William Jennings "Duke" Kenworthy (July 4, 1886 – September 21, 1950) was a

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 ...

second baseman. He played all or part of four seasons in the majors, two of which— and —were spent as the starting second baseman for the

Kansas City Packers The Kansas City Packers were a Federal League baseball club in Kansas City, Missouri from 1914 to 1915. They finished sixth in 1914 with a 67–84 record, and fourth in 1915 with an 81–72 record. The Packers moved to Kansas City in July 1913 ...

of the short-lived

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

. Bracketed around that were short stints for the Washington Senators in (where he played in the outfield) and for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

in . Kenworthy was born to Ohio farmers and attended

Muskingum College Muskingum University is a private university in New Concord, Ohio, United States. Chartered in 1837 as Muskingum College, the institution is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). New Concord is located in far eastern Muskingum County ...

, where he received a teaching degree. He played minor league baseball as a pitcher and utility infielder from 1907 to 1911. After a short stint with the Washington Senators in the 1912 season, Kenworthy spent the 1913 season in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. In January 1914, Kenworthy signed a three-year contract with the

, which saw become the team's starting second baseman and the leading hitter. His 15 home runs in 1914 finished second in the league. In 285 games over four seasons, Kenworthy posted a .304

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 ...

(301-for-989) with 159 runs, 71 doubles, 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 ...

, 18

home runs 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 ...

, 146 RBI, 61

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...

, 67

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...

, .360

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and .473

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. He finished his career with a .946

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

playing primarily at second base and several games at left and right field. In 1917, he gained a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

draft exemption for a growth over one of his eyes; he aided the war effort by working at a shipyard in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. He continued playing and managing in the minor leagues until 1924. Kenworthy drowned while fishing off the California coast on September 21, 1950.

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenworthy, Bill Major League Baseball second basemen Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Kansas City Packers players 20th-century American sportsmen St. Louis Browns players Zanesville Infants players Denver Grizzlies (baseball) players Sacramento Sacts players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Seattle Rainiers players Portland Beavers players Columbus Senators players Baseball players from Ohio People from Cambridge, Ohio Portland Beavers managers Accidental deaths in California Deaths by drowning in California 1886 births 1950 deaths Zanesville Potters players Seattle Rainiers managers