Jenkins reflects before his hometown legend is set in stone

ANAHEIM – A young Fergie Jenkins used to fix his eye on the chute at Terry’s Coal Yard, where a train from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway would pull in on a local spur to stop for ice and coal. He would pick up a piece of coal or a small rock and aim for the opening about 50 yards away.

“I could hit it nine out of 10 times,” Jenkins said with a laugh. “It was just a thing we did as teenagers, youngsters.”

Any complaints from the yard’s owner are now just part of what is now a part of Jenkins’ origin story from Chatham, Ontario, to the Hall of Fame. From those boyhood games – throwing rocks through the openings in passing boxcars was another activity – Jenkins grew into the greatest pitcher in Canada’s history.

And on Saturday, the 80-year-old Jenkins will be surrounded by family and friends back in his hometown, where a statue of the pitching legend will be unveiled outside the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre. The towering sculpture is a replica of the one that stands in statue row outside Wrigley Field.

“Chatham-Kent loves Fergie,” said Darrin Canniff, the town’s Mayor. “Our downtown will be packed with people coming to honor Fergie and the great things he’s done both in his career and for Chatham-Kent.”

After watching the ceremony at Wrigley Field in May of last summer, Canniff sought permission from the Cubs to have a replica brought to Chatham-Kent.

Jenkins’ ancestors on his mother Delores’ side escaped slavery in the United States via the Underground Railroad and found a new home in Chatham. His father, Ferguson Jenkins Sr., was a chef by trade, but also a skilled athlete in his own right. Fergie Sr. played for the Chatham Coloured All-Stars in the 1930s and was part of the first all-Black team to win an Ontario Amateur Baseball Association championship.

Jenkins’ father was in the crowd in 1991 to see his son inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“My dad played well before Jackie Robinson,” Jenkins said. “When I look back, if it wasn't for a lot of other people being instrumental, my dad probably wouldn't have gotten noticed. And then from then on, I wouldn't have gotten noticed.

“There is a time and a place for everything. You've got to have a little luck. You've got to be an opportunist, be right there and right place, right time. And things, a lot of times, work out.”

Growing up in Canada, Jenkins’ first love was hockey and his childhood dreams centered more around playing in the NHL than in the Major Leagues. He started to imagine himself playing baseball after going with his dad to Detroit, where Jenkins saw Larry Doby – the first Black player in the American League – launch two home runs.

“The fans cheered him,” Jenkins said. “He was with Cleveland. And he got a standing ovation the second home run he hit. I mean, he hit it pretty good to center field. I told myself that, if I wanted to be a professional athlete, baseball might be the opportunity here.”

Gene Dziadura, a scout for the Phillies, heard about Jenkins and came to Chatham, where “they put the long, lanky kid at first base,” the Hall of Fame pitcher said with a chuckle. After then taking a look at Jenkins’ potential on the mound, that became the area of focus.

The Phillies signed Jenkins in 1962, traded him to the Cubs in ‘66 and the rest, as the old adage goes, is history. The big righty pitched in 19 seasons for the Phillies, Cubs, Red Sox and Rangers, finishing with 284 wins, 267 complete games and a 3.34 ERA in 4,500 2/3 innings.

Jenkins won the National League Cy Young Award in 1971, made three All-Star teams, topped 300 innings in a season five times and was a seven-time 20-game winner. When he retired, he was the only pitcher in baseball history to have more than 3,000 strikeouts (3,192) and fewer than 1,000 walks (997).

All those throws into the ice chute paid off.

“Yeah, it worked out good,” Jenkins said with a laugh.

And now, the kid who grew up at 217 Colborne St. will have a statue in his hometown.

“It’s pretty surprising,” he said. “I think it's going to look pretty nice. All my grandkids, my kids that are there, friends, will have an opportunity to see it and observe what I had an opportunity to do.”