Arthur Joseph Kenney (April 29, 1916 – March 12, 2014) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the

Boston Bees The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

during the 1938 season. Listed at , , he batted and threw left-handed.

Biography

A native of

Milford, Massachusetts Milford is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,379 according to the 2020 census. First settled in 1662 and incorporated in 1780, Milford became a booming industrial and quarrying community in the 19th c ...

, Kenney led Milford High School to a state baseball championship in 1932. He was a standout

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

player at Holy Cross, where he posted a career 16–4 record and is a member of the school's athletic hall of fame. While at Holy Cross, Kenney played summer baseball in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

, pitching for the league's

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

team in 1937, where he was described as the "cream of the pitchers". In a 1938 exhibition game against the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, he hurled four innings for Holy Cross, striking out

Baseball Hall of Famer The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...

Jimmie Foxx James Emory Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, ...

twice in a 3–2 upset win over the big leaguers. Kenney appeared in two major league games, pitching in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

twice for the Boston Bees (Braves) during their 1938 season under manager

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York ...

. His first appearance came on July 1 in the second game of a doubleheader against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

Braves Field Braves Field was a baseball park located in Boston, Massachusetts. Today the site is home to Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University. The stadium was home of the Boston Braves of the National League from 1915 to 1952, prior to the B ...

. Kenney pitched the ninth inning in relief of

Dick Errickson Richard Merriwell Errickson (March 5, 1912 – November 28, 1999), nicknamed "Lief", was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues in 1938–42 playing for the Boston Bees/Braves and Chicago Cubs. A native of Vinelan ...

in the Braves' 5–0 loss. His second appearance came three days later on July 4 in the second game of another twin-bill with the Phillies, this time at

Shibe Park Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a ballpark located in Philadelphia. It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL). When it opened April 12, 1 ...

. Kenney tossed 1 innings again in relief of Errickson as the Braves took another loss, 10–2. Over his two big league appearances, Kenney allowed three hits and four earned runs in 2

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

for a 15.34

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. He recorded two

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and eight walks, did not have a decision, and did not come to bat. Kenney served in the

US Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He went on to work as an educator, eventually becoming the principal of Littleton High School in

Littleton, New Hampshire Littleton is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,005 at the 2020 census. Situated at the northern edge of the White Mountains, Littleton is bounded on the northwest by the Connecticut River. The main vill ...

(1950–63), and later the principal of

North Reading High School North Reading High School (NRHS) is the public high school serving students in grades 9–12 from the town of North Reading, Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> m� ...

North Reading, Massachusetts North Reading (pronounced, as is with Reading as () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,554 at the 2020 census. History The area was first settled in 1651 when the town of Reading received a special ...

(1964–81). The 92-year-old Kenney was honored during pre-game festivities at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

in 2008. At 97, Kenney was recognized as one of the oldest living major league ballplayers and was the last living player from the Boston Bees. He died in Littleton on March 12, 2014.

References

External links

Baseball in Wartime
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, Art 1916 births 2014 deaths Boston Bees players Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Harwich Mariners players Major League Baseball pitchers United States Army personnel of World War II Baseball players from Massachusetts United States Army Air Forces soldiers