| Ray Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Pinch hitter | |
| Born: May 19, 1895 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
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| Died: January 18, 1969 (aged 73) Casselberry, Florida |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| September 8, 1916 for the St. Louis Browns | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 8, 1916 for the St. Louis Browns | |
| Career statistics | |
| Games played | 1 |
| At bats | 1 |
| Hit(s) | 0 |
| Teams | |
Raymond Lincoln Kennedy (May 19, 1895 — January 18, 1969) was an American professional baseball player, scout and front office executive. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Kennedy's professional playing career came almost exclusively at the minor league level.[1] A catcher and second baseman, he played from 1915–1917 and 1919–1927, largely in the original Sally League.[1] He made one appearance as a player in Major League Baseball as a pinch hitter for the 1916 St. Louis Browns on September 8, and went hitless in his only at bat against the Detroit Tigers.[2] He had spent most of that season in the Class D Illinois State League.[1]
Kennedy was the first person to hold the title of general manager in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, spending one season, 1946, in the post.[3][4] He had been hired from the New York Yankees organization, where he had previously been secretary and business manager of the Newark Bears, one of the Bombers' two Triple-A farm clubs, by Pirates' president William Benswanger, who was supervising the final year of the Bucs' ownership by the Barney Dreyfuss family. On August 8, 1946, the team was sold to a consortium led by Indianapolis businessman Frank McKinney, Columbus, Ohio-based real estate developer John W. Galbreath, Pittsburgh attorney Thomas Johnson, and entertainer Bing Crosby.
The Pirates' new owners brought in their own general manager at the end of the season: Roy Hamey, who had been president of the Triple-A American Association. Ironically, Hamey had previously been Kennedy's peer as the business manager of the Yankees' other top farm team, the Kansas City Blues. In the front-office transition that followed, Kennedy remained with the Pirates as director of minor league clubs from 1947–1948. In 1949, Kennedy became minor league director of the Detroit Tigers, serving through 1951.[5] In 1955, Kennedy was player personnel director of the Kansas City Athletics[6] and was working as a scout for the New York Mets at the time of his death, at age 73, in Casselberry, Florida.
| Preceded by William Benswanger (Club president) |
Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager 1946 |
Succeeded by Roy Hamey |
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