Mother helped Jenkins settle on cleats over skates

Summerside - The man who is perhaps Canada's most famous baseball player almost never made it to the diamond at all.

Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins, a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and three-time all-star, had his boyhood dreams set on the NHL, not Major League Baseball. But his mother eventually talked him out of the rougher sport and into the ballpark, Jenkins recalls.

"I lived and died for hockey," he recalled. "But my mother told me, 'There are only two black things on the ice - you and the puck.' "

Jenkins was in Summerside for the Lobster Carnival celebrity dinner Sunday, where he entertained the crowd with stories of his years in the majors, most with the Chicago Cubs.

Now 64, the Chatham, Ont., native spends his time just outside Phoenix, Arizona, and runs the Fergie Jenkins Foundation that donates to charities around North America.

While Jackie Robinson blazed the trail for black players in baseball, the colour barrier Jenkins' mother alluded to would sometimes be an issue outside the ballpark during his career in the minors in Florida.

"There were some problems there. You couldn't eat in certain restaurants. As an athlete, you're playing baseball. I wasn't looking to try and change anything; I wanted to improve my ability and enhance my career."

Over the course of 18 seasons, Jenkins would put up Hall-of-Fame worthy numbers, winning the National League Cy Young award in 1971. With the Cubs, he also went on a six-year streak of winning at least 20 games each season.

He cites the Minnesota Twins' Justin Morneau and the Pittsburgh Pirates' Jason Bay as the most exciting Canadians to watch in the league right now.

"There were maybe seven or eight Canadians playing on major league rosters, and now if you look there's about 20. You have to be lucky; you have to be an opportunist. Given the opportunity, Canadians can play the game as well as anyone else."

A modest ex-ballplayer, Jenkins won't admit to having a great career. Just a good one.

But, he said he was solid enough to become the first Canadian inducted into both the Canadian and American baseball Halls of Fame, an accomplishment he knows is rare for any player.

"I'm really proud of the fact that I made the Hall of Fame. It's something you can't dream about making because you put too much pressure on yourself. When you look at what happens in the game, hundreds and thousands of players have played. I consider myself pretty lucky."