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Herb Pennock

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Herb Pennock
File:Pennock.jpg
Pitcher
Born: (1894-02-10)February 10, 1894
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Died: January 30, 1948(1948-01-30) (aged 53)
New York City, New York
Batted: Switch
Threw: Left
debut
May 14, 1912, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last appearance
August 27, 1934, for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics
Win-loss record240-162
Earned run average3.60
Strikeouts1227
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • World Series champion (1913, 1915, 1916, 1923, 1927, 1928 and 1932)
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Member of the {{{hoftype}}}]]
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Baseball Hall of Fame]]
Induction1948
Vote77.69% (eighth ballot)

Herbert Jefferis Pennock (February 10, 1894 – January 30, 1948) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball from 1912 through 1933. He is best known for his time spent with the star-studded New York Yankee teams of the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s. He batted and threw left-handed.

Pennock won two World Series championships with the Red Sox and then four World Series championships with the Yankees. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948.

Early life

Pennock was born on February 10, 1894 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. His father, Theodore Pennock, and mother Mary Louise Pennock (nee Sharp) were of Scot-Irish and Quaker descent.[1]

He attended a Friends' School and Cedarcroft Boarding School, where he played for the baseball team. After struggling as a first baseman, his coach converted Pennock into a pitcher.[1]

Playing career

Philadelphia Athletics

Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, signed Pennock in 1912 to play for his collegiate team based in Atlantic City. Pennock's father insisted that he sign under an alias in order to prorect his collegiate eligibility. Pennock threw a no-hitter against a traveling Negro league baseball team, and Mack promoted him to the Athletics.[1] Pennock made his major league debut on May 14 with the Athletics, allowing one hit in four innings pitched.[1] Chief Bender taught Pennock to throw a screwball, while Mike Grady, a neighbor of Pennock's in Kennett Square, took Pennock under his wing.[1] Pennock missed most of the 1913 season with an illness.[1]

In 1914, Pennock posted a 11–4 win-loss record with a 2.79 earned run average (ERA) in 151+2⁄3 innings pitched for the Athletics, and pitched three scoreless innings in the 1914 World Series, which the Athletics lost to the Boston Braves. Mack let Bender go after the season, naming Pennock his Opening Day starting pitcher in 1915. On Opening Day, Pennock threw a one-hit complete game shutout against the Boston Red Sox.[1] However, as the Athletics struggled, Pennock's nonchalant playing style drew Mack's ire. Concluding that Pennock "lacked ambition", Mack sold Pennock to the Red Sox for the waiver price.[1]

Boston Red Sox

With a deep pitching staff in place, the Red Sox loaned Pennock to the Providence Grays of the International League. In 1916, he split the season between the Red Sox and the Buffalo Bisons, also in the International League. Pitching in minor league baseball, Pennock began to regain confidence.[1] However, Boston manager Jack Barry used Pennock sparingly in the 1917 season, and Pennock enlisted in the United States Navy in 1918.[2] After defeating a team fielded by the United States Army for the Navy in an exhibition for George VI, the King of England, in Stamford Bridge, Ed Barrow, the new manager of the Red Sox, promised to use Pennock regularly during the 1919 season.[1]

Pennock received only one start apiece in the months of April and May, as the Red Sox relied on George Dumont, Bill James, and Bullet Joe Bush, leading Pennock to threaten to quit in late-May unless Barrow fulfilled his earlier promise to Pennock. Barrow continued to use Pennock regularly after Memorial Day,[1] and Pennock finished the season with a 16–8 win-loss record and a 2.71 ERA in 219 innings pitched. He served as the team's ace pitcher in 1920, but subsequently settled in as the Red Sox' third starter.[1] After a dismal 1922 campaign in which he went 10–17, Pennock was traded to the New York Yankees for Norm McMillan, George Murray, and Camp Skinner.[3]

New York Yankees

Pennock pitched to a 19-6 win-loss record in 1923, his first season with the Yankees, leading the American League (AL) in winning percentage (.760) and finishing sixth in wins.[4] Pitching in the 1923 World Series, Pennock defeated the New York Giants in game two, on October 11, to end their eight-game World Series winning streak.[1][5] He recorded a save in securing the Yankees' win in game four, and pitched to the win in game six on one day of rest, clinching the Yankees' first World Series championship.[1][5] Umpire Billy Evans called it "the greatest pitching performance I have ever seen," as Pennock "had nothing."[1]

In 1924, he pitched to a 21–9 win-loss record with a 2.83 ERA while striking out a career-high 101 batters. His win total was second in the AL, behind Walter Johnson, while his ERA was third behind Johnson and Tom Zachary, and he finished fourth in strikeouts behind Johnson, Howard Ehmke, and teammate Bob Shawkey.[6] In 1926 he posted a career-high 23 wins. He pitched a complete game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game Three of the 1927 World Series, not allowing a hit until the eighth inning. Pennock's performance drew praise from teammate Babe Ruth.[7] The Yankees swept the series from Pittsburgh.[8] After pitching a three-hit shutout against the Red Sox on August 12, 1928, he missed the remainder of the season, including the 1928 World Series, with an arm injury. Though the Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1928 World Series,[9] the Yankees' starting rotation without Pennock was likened to "a three-stringed ukulele."[1]

In 1929, Pennock saw his pitching time and pitching quality diminish. He won his 200th career game that season, becoming the third left-handed pitcher to reach that mark.[1] Over the rest of his career, he never posted more than 189 innings pitched and didn't see his ERA drop below 4.00. Pennock eventually bowed out of the game in 1934, after a season spent largely in relief for the Red Sox. He finished with 240 wins, 162 losses and a 3.60 ERA.

Pennock pitched in five World Series, one with Philadelphia and four with New York, amassed a 5–0 career Series record with three saves, and was a part of seven World Series championships (1913, 1915, 1916, 1923, 1927, 1928, and 1932). Pennock was in the service in 1918 and missed out on Boston's World Series victory.

Post-playing career

After retiring, Pennock became a coach and farm system director of the Red Sox through 1943, when he was named the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.[10] In 1948, at the age of 53, Pennock collapsed in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was pronounced dead upon his arrival at Midtown Hospital.[11] Weeks later, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.[12]

In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included Pennock in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. He was inducted in the International League Hall of Fame. Noted baseball photographer Charles M. Conlon considered Pennock one of his favorite subjects to photograph.[13]

Personal

Pennock was nicknamed "the Squire of Kennett Square."[14] He married Esther M. Freck, his high school sweetheart and the younger sister of a childhood friend, on October 28, 1915. Esther often attended spring training and traveled with her husband's team during the season. Together, the couple had a daughter, Jane (born 1920), and a son, Joe (born 1925). While a member of the Yankees, Pennock rented an apartment on Grand Concourse in The Bronx, where his wife and children stayed while the Yankees played their home games.[1]

Pennock was a proficient horse rider, raised hounds, and silver foxes for their pelts.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Herb Pennock". SABR. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  2. ^ "BASEBALL STARS IN NAVY. - Many Strong Teams to Represent Sailors of Nation. - Article - NYTimes.com". Select.nytimes.com. 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  3. ^ "The Southeast Missourian - Google News Archive". News.google.com. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  4. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1923-pitching-leaders.shtml
  5. ^ a b http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1923_WS.shtml
  6. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1924-pitching-leaders.shtml
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1927_WS.shtml
  9. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1928_WS.shtml
  10. ^ "The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive". News.google.com. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  11. ^ "The Pittsburgh Press - Google News Archive". News.google.com. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  12. ^ "The Deseret News - Google News Archive". News.google.com. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  13. ^ [2]
  14. ^ a b http://articles.philly.com/2008-03-28/news/25260117_1_hall-of-fame-honors-local-stars-barber-pole/2

Herb Pennock at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Preceded by
n/a
 Philadelphia Phillies General Manager
1944–1948 		Succeeded by

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