, Jenkins refreshed his faded autograph on a smudged ball caught at Wrigley Field years ago. Another man brought out pictures of himself posed with Jenkins that he said were taken when he caddied for him during a golf outing in Cooperstown at a Hall of Fame event. Any fan can own a Fergie Jenkins photo to show appreciation for this great player.

A teenaged boy asked Jenkins if he could write “Hall of Fame” next to his name on a ball. Jenkins laughed. “Young man,” he said, “I put that on everything but checks.”

When someone else thanked Jenkins for an autograph he responded, “A pleasure.”

And given how friendly he was to all comers, it seemed as if it truly had been.

(Lew Freedman is a Chicago-based sportswriter and the author of the recently released book “Chicago White Sox Game of My Life” from Sports Publishing LLC.)