Player Profile: Brickyard Kennedy

Posted By on October 1, 2022

Coming in at #23 on the all-time WAR list, 35.0 is one William Park Kennedy. William came into this world on October 7, 1867, in Bellaire, Ohio. Today it is a town of less than 5,000 on the Ohio River and is considered part of the Wheeling, West Virginia, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In Kennedy’s day, Bellaire was known as “The Glass City,” but it lost that title in the late 1880s when natural gas was discovered in Findlay, Ohio. This drew the manufacturers west out of Bellaire. Bellaire did have a moment of fame recently, though. The toll bridge across the Ohio River, now closed and abandoned, appeared in the film “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Stories abound that Kennedy was illiterate, but his actual education level and much of his family history are unknown. What is known is that 174 wins during the decade of the 1890s put him fourth behind Kid Nichols, Cy Young, and Amos Rusie. All of whom are in the Hall of Fame. That Kennedy has never joined them can be attributed to his one great failing as a pitcher. He never mastered the skill of covering first base. He vainly kept trying to persuade his managers that covering first was not part of a pitcher’s job description.

He was called “Roaring Bill” for his foghorn voice and constantly running his mouth while ragging on umpires, opposing hitters, and sometimes his own teammates for errors made behind him. Kennedy, per the July 1899 issue of the Sporting News, frequently clashed with his managers, most notably Ned Hanlon, 1899-1901. He would consistently blame his teammates for errors behind him and umpires for the stunning number of hitters he walked. In August of 1900, he walked six straight hitters in a game against Philadelphia, a 9-4 loss, and finished his career with the most free passes, 1,203, for a pitcher with less than 800 K’s. He had 799.

Kennedy pitched for Wheeling in 1889. He then pitched in Denver for two seasons. In 1892, he received an offer from the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and went to Brooklyn to pitch. He was 13-8 his first season with a 3.86 ERA. The Brickyard nickname followed him, but to his teammates and most of the league, he was called “Roaring Bill.” In 1893, Kennedy logged 382 innings and won 25 games while losing 20. He struck out 107 batters but walked 168. But his ERA was still under four at 3.72. Kennedy would log over 300 innings five times in his career and over 270 three additional times. He was definitely an innings eater.

Kennedy in Brooklyn

Back in those days, the kid from Ohio would have definitely been what was called then a “rube.” He bought a flashy 50-dollar suit with his first paycheck and took his change in ones so he could flash a “wad”. He was quickly cleaned out by the New York sharks and went home to Bellaire. When he got there sympathetic locals cleaned out the rest of his cash. He stayed there for several weeks before returning to Brooklyn. Even then, the manager was reluctant to start him until August. He lost his first start, and despite having only one win before August, he ended up with his 13-8 record.

In 1893, he became Brooklyn’s strongest pitcher and would remain so for six seasons. His career day came when he won both ends of a doubleheader on Memorial Day. Kennedy would win 25, 24, 19, 17, 18,16, 20 and 22 games between 1893-1900. In the winter of 1901-02, after winning two straight pennants in the “City of Churches,.” Hanlon decided he had had enough of Kennedy’s antics and released him. He had only pitched 85.1 innings in 1901. A paper reported that Kennedy was dying of consumption in his hometown, but it turned out to be pneumonia. It was probably a harbinger of things to come. Kennedy caught on with the NY Giants in 1902, but he was dropped after a 15-1 pasting by the Reds on May 18th. He went home to run his saloon, and he put together a local semi-pro team he called the Bill Kennedy All-Stars.

His arm was healed enough by 1903, so he tried out for the Champion Pittsburgh Pirates and made the team on the strength of an 11-1 showing against the Cardinals. Kennedy had a respectable 9-6 season as the Pirate’s 4th starter when they were using a 3-man rotation. He started a game against Boston in the World Series when two of the Pirates starters went down. He battled Cy Young for five innings. In the sixth, he was undone by errors by Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke. The Sox scored six runs on their way to an 11-2 win. It would be his last game in an MLB uniform and the last time he would display his monumental temper on a major league field. He became the first MLB player to end his career playing in a World Series.

He went home to Ohio and played a couple of years for the Wheeling Stooges, and then finished up his baseball Odessey with three seasons with the Dayton Old Soldiers, making his last appearance at age 40. He continued to pitch for Ohio River Semi-pro teams until his health made it impossible to do so. He died at his brother’s home in Bellaire on September 23, 1915, of tuberculosis. He was two weeks shy of his 48th birthday. Had it not been for Baseball-Reference and the Dodger Media guides, I probably would have never heard of Roaring Bill. But I am glad I took the time to find out more about the guy who is 23rd on the Dodger’s all-time WAR list.

This article has 29 Comments

  1. It seems safe to say that Brickyard was not a nice man, but that was a nice write-up, Bear!

    109 – Incredible.

    I will consider it a failure if the Dodgers do not win the World Series, but it will not diminish this incredible season. I will be disappointed if it happens, but it has been a fun season … one for the ages.

    However, I really do think they are motivated to win it all and they have the horses.

  2. I believe Dodgers will win the 2022 championship. The only thing that could beat them is themselves as it’s a very big stage and I wonder if our pitchers know they are as good as their records. Stand tall Dodgers! You’ve proven your worthiness. Make your mark in history……again!

    1. This is a very interesting pitching staff. It is dominant in fairly short bursts and deep as hell! There’s no bull that you can just keep riding deep into games, but they’re outstanding, dare I say historic, as a whole.

  3. Braves and Mets are tied and each have a fairly equal battle with each other and the teams each end their season against for their division. May the winner be worn out and the wild card as well ala 2021 Dodgers vs Giants. Hopefully they both end their season tied.

  5. Since we need to stay sharp until the end, what with 5 days of rest coming, we should be putting max effort into every game regardless of who’s playing. Playing the Rockies and them fielding up to three rookies at a time out there right now we could conceivably win the rest of them. The cool thing about 114 wins is that’s what it takes to put you over 700 win percentage. Heck, even having to listen to the Rockies announcers last night wasn’t horrible. Since the rocks suck so bad, all they did was talk about how great the Dodgers were as if to make excuses for why they were getting their asses kicked.
    Cheers

  7. RIP Hector. May your family be comforted by God. Hector played many positions in his 8 years with the Yanks. Hector was one of the players that the Yankees picked up from their “farm team”, the Kansas City Athletics.

  8. I wanted to comment on PhilJones’ comment about left field yesterday as I was thinking about it as well. The choices are many. Gallo, Trayce, CT3 and Vargas.

    Recency bias suggest that Vargas or CT3 (after last nights’ big night) should be out there. The all defense vote goes to Gallo and the best all round performance since coming to the Dodgers would go to Trayce.

    CT3 started the season hoping to lock down a full time position in left field. He’s very good defensive and probably has the best arm outside of Gallo. He’s a clutch hitter for the most part and like Trayce and Gallo, strikes out with the best, er, worst of them. He’s made some spectacular plays in the outfield, and had a clanker in 2020 against the Rays that extended the World series one more game.

    Gallo is as advertised on defense and is the best of the bunch in that category. But, he sucks at hitting except for the occasional homer. I don’t like much about him and never liked 3TO players overall.

    Trayce is probably the best all around player in this category, if he can keep hitting and that is a very big if. In fact, over his last 19 games, he’s hitting about the same as Gallo. His defense is above average, probably about the same as CT3 and has a similar arm. Hell, he basically is CT3 with a little more pop and a little less average in his bat.

    Vargas has turned it on a little bit lately with more consistent playing time. He looks a bit uncomfortable in the outfield, especially when compared to the other three. If you look at the last 30 days, he’s hitting about the same as the others, with less power. If you look at the last 15 days, he looks like a solid singles hitter.

    There’s no good answer here. They all pretty much suck. That’s probably why Doc’s been giving CT3 as much playing time as possible. If he can get CT3 hot, he’s a much better option than the other three. But, he’s probably the best suited to come off the bench, which isn’t as critical with the AL rules.

    There’s 5 games left to figure this out. Ride the hot hand or default to CT3.

    1. Totally agree. Mix and match is what they will do. They have been using the matchup card all year. Thompson hits right-handed pitching much better than left.

  10. 9:10 PM ET

    Rockies (65-92)
    Dodgers (109-48)

    SP Kyle Freeland L
    9-11 4.63 ERA 169.0IP 50BB 123K
    SP Michael Grove R
    1-0 4.07 ERA 24.1IP 8BB 21K

    Confirmed Lineup
    RF Mookie Betts R
    SS Trea Turner R
    1B F. Freeman L
    LF Chris Taylor R
    DH M. Vargas R
    CF T. Thompson R
    C A. Barnes R
    2B Gavin Lux L
    3B H. Alberto R

    Clear-day
    0% Rain
    70° Wind 7 mph Out

    1. One question: Why not start Vargas at 3B or LF?
      The game is meaningless and he needs the reps on the ML level. Especially if, heaven forbid, a key player goes down with injury.
      A sore arm, perhaps?

      1. The Dodgers have two third basemen who are better defensively. They have 3 or 4 LF’ers who are better defensively.

        So right now, DH is his best position. It looks like JT may be back next year, and Muncy is there, so 3B is out of the question. Maybe LF is where he ends up, but he has very little experience there.

  11. Braves ahead again. MAX out down 4-2.

    Let’s Vargas DH. Vargas has an .491 OPS. He will not be in the playoffs.

  14. Lux is sinking like a stone. Once again AF looks smart by not signing Seager to that huge contract. The future is now in the closer role

    1. Cassidy – hope life is good.

      Was thinking about Lux earlier – there seems to be something different about his approach currently.

      It appears to my untrained eye that he is being much less patient than earlier in the season, not working the count and waiting for a better pitch.

      He struck me as always putting a good AB together, a controlled AB, but now it all seems a little frenetic.
      TBF maybe the neck, as Mark alluded to, is a bigger problem?

      Nice win, as all comebacks are. Trea looking better and Cody’s confidence gotta be rising. Mookie hit it hard

      Hopefully CT3 and JT only minor knocks.

  15. Thx Watford. Survived hurticane Ian Charleston was spared. Horrific what happened in Florida

    1. Glad to hear that. Looked awful on the coverage I saw.

      Not sure where they get these names, Hurricane Ian seems a bit lame.

      Maybe Mark would’ve been more appropriate!

  16. Mark,

    What’s your email address? I ‘m unable to post today’s Sunday lineup because I’m going to Scarsdale New York to visit my newborn grandson Anthony. This makes number 5, 3 boys and 2 girls. Couldn’t be happier.

  17. I don’t know what the stats say but it seems to me that Bellinger has been making more contact and striking out less the last few weeks. If so, that would be good news for the playoffs….

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