- Fats Jenkins
Clarence Reginald "Fats" Jenkins (
January 10 1898 -December 6 1968 ) was anAfrican American left fielder in the Negro Leagues from 1920 through 1940. He ended his career around seven years beforeJackie Robinson broke the color barrier.Jenkins was born in
New York City . His best year, and one of his most well-documented, came with the Atlantic CityBacharach Giants in by|1929; he batted .358 that season.While solid statistics for Jenkins are hard to come by, a general consensus batting average for his career is thought to be .319 or so. While some put it lower than that, other Negro League historians, such as
James Riley , put it higher. Riley claims Jenkins' lifetime batting average was closer to .331. It is interesting to note that while Jenkins' name is most often tied with theNew York Black Yankees , in all his years there, no statistics were recorded for him; or at least none still remain today.In his career, Jenkins made two
East-West All-Star Game s, led the league instolen base s with nine for theBrooklyn Eagles , and also managed in the Negro Leagues. Jenkins had also previously played basketball professionally as a member of theNew York Renaissance ("Rens"). In 1963, Jenkins was inducted into theBasketball Hall of Fame as a member of the Rens, one of the five teams to be inducted as a group. He died at age 70 inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania .External links
* [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/jenkins_fats.htm Baseball Hall of Fame candidate biography]
* [http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/NY%20Renaissance.htm Basketball Hall of Fame - New York Rens]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.