Today is the Major League Baseball’s opening day. And is this a great country or what!! I just got my Fergie Jenkins Commemorative Stamps.
Fergie was born in Chatham, Ontario. When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, he was the star pitcher for my beloved Cubs.
His Hall of Fame career included 284 wins (20 or more in six straight seasons). He had 3192 career strikeouts. He was also a great hitter — for a pitcher. In his first game with the Cubs he hit a home run!!! My favorite Jenkins statistic is that he led the major leagues nine times in complete games. He had a total of 267 career complete games. To put that stat into perspective, Roy Halladay leads the majors among active pitchers with 58 complete games.
Fergie and Greg Maddux shared the number 31. It was retired for both of them on the same day in 2009. It flies on the left field flag pole with Fergie’s name on it and on the right field flag pole with Maddux name on it.
It’s great to be the Ambassador to a country that honors a boyhood hero of mine. I’m waiting on the Ernie Banks stamp.
DJ