Kewpie Pennington

Pennington was born on September 24, 1896, in New York City.^[1] Pennington attended Commercial High School in Brooklyn and pitched for the Oakland club that won the Brooklyn Amateur League 1913.^[2][3]

In early 1914, he was given a tryout for the National League's Brooklyn Superbas to take part in the club's spring training in Augusta, Georgia.^[4][5][6] After failing to make the club, he returned to the Oaklands in April.^[7] He then pitched for the Binghamton Bingoes of the New York State League and the York White Roses of the Tri-State League before signing with the Lawrence Barristers of the New England League in June.^[8][9][10] He played for both Lawrence and the Haverhill Hustlers of the same league during the remainder of the season, finishing the year with a 8-2 win-loss record as Lawrence won the league championship.^[11]

Pennington began the 1915 season with Lawrence before he was loaned to the New England League's Fitchburg Burghers in May.^[12][13] Lawrence recalled Pennington in July, but he refused to report, arguing that Lawrence failed to pay him while he was away from the club and that he had signed a new contract with Fitchburg.^[14][15] After being suspended by the league and ordered to report to Lawrence on August 9, he rejoined the club on August 30 for the remainder of the season.^[16][17] He pitched for Lawrence again in 1916 and received the attention of major league scouts from the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants and Detroit Tigers.^[18][19] Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack was in attendance for a game in August in which Pennington gave up 11 hits and six runs.^[20]

Pennington joined the St. Louis Browns for spring training in 1917.^[21][22] On April 14, Pennington made his only major league appearance, pitching the final inning for the Browns in a game where the Chicago White Sox's Eddie Cicotte threw a no-hitter to beat the Browns 11–0.^[23][24] In May, he was acquired by the Newark Bears of the International League.^[25] In 25 games for Newark, he had a 11-10 win-loss record with a 2.28 earned run average.^[26]

In January 1918, he was sent to the Mobile Bears of the Southern Association.^[27] He quit the team in May and played for Fore River Shipyard, Morse Dry Dock and Repair Company and Staten Island Shipbuilding baseball clubs.^[28][29][30] He was purchased by the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League on February 14, 1919.^[31] He pitched in nine games for Portland, but quit the team in June.^[26][32][33] After playing semi-pro ball in Brooklyn the remainder of 1919, Portland surrendered their rights to Pennington for 1920 and he joined the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League.^[34] He pitched for Hartford from 1920 to 1922, winning 44 games over three seasons and posting an ERA below 1.85 in both 1920 and 1921.^[26] Pennington refused to report to Hartford in the spring on 1923, and instead signed with the semi-pro Newark Meadobrooks.^[35] Hartford sold Pennington to the Eastern League's Springfield Ponies in late May.^[36][37] He quit the club multiple times during the season and ended the year with a 0-6 record in eight games pitched.^[38][39][26] Springfield express interest in bringing Pennington back for 1924, but he did not return to professional baseball.^[40][41]

Pennington died on May 3, 1953 in Newark, New Jersey.^[1]

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet  · Baseball Almanac