Fergie: My Life from the Cubs to Cooperstown Book

Written by Bernie Weisz Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida E mail:[email protected]

Title of Review: "From Triumph To Tragedy, Back To Triumph"!

Ferguson Jenkin's new book, "Fergie:My Life From The Cubs to Cooperstown" truly invites the reader into his life, from his baseball career, to his personal tragedies of divorce, suicide of his fiancee, death of his daughter and mother, the story of his drug arrest, and much more. Jenkins had written two prior books, "Inside Pitching" in 1972 and "Like Nobody Else:The Fergie Jenkins Story" in 1973, but this all came before his best season ever, which was in 1974. That year, with the Texas Rangers he led the American League in wins and won more games than in any other, with a record of 25 victories and 12 losses. In no other book that he wrote, does Jenkins reveal his thoughts so candidly and reflect on his life, from his experiences with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team to playing two seasons with the Boston Red sox, the end of his playing days, and ultimately, his election into the Hall of Fame in 1991. He was a three time All-Star and also won the Cy Young Award with the Chicago Cubs in 1971, recording 24 victories and 12 losses with an ERA of 2.77.

Born December 13th, 1942 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, Jenkins spent the majority of his career pitching for the Chicago Cubs from 1966 to 1973 and his last two years in baseball in 1982 and 1983. He also had stints with the Philadelphia Phillies as a rookie (1965-1966), the Texas Rangers (1974-1975 and 1978 to 1981) and the Boston Red Sox (1976 and 1977. Jenkins details each stop along the way, including his minor league playing days in the Florida State League, where he bitterly recalls the racial prejudice he experienced before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public facilities.

Jenkins describes how he was signed by Philadelphia Phillies scout Tony Lucadello in 1962. Jenkins mournfully recalls how after Lucadello discovered he was dying from pancreatic cancer, he drove over to the ball fields in Ohio, where he had scouted players over the years, and killed himself. Jenkins details his major league debut at age 22 in 1965 as a relief pitcher. He describes his shock at finding out he was traded the following year to the Chicago Cubs with Adolpho Phillips and John Hernstein for Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl. From there, Jenkins bloomed into one of baseball's premier pitchers. In his first full year as a starter for the Cubs in 1967, he recorded 20 wins and 13 losses, posing an ERA of 2.80 and 236 strikeouts. He was tied for second in the Cy Young award voting, following Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Giants. He also was picked for the All Star Game that season. This started an incredible skein of 20 game victories each season that ran until 1972, a feat that has never been duplicated.

In 1968, Jenkins recalls that despite a losing season, his numbers would improve to 20 wins and 15 losses, an ERA of 2.63 and 260 K's. Amazingly, that year he lost five of his starts in 1-0 ball games, in what was called "The Year of the Pitcher".
He wrote: After the 1968 season, when Bob Gibson recorded an ERA of 1.12 and Denny McLain won 31 games, baseball officials felt the game had become imbalanced, with the rules favoring pitchers too much. You probably wouldn't get a pitcher to admit such a thing, but the league lowered the mounds, and batting averages did go up".
The reader wonders if there is a steroid accusation in his mention of Reggie Jackson when Jenkins notes: I first met Reggie when he was about 21 years old with the Oakland A's in Spring Traning in Arizona. Reggie was a thin player at the time. He started bulking up with Baltimore and got bigger when he was with the Yankees"

Jenkins writes his impressions of the core of the 1968 Cubs, with passages about Ron Santo, Glenn Beckett, Billy Williams, Randy Hundley, Ernie Banks, Joe Niekro, Bill Hands and Ken Holtzman. One of the strangest stories in this book was Ken Holtzman's disappearance during the bloody summer of 1968 and America's debacle concerning the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Jenkins writes: "That was the summer that the Democratic National convention took place in Chicago. It was a heated time in American society, with the Vietnam War firing up and the civil rights movement on everyone's minds. Kenny Holtzman was a member of the Illinois National Guard, and he was called up to serve in the middle of the season, He traded his cubs hat for a hard helmet, and his cub's uniform for a soldier's uniform as thousands of young people demonstrated in the streets. One minute Kenny was with us, the next he was down the street in a different arena."

Another interesting anecdote was his recollection of the turmoil the Cubs experienced in 1968, that had racial connotations. Jenkins wrote: "There was a lot of tension on the Cubs early in the season, some of it black and white. Lou Johnson was a new member of the team. He was a solid hitter, and all-around player, someone active in the civil rights movement and outspoken. There was no problem with that. But when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, there was an unfortunate confrontation. Johnson and Billy Williams, both black, got into an elevator already occupied by Randy Hundley, who is white. Hundley said, I heard your man got shot". Johnson, whose emotions are already raw, erupted in a rage, and he and Hundley screamed at one another. Johnson shouted, "Stop this damned elevator. I'm not riding with you." The moment passed, but the feud did not." Ironically, Jenkins mentions that Hundley saved his sanity after the murder/suicide of his fiancee and daughter (carbon monoxide poisoning) by inviting him to his Baseball Fantasy Camp, which pulls retired cubs together with fans even today!

The incredible 1969 season is covered in depth, chronicling how the Cubs moved into first place on April 15, and stayed there until September, whereupon the Mets got red hot and blew everyone away, including the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series. Jenkins finished 21-15, the third of eventually six straight 20 win seasons. Jenkins writes that he felt mecuric manager Leo "The Lip" Durocher exhausted the regular players, rarely resting the starting nine. Jenkins recalls Durocher ordering Ron Santo to "click his heels" together superstitiously after every win, and Jenkins chagrin that other players felt Santo was trying to show them up. Jenkins also discusses Holtzman's no hitter, the "black cat" incident at Shea Stadium (also involving Santo) and how incredibly close Knit the '69 Cubs were. In 1970, Jenkins went 22-16, with a 3.39 ERA.

Some will argue that Jenkins had his best season in 1971, going 24-13, playing in the All Star Game, finishing seventh in MVP voting and winning the NL Cy Young Award. He did this despite the fact that New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver had a higher winning percentage, fewer losses, fewer hits allowed per nine innings, more strikeouts per nine innings, more shutouts, and a lower ERA then him. 1972 was the last year of his streak, going 20-12 with an era of 3.20 After going 14-16 in 1973, the Cubs leaked rumors that Jenkins, with a burned out sore arm had "lost it" and dealt him to the Texas Rangers for Vic Harris and Bill Madlock. Jenkins discusses 1974 and Billy Martin, the duel cricket and grasshopper invasions that stopped play in Texas' "Turnpike Stadium", the ruination of 18 year old phenom David Clyde going straight from high school to the major leagues, and his feat of going 25-12. In 1975 he slipped to 17-18 and was dealt to the Boston Red Sox at the end of the season for Juan Beniquez and Steve Barr.

In Boston, insanity reigned. Aside from mediocre seasons of 12-11 in 1976 and 10-10 in 1977, Jenkins expressed his distaste for Don Zimmer, his friendship with Bill Lee, the "Spaceman" (who referred to Zimmer as "a gerbil"), and Bernie Carbo's best friend, a stuffed white gorilla called "Whitey Joe Young" that he carried everywhere. He ends his baseball career with stops back in Texas (1978 18 wins, 8 losses, 1979 16 wins 14 losses, 1980 12 wins and 12 losses, and lastly, 1981 5 wins 8 losses) and two final seasons with the Cubs ((1982 14 wins 15 losses, and finally 1983 6 wins 9 losses) before hanging up his spikes. Good enough for Hall of Fame induction, his final statistics were 284 wins 226 losses, an ERA of 3.34 a winning percentage of .557 and 3,192 whiffs. Jenkins expresses in this book his sentiment that his drug arrest on August 25, 1980 for four grams of cocaine, marijuana and hashish discovered in his luggage delayed his induction into the Hall of Fame. Jenkins does not deny recreationally using drugs, but writes that the narcotics were placed in his luggage as a "set-up". He claims he knows who did it, but will not disclose who it is in this book.

Ultimately, the charges were dropped and the record expunged, but Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended him for two weeks for not discussing the case with him. The Players Association filed a grievance over Kuhn's suspension and on September 18, 1970, arbitrator Raymond Goetz overruled Kuhn and reinstated Jenkins. Bowie Kuhn discusses this in his book, with his anger at the Player's Association for defending Jenkins. The late Kuhn wrote in his book: "On December 18, 1980, Jenkins went to trial and was found guilty of cocaine possession. Because of his reputation and previously clean record, the judge erased the verdict and gave him an absolute discharge. The worse aspect of the Jenkins decision was the terrible signal it gave our players. that signal was clear enough:the player's association would protect individual players against any effort of the commissioner to enforce a sane drug program and the outside arbitrator would back up the Association. I am afraid it knocked the last latch off the floodgates."

Bowie Kuhn was referring to the drug problems that happened shortly after the Jenkins case e.g. with Darrell Porter, Steve Howe, Alan Wiggins, and the Kansas City Royals quartet of Willie Wilson, Willie Mays Aikens, Jerry Martin and Vida Blue. Jenkins writes that he saw it differently. Elaborating, Jenkins wrote: "I was definitely not a drug addict or a drug user. It was a mistake. It was clear to me that the judge heard the case and suspected there was more to the story then just me being a bad guy. I was really innocent and set up". Actually, this is the second time a celebrity was arrested at this particular airport claiming he was set up. On May 3, 1969, while checking through Canadian customs, similarly to Jenkins at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Jimi Hendrix was arrested when small amounts of heroin and hashish were "found" in his luggage. Like Jenkins, he was Black, acquitted, asserting that the drugs were slipped into his bag by a fan without his knowledge. Coincidence? You judge. Fergie Jenkin's book was a wonderful trip down memory lane, nostalgically recalling the 60's, 70's and 80's! A beautiful, eloquent story, and a must read to any baseball fan!