Ted Kennedy (baseball)

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Theodore A. Kennedy (February 7, 1865 in Henry, Illinois – October 28, 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri), Ted was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1885-1886. He would play for the Louisville Colonels, Philadelphia Athletics, and Chicago White Stockings. Inventor of the baseball catcher's mitt, he sold his patents to the A.G. Spalding Company and opened a baseball school, specializing in teaching the curveball, and also manufactured sporting goods - specifically baseball gloves and catcher's mitts. He also invented a pitching machine and was developing the first electric scoreboard at the time of his death.

Ted Kennedy
Pitcher
Born: (1865-02-07)February 7, 1865
Henry, Illinois
Died: October 28, 1907(1907-10-28) (aged 42)
St. Louis, Missouri
Batted: Left
Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 12, 1885, for the Chicago White Stockings
Last MLB appearance
September 23, 1886, for the Louisville Colonels
MLB statistics
W-L Record12-21
Earned run average4.32
Strikeout118
Teams
Standing man in baseball uniform with bat
Ted Kennedy, 1889, Burdick Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Married to Regina. They had four children: Fannie (1887), Mabel (1889), Herbert (1891) and Viola (1896).

In 1976, Kennedy's grandson (Viola's son), Dick Metzger, donated his grandfather's collection of memorabilia to the Baseball Hall of Fame library. The Ted Kennedy Collection includes: Two scrapbooks of lessons, which are hand drawn, handwritten and typed; his glove patterns, with each piece cut out, ready to be assembled; flyers, brochures and articles with playing instructions to pitchers and players; and how to order a glove through the mail. Another donation of memorabilia was donated to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.

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