Winners: Ferguson Jenkins, Baseball

1967 - Feature Story

In his first year in the starting rotation for the Chicago Cubs, Ferguson Jenkins was a workhorse, albeit an underpaid one. He won 20 games with a 2.80 earned-run average, struck out 236 batters and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting.  A great all-round athlete, Jenkins took an off-season job joining the Harlem Globetrotters on a winter tour and ended up earning $10,000, which was $3,000 more than the Cubs paid him.

1968 - Feature Story

The mainstay of the Chicago Cubs pitching rotation won another 20 games, improved his strikeout total to 260 and was named pitcher of the year by The Sporting News. But Jenkins had some tough luck along the way, losing five 1-0 games in which he went the distance. He didn’t have much down time, either; after the season he rejoined the Harlem Globetrotters for their tour, eventually playing 80 games with the travelling basketball stars over two winters.

1971 - Feature Story

This probably was Ferguson Jenkins’ best all-round season in a tremendous career that eventually would make him the first Canadian inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. Jenkins won the Cy Young Award with the Chicago Cubs as the National League’s best pitcher. He had a 24-13 won-lost record, completing 30 games, pitching 325 innings, striking out 263 and walking only 37, one of the best strikeout-to-walk ratios in history.

1974 - Feature Story

Dealt to the Texas Rangers after a great career in Chicago with the Cubs, Ferguson Jenkins quickly adjusted to the new league and dominated it. He recorded his career high in victories, with 25, and logged 328 innings with 29 complete games. Once again, his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 225-45 was phenomenal and Jenkins finished second in the Cy Young Award voting. He would also be voted the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year.

Career Highlights

• 1991 Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (first Canadian to be honoured)
• 1979 Appointed to the Order of Canada
• 1974 Lou Marsh Memorial Award
• 1971 Cy Young Award (National League)
• 1967, 1968, 1971, 1974 Lionel Conacher Award (Canada’s male athlete of the year)