Robert Daniel Kennedy (August 18, 1920 – April 7, 2005) was a
right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...
/
third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
,
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
and executive 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), ...
.
From 1939 to 1957, Kennedy played for the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
(1939–42, 1946–48, 1955–56, 1957),
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
(1948–54),
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
(1954–55),
Detroit Tigers (1956) and
Brooklyn Dodgers (1957). He batted and threw right-handed. After his playing career, Kennedy managed the
Chicago Cubs (1963–65) and
Oakland Athletics (1968). His son, former major league
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
Terry Kennedy, was a four-time
All-Star and
minor league manager.
Strong-armed third baseman and rightfielder
Kennedy was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. A line-drive hitter, he was blessed with a strong and accurate throwing arm. On June 22, 1937, the night before the White Sox signed him, Kennedy was working as a 16-year-old popcorn vendor at
Comiskey Park during the
World Heavyweight Boxing Title between
Joe Louis and
James J. Braddock
James Walter Braddock (June 7, 1905 – November 29, 1974) was an American boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1937.
Fighting under the name James J. Braddock (ostensibly to follow the pattern set by two prior world boxing ...
. Kennedy debuted a year later, and became the starting third baseman in 1940. In 1940, he became the first teenaged major leaguer since 1900 to play 150 games in a season. After a break of three years to serve in the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
during World War II, he returned, to play mostly in right field.
In the 1948 midseason Kennedy was sent to Cleveland in the same trade that brought
Pat Seerey
James Patrick Seerey (March 17, 1923 – April 28, 1986) was an American professional baseball player. An outfielder, Seerey played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for seven seasons in the American League with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Whi ...
to Chicago. Kennedy hit .301 the rest of the year and became a member of the last
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
Indians team. His most productive season came in 1950, when he posted career-highs in
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
(.291),
runs (79),
hits (157) and
doubles (27). The same season, he started two
triple play
In baseball, a triple play (denoted as TP in baseball statistics) is the act of making three outs during the same play. There have only been 733 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of just over five per season.
Th ...
s from the right field, matching Indians
left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
Charlie Jamieson
Charles Devine "Cuckoo" Jamieson (February 7, 1893 – October 27, 1969) was an American baseball player, an outfielder for the Washington Senators (1915–17), Philadelphia Athletics (1917–18) and Cleveland Indians (1919–32).
Professional ...
's two triple plays of 1928.
Kennedy was traded to the newly relocated Baltimore Orioles in 1954. On July 30, he belted the first
grand slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
for Baltimore against
Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
pitcher
Allie Reynolds
Allie Pierce Reynolds (February 10, 1917 – December 26, 1994) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Reynolds pitched 13 years for the Cleveland Indians (1942–1946) and New York Yankees (1947–1954). Reynolds was nicknam ...
.
In 1955, Kennedy was purchased by the White Sox and sent to Detroit in 1956. Released in April 1957, he signed as a
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
with the White Sox, for his third stint with the club. A month later, he was selected off waivers by the Brooklyn Dodgers, being released at the end of the season. Kennedy is the answer to the trivia question who was the last man to ever bat for the Brooklyn Dodgers. At 3:36pm, Kennedy flew out to centerfield on a 2–2 pitch with two out and no one on in the 9th inning of the last Brooklyn Dodger game ever played on Sunday, September 29, 1957 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Phillies defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 3–2. Seth Morehead, a rookie lefthander was the pitcher for the Phillies. This game marked his major league debut as a starter and was the only time all season Brooklyn lost to a lefthander. They had been 6–0 against lefties throughout 1957.
Career as manager, coach and executive
Following his retirement, he was a
scout and
farm system director for the Indians,
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_and_manager_of_the_
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and manager of the Triple-A (baseball)">Triple-A Salt Lake City Bees.
During the 1962 season, Kennedy was named to the Cubs' College of Coaches. The Cubs had experimented with having a committee of coaches run the team on the field since 1961 in baseball, 1961, as opposed to having a single manager. However, after the 1962 season ended with what is still the worst record in franchise history, owner
Phil Wrigley
Philip Knight Wrigley (December 5, 1894 – April 12, 1977), often called P. K. Wrigley, was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant fa ...
named Kennedy as "head coach" for an indefinite period. After Kennedy led the
1963 Cubs to their first winning record in 17 years, he began to assert a more traditional managerial authority over the team. He served as head coach from 1963 until June 13, 1965, posting a 162–198 record. He served as special assistant to Cub
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
John Holland, manager of the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
'
Double-A Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
affiliate, and a coach with the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
until 1968.
In
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Janu ...
, when the Athletics moved from
Kansas City to
Oakland, Kennedy was their first manager. Oakland finished sixth in a 10-team league with an 82–80 record, a notable improvement from the 62–99 last-place 1967 Athletics. It was also the franchise's first winning season since 1952, when the team was still in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. According to the 1972 book ''Mustache Gang'', authored by Ron Bergman, on the last day of the season Kennedy walked into
Charlie Finley
Charles Oscar Finley (February 22, 1918 – February 19, 1996), nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas C ...
's office, expecting an extension. Five minutes later, Kennedy had been fired. After that, he spent six years (1970–75) as director of player development and director of player personnel of the
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
, and 1976 as a member of the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
' start-up baseball operations team preparing for the club's
1977 debut in Major League Baseball.
Kennedy returned to the Cubs to succeed
Salty Saltwell
Eldred["Saltwell Joins Cubs as GM"](_blank)
'' San Mateo Times'', November 5, 195 ...
as
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
on November 24, 1976. His first act was to name
Herman Franks
Herman Louis Franks (January 4, 1914 – March 30, 2009) was a catcher, coach, manager, general manager and scout in Major League Baseball. He was born in Price, Utah, to Italian-American immigrant parents and attended the University of Utah.
Pl ...
as his first and only choice to replace
Jim Marshall as manager. He resigned from the position and was succeeded by Franks on an interim basis on May 22, 1981.
Minkoff, Randy. "New Chicago Cubs general manager Herman Franks has suggested...," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Saturday, May 23, 1981.
Retrieved June 9, 2020
Rounding out his baseball career, Kennedy then served as a senior baseball operations executive for the Houston Astros (1982–85) and San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
(1986–92), assisting his former Cleveland teammate Al Rosen
Albert Leonard Rosen (February 29, 1924 – March 13, 2015), nicknamed "Flip" and "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American baseball third baseman and right-handed slugger for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball for ten seasons in the 194 ...
, then the president or general manager of those teams.
In a 16-season playing career, Kennedy was a .254 hitter with 63 home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and 514 RBI in 1,483 games. As a manager, he posted a 264–278 record in two-plus seasons.
Bob Kennedy died in Mesa, Arizona, at age of 84.
References
External links
Bob Kennedy
- Baseballbiography.com
*
''San Francisco Chronicle''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Bob
1920 births
2005 deaths
Atlanta Braves coaches
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from Chicago
Brooklyn Dodgers players
Chicago Cubs coaches
Chicago Cubs executives
Chicago Cubs managers
Chicago White Sox players
Cleveland Indians executives
Cleveland Indians players
Cleveland Indians scouts
Dallas Steers players
De La Salle Institute alumni
Detroit Tigers players
Houston Astros executives
Indianapolis Indians players
Longview Cannibals players
Major League Baseball executives
Major League Baseball farm directors
Major League Baseball general managers
Major League Baseball right fielders
Major League Baseball third basemen
Minor league baseball managers
Oakland Athletics managers
St. Louis Cardinals executives
St. Louis Cardinals scouts
San Francisco Giants executives
Shreveport Sports players
Sportspeople from Chicago
Vicksburg Hill Billies players
American military personnel of World War II