Pennock, Herbert J.
Baseball
b. Feb. 10, 1894, Kennett Square, PA
d. Jan. 30, 1948
A 6-foot, 180-pound right-hander, Pennock began pitching for the AL's Philadelphia Athletics at the age of eighteen in 1912, with no minor-league experience. He appeared in only 31 games in his first two seasons, then had an 11-4 record in 1914. The Athletics sold him to the Boston Red Sox during the 1915 season. Pennock spent much of 1915 and 1916 in the minor leagues, went 5-5 for Boston in 1917, and missed all of 1918, when he was in the Navy.
In 1919, he finally became a regular starter, going 16-8. After a 16-13 record in 1920, he had two straight losing seasons and was traded to the New York Yankees. He was twenty-nine years old and had a record of 76-72 at this point in his career.
But he blossomed with the Yankees. In his first season, 1923, he lowered his ERA to 3.13 from 4.32 the previous year and led the league with a .760 winning percentage on a 19-6 record. In a six-game World Series victory over the New York Giants, Pennock won two games.
Pennock went 21-9 in 1924, then slipped to 16-17 in 1925, when he led the league with 277 innings pitched. He helped lead the Yankees to another pennant in 1926, when he had a 23-11 record, and he won two more games in the World Series. After going 19-8 in 1927, Pennock started the third game of the World Series and retired the first 22 hitters he faced, winning 8-1.
His last good season was 1928, when he was 17-6 with a league-leading 5 shutouts. A sore arm kept him out of the World Series that year and troubled him for the rest of his career. Pennock remained with the Yankees through 1933 and retired after having a 2-0 record in 30 appearances with the Boston Red Sox in 1934.
Pennock later coached for the Red Sox and served as director of the team's farm system for three years before becoming general manager of the NL's Philadelphia Phillies in 1943. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1948 while attending a league meeting.
Pennock relied on a screwball, curve, change-up, and excellent control, using his fastball only to keep hitters off stride. In 22 seasons, he had a 240-162 record with 35 shutouts and a 3.60 ERA. He struck out 1,227 hitters and walked only 916 in 3,571 2/3 innings.