Editing Ferguson Jenkins (section)

==Professional baseball==

===MLB career===

====Early seasons====
In 1962, Jenkins was signed by Philadelphia Phillies scout [[Tony Lucadello]].<ref name="blackcanada"/> Jenkins made his major-league debut as a 22-year-old in 1965, as a [[relief pitcher]]. He was traded the following year to the Chicago Cubs, along with [[Adolfo Phillips]] and John Herrnstein, for pitchers [[Larry Jackson (baseball)|Larry Jackson]] and [[Bob Buhl]]. Jenkins would become one of the best pitchers in the majors. In his first full year as a starter for the Cubs (1967), Jenkins recorded 20 wins while posting a 2.80 [[Earned run average|ERA]] and 236 strikeouts. He finished tied for second in the Cy Young Award voting, following [[Mike McCormick (pitcher)|Mike McCormick]] of the [[San Francisco Giants]]. He was also selected for the [[1967 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] for the first time that season.

[[File:Fergie Jenkins 1969.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Jenkins in 1969]]
The following year his numbers improved; once again he won 20 games, his ERA dropped to 2.63 and his strikeout total increased to 260. Jenkins established a reputation for achieving his pitching feats and his statistics while spending most of his career pitching in a "hitter's ballpark"—[[Wrigley Field]] in Chicago.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ferguson Jenkins: The Quiet Winner |first=Stanley |last=Pashko |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |year=1975}}</ref> Furthermore, in 1968, Jenkins lost five of his starts in 1–0 ball games.

====1971 season====
Jenkins had his best season in 1971. On April 6, 1971, Jenkins started the Cubs' opening-day game. The Cubs defeated the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] 2–1 in 10 innings at Wrigley Field. Jenkins pitched the complete game for the Cubs, and [[Billy Williams (left fielder)|Billy Williams]] hit a home run in the final inning for the victory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197104060.shtml |title=St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs Box Score, April 6, 1971 - Baseball-Reference.com |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}</ref> On September 1, 1971, Jenkins threw another complete game against the [[Montreal Expos]] and hit two home runs. The Cubs won the game 5–2.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197109010.shtml |title=Montreal Expos at Chicago Cubs Box Score, September 1, 1971 - Baseball-Reference.com |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}</ref> He was named [[Major League Baseball Player of the Month Award|NL Player of the Month]] (for the only time in his career) in July, with a 6–1 record, a 2.14 ERA, and 49 strikeouts.

That season, Jenkins threw a complete game in 30 of 39 starts and received a decision in 37 of them, finishing with a 24–13 record (.649). He walked only 37 batters versus 263 strikeouts across 325 innings.<ref name="jenkinsstats">{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jenkife01.shtml |title=Fergie Jenkins Stats - Baseball-Reference.com |website=Baseball-Reference.com}}</ref> He played in the [[1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] and finished seventh in MVP voting. Jenkins also posted a .478 slugging percentage, hitting six home runs and driving in 20 runs in just 115 at-bats.

Jenkins won the 1971 NL [[Cy Young Award]]. Jenkins was the first Cubs pitcher and the first Canadian to win the Cy Young Award ([[Quebec]] native [[Éric Gagné]] is the only other Canadian to match the feat). He received 17 of 24 first-place votes. He was outpitched in several statistical categories by [[New York Mets]] pitcher [[Tom Seaver]], but Jenkins pitched in hitter-friendly Wrigley Field and Seaver worked in pitcher-friendly [[Shea Stadium]].

[[File:Fergie Jenkins 1976.jpg|thumb|upright|Jenkins with the Red Sox in 1976]]

====Later seasons====
In 1972, Jenkins completed his sixth consecutive season with 20 or more wins.<ref name=Engelhardt>{{cite news |last=Engelhardt |first=Gordon |title=Jenkins, Fingers 'still fit' their legendary status in baseball |url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/sep/07/cp/ |access-date=September 21, 2013 |newspaper=[[Evansville Courier & Press]] |date=September 7, 2013 |archive-date=February 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204050530/http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/sep/07/cp/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> By the middle of the following season, he expressed that he did not feel like playing baseball anymore. He finished the season, but registered a 14–16 win–loss record.

Jenkins was traded from the Cubs to the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] for [[Bill Madlock]] and [[Vic Harris (utility player)|Vic Harris]] on October 25, 1973.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/26/archives/padres-get-mccovey-jenkins-to-texas-jenkins-mccovey-in-trades.html "Padres Get McCovey," ''The New York Times'', Friday, October 26, 1973.] Retrieved November 28, 2020</ref> Texas manager [[Billy Martin]] was pleased with the trade, describing Jenkins as a workhorse and a winner.<ref name=Sentinel>{{cite news |title=Cubs trade Jenkins to Texas for youth |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ODBjAAAAIBAJ&pg=1054,2804623&dq=ferguson+jenkins+trade&hl=en |access-date=September 21, 2013 |newspaper=The Rochester Sentinel |date=October 26, 1973}}</ref> In 1974, Jenkins achieved a personal best 25 wins during the season, setting a Rangers franchise record which still stands. He finished second in [[Cy Young Award]] voting for the second time in his career behind [[Catfish Hunter]] in a very close vote (90 points to Jenkins's 75); surprisingly, Jenkins actually finished ahead of Hunter in [[Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player|MVP]] voting (118 points to Hunter's 107), and his fifth-place finish on the MVP leader-board was the highest of his career. He was named the American League [[Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award|Comeback Player of the Year]] by ''[[The Sporting News]]''.

Jenkins achieved his 250th win against the [[Oakland Athletics]] on May 23, 1980. Later that year, during a customs search in [[Toronto]], Jenkins was found possessing 3.0 grams [[cocaine]], 2.2 grams [[hashish]], and 1.75 grams [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]]. In response, on September 8, [[Baseball Commissioner|Commissioner]] [[Bowie Kuhn]] suspended him indefinitely. However, Jenkins' suspension lasted only two weeks before, in an unprecedented action, an independent arbiter, Raymond Goetz, overturned the suspension and reinstated him and he returned to the league. Eventually, when he went to trial, the judge gave him an absolute discharge for lack of some evidence.<ref>[http://www.1919blacksox.com/banished.htm 1919 Black Sox] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820215849/http://1919blacksox.com/banished.htm |date=August 20, 2008 }}</ref> Jenkins was not punished further by MLB for the incident, as he remained active until his retirement following the 1983 season. It has been suggested that this incident delayed his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite news |last=Able |first=Allen |title=Fergie Jenkins, 1st Cdn. in Baseball Hall of Fame |work=[[The Journal (Canadian TV show)|The Journal]] |publisher=Archives, [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=July 15, 1991 – August 26, 2006 |url=http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-41-2340-13544-10/on_this_day/sports/twt |access-date=May 4, 2007}}</ref>

===Canadian baseball===

====Minor league====
Jenkins continued playing professional baseball in Canada after retiring from MLB in 1983 and pitched two seasons for the [[London Majors]], a minor league team of the [[Intercounty Major Baseball League]], operating in [[London, Ontario]].