William Park Kennedy (October 7, 1867 – September 23, 1915), nicknamed "Brickyard" and "Roaring Bill", was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 1892 to 1903. He played for the Brooklyn Grooms/Bridegrooms/Superbas (1892–1901),

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

(1902), and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

(1903).

Baseball career

Kennedy was born in

Bellaire, Ohio Bellaire is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,870 at the 2020 census, having peaked in 1920. It is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. The Bellaire Brid ...

, in 1867. From 1889 to 1891, he played

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

."Brickyard Kennedy Minor Leagues Statistics & History"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021. Kennedy then joined Brooklyn of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

. He won over 10 games for Brooklyn every year from 1892 to 1900. He had four 20-win seasons, including a career-high 25 in 1893."Brickyard Kennedy Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 14, 2021. In 1901, Kennedy won three games. He was then released by Brooklyn and signed with New York, winning one game with them. Kennedy signed with Pittsburgh for the 1903 season and won nine games for the team, which won the National League championship. He started one game in the

1903 World Series The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the American League (AL) champion 1903 Boston Americans season, Boston Americans against the National League (baseball), National League (NL ...

and lost. It was his last major league game.Nemec, David
"Brickyard Kennedy"
sabr.org. Retrieved May 14, 2021. From 1904 to 1908, Kennedy played in the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

Legacy

During his 12-year major league career, Kennedy had a 187–159

win–loss record Win–loss may refer to: * Win–loss analytics, analysis of the reasons why a visitor to a website was or wasn't persuaded to engage in a desired action * Win–loss record, also winning percentage * Win–loss record (pitching), the number of ...

with a 3.96

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

and 799

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s in 3,030

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

. He had the fourth-most wins of the 1890s, behind

Kid Nichols Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols (September 14, 1869 – April 11, 1953) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the Boston Beaneaters, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1906. A switch hitter w ...

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered t ...

, and

Amos Rusie Amos Wilson Rusie (May 30, 1871 – December 6, 1942), nicknamed "the Hoosier Thunderbolt", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball during the late 19th century. He had a 10-season career in the National League (NL), w ...

. Kennedy was a better than average hitting pitcher in his major league career. He posted a .261

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 ...

(334-for-1279) with 1

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

and 148 RBI along with 54 doubles and 21

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

. Kennedy was nicknamed "Brickyard". He was also commonly known as "Roaring Bill" because he had a loud voice and talked a lot. Kennedy died in Bellaire, Ohio, in 1915, at the age of 47 of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Brickyard 1867 births 1915 deaths 19th-century baseball players 19th-century American sportsmen Major League Baseball pitchers Brooklyn Grooms players Brooklyn Bridegrooms players Brooklyn Superbas players New York Giants (baseball) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Wheeling National Citys players Wheeling Nailers (baseball) players Denver Grizzlies (baseball) players Denver Mountaineers players Wheeling Stogies players Dayton Veterans players Sportspeople from Bellaire, Ohio Baseball players from Belmont County, Ohio 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Ohio