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Monday, November 29, 2010

FORREST "FROSTY" KENNEDY


Born: March 20, 1926, Los Angeles
Resides: Covina
Batted: Right, Threw: Right.
Height: 5' 11", Weight: 190 pounds.


Kennedy is one of only 14 men in baseball history to hit
60 home runs in a season, and is also one, of only 19 men to have a documented hitting streak of 40 games or longer. He is a charter member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Minor League Hall of Fame, and his statistics are on display in the Babe Ruth Wing at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
In 10 minor league seasons (1948 to 1957) , Kennedy averaged .342.
Kennedy hit 60 home runs for Plainview (Texas) of the Class B Southwestern League in 1956, accomplishing this feat in only 144 games. He hit .327 that year, with 184 RBIs and 151 runs scored.
He is also one of the few men in baseball history to hit over .400 twice. He hit .411 for Riverside of the class C sunset League in 1949, and .410 for Plainview when that city fielded a team in the West Texas-New Mexico League in 1953.
Kennedy had a 40-game hitting streak for Plainview in 1953, part of a remarkable stretch which saw him hit safely in 95 of his final 100 games that season.
A standout in football and baseball at El Monte Union High School, Kennedy then served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945. Following his honorable discharge, he played for several semi-pro baseball teams in the area, and also starred on the 1946 El Monte American Legion Softball team, which won 33 of 35 games. While playing on a semi-pro team in Ontario in 1947, Kennedy was signed to a pro contract by Pittsburgh Pirates scout Babe Merman.

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