By Donald Laible
For more than 30 years, Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins has been grateful for his annual summer visits to Cooperstown, N.Y.
“I look forward to coming back,” Jenkins told The Epoch Times on Tuesday during a phone conversation from his home in Frisco, Texas. “It’s important for me to see the fellas who I played with and against who were the nucleus of the game.”
Three weeks ago, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Induction Weekend from July 25 to 28 was tougher than most trips to “the Home of Baseball” for Jenkins. Inducted in the Class of 1991 along with Rod Carew, Gaylord Perry, Tony Lazzeri, and Bill Veeck, Jenkins, who was voted into the Hall of Fame in his third year of eligibility, had a former teammate on his mind while in the Village of Cooperstown in July.
His former Chicago Cubs infielder Ryne Sandberg, and fellow Hall of Famer since 2005, didn’t make the trip to be among the 55 returning baseball greats for Induction Sunday. Sandberg, 65, died on July 28 after a lengthy battle with cancer. The former second baseman and Jenkins were Cubs teammates for two seasons in 1982 and 1983.
Even with the excitement of catching up with old friends from the previous summer’s sojourn to the Otesaga Resort in Cooperstown, base camp for Hall of Famers during Induction Weekend, Jenkins knew of Sandberg’s grave condition. Exchanging old and new stories with the game’s greatest players from his era of the 1960s through early 1980s, Jenkins sat in the lobby and on the veranda of the Otesaga with contemporaries Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, Billy Williams, and Jim Kaat. Rehashing games played against each other and giving updates on how the ballplayers’ families consumed most of their talk time.
Jenkins, 82, is proud to represent MLB and his home country of Canada with each visit to Cooperstown. He was among the more than 30,000 baseball fans who journeyed to Upstate New York three weeks back to honor the Class of 2025 of Dick Allen, Dave Parker, Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner, and CC Sabathia.
Induction Weekend is circled by Jenkins on his calendar each year, and all other requests are either cleared or rescheduled. He said the relationships built over the decades within the Hall of Fame family are precious, and he looks forward to next year.
“Next year is my 35th anniversary of being elected to the Hall of Fame. I hope to bring my family with me next July to celebrate the milestone,” Jenkins said.
Whereas Jenkins understands his place in MLB history and takes his responsibilities of representing an institution as highly respected as the Hall of Fame seriously, at the same time, the pitcher who won 284 games and executed 3,192 strikeouts over 19 seasons can’t help but reflect on the friends he lost over the years.
In 2024, Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Rickey Henderson died. In 2020, Tom Seaver, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Joe Morgan, Al Kaline, and Whitey Ford passed away. Former Dodgers’ manager Tommy Lasorda and pitcher Don Sutton were lost in 2021. All were Hall of Famers and Jenkins’s friends. Losing so much, in such a short time span, caused Jenkins to reevaluate his priorities.
“They were all part of an elite group. For me, losing them leaves an empty hole in my heart,” says Jenkins, who during his pitching days toured with basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters in the off-season to earn extra money. “You never know when we’ll lose another [Hall of Famer]. I thank my lucky stars every day that I have my health, and I have another trip to Cooperstown to look forward to.”
When discussing his career, starting with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1965 and concluding with the Cubs in 1983, Jenkins is reminded of perhaps his single greatest appearance, albeit brief, that came in the 1967 MLB All-Star Game hosted by the California Angels. In three innings, Jenkins registered six strikeouts. Future Hall of Famers on the 1967 American League All-Star Game squad who were whiffed by Jenkins were Mickey Mantle, Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, and Tony Oliva.
“I think I’ve inherited my father’s genes,” Jenkins tells. “My grandmother lived to be 102, and my father was almost 93 when he passed.”
Recognized as one of the best pitchers in both the National and American Leagues during his career, Jenkins’s accomplishments included winning the Cy Young Award in 1971 with Chicago and three All-Star Game selections.
“You know two-thirds of Hall of Famers were pitchers,” Jenkins proudly proclaims.
Gaylord Perry, best remembered for winning 300-plus games, registering 3,500-plus strikeouts, and for allegedly doctoring baseballs, was one of Jenkins’s closest friends in Cooperstown. In 2022, Perry died at the age of 84.
After Jenkins checked into his room at the Otesaga, he recalls one-on-one chats with Perry about a wide range of issues surrounding baseball. Changes in the game, how analytics alter how managers position players to hitters with the information available, Jenkins remembers the good times with Perry as “totally fun.”
Hall of Famers who were elected posthumously that Jenkins was associated with during his career include Dick Allen, Ron Santo, and Leo Durocher. These baseball greats bring quick memories to Jenkins, he said. He also misses their company, with each passing year of their not being with him in Cooperstown.
Regarding this past July’s Hall of Famers-only dinner after the induction speeches were completed, Jenkins’s voice perked up when recounting who he was seated with at his table.
“There was Randy Johnson, Jim Rice, and Wade Boggs with me at our table. All different individuals with different baseball backgrounds. In the past, among other Hall of Famers, I was seated with Jim Kaat and Jim Bunning. What a special time,” Jenkins explained.
Friendship is front and center for Jenkins when reuniting with his Hall of Fame team members in Cooperstown. Statistics won’t change. Seeing familiar faces from his playing days and gaining new fans, coming to Cooperstown each July is Jenkins’s way of giving back to the game that has given him so much.
