Called up from the minors to substitute for an injured Ted Simmons at catcher, Cardinals rookie Terry Kennedy contributed a bloop and a blast in a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies.
On July 1, 1979, Kennedy hit his first big-league home run, a grand slam, in Game 1 of the Sunday doubleheader at St. Louis and delivered a walkoff RBI-single on a broken-bat pop fly in Game 2.
Though Kennedy impressed the Cardinals, they eventually decided to trade both he and Simmons, opting instead for Darrell Porter as their catcher.
Stepping up
Kennedy’s father, Bob Kennedy, was a big-league player and manager who worked for the Cardinals from 1969-76 as a scout and front-office executive.
In 1977, when Bob Kennedy became general manager of the Cubs, the Cardinals chose Terry Kennedy, a Florida State standout, in the first round of the amateur draft.
A left-handed batter, Kennedy made his major-league debut with the Cardinals in 1978, appearing in 10 September games, after hitting .309 with 100 RBI in the minors.
The 1979 Cardinals began the season with Simmons and Steve Swisher as their catchers and returned Kennedy to the minors. Kennedy, hitting .287 with 50 RBI for Class AAA Springfield, was called back by the Cardinals after Simmons broke his left wrist on June 24, 1979. Simmons was injured when struck by a foul ball off the bat of Mets pitcher Andy Hassler, who was attempting to bunt.
Simmons said he would work with Kennedy “every day, helping him any way I can,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Kennedy, who referred to Simmons as “the best hitter in the National League,” said he was “a little bit nervous” about substituting for the Cardinals’ catcher, but added, “I can do it.”
Mistake pitch
Kennedy’s breakout game occurred in the opener of the doubleheader versus the Phillies.
In the eighth inning, with the bases loaded and the Cardinals ahead, 9-7, Kennedy batted against left-hander Tug McGraw. With the count 0-and-2, McGraw hung a screwball and Kennedy hit it over the right-field wall.
“My thinking was ass-backwards out there for some reason,” McGraw said to Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News. “I’ve never, ever thrown an 0-2 waste pitch screwball to a left-handed hitter, but I did today and don’t ask me why. The pitch was against all logic and I hung it. Maybe it was in the back of my mind that he’s a rookie and would be vulnerable to a screwball.”
Kennedy’s home run propelled the Cardinals to a 13-7 victory. He was 2-for-4 with a walk and threw out Bake McBride attempting to steal third. Boxscore
“He has to work on his defensive skills, but he’s going to create some thunder,” Cardinals manager Ken Boyer told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Dumb luck
Swisher was the Cardinals’ catcher in Game 2, but Kennedy batted for him in the ninth inning with runners on first and second, two outs and the score tied at 1-1.
The first delivery from former Cardinal Ron Reed was “a killer pitch, a fastball that could have started a Midwest heat wave,” according to Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Kennedy swung and “his bat shattered with a splintering sound so loud they probably heard it in Kansas City,” the Inquirer reported.
“I got jammed,” Kennedy said to the Post-Dispatch.
The ball floated softly into shallow center.
“I was so embarrassed,” Kennedy said. “I started running to first base with my head down.”
Shortstop Larry Bowa and second baseman Manny Trillo converged on the ball.
“We both started to call it and we both looked at each other,” Bowa said, “and we both took a step away.”
With Bowa and Trillo standing like statues, the ball plopped onto the ground for a single and Keith Hernandez dashed home from second with the winning run. Boxscore
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Kennedy. “It was just dumb luck. The ball should have been caught.”
Reliever Mark Littell was the winning pitcher in each game of the doubleheader and got his first major-league RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the opener.
“When I was a kid, I read that book, ‘Baseball is A Funny Game,’ by Joe Garagiola,” Littell said. “Now I know what he meant.”
Multiple all-star
Kennedy hit .284 in 33 games for the Cardinals in 1979 and .254 in 84 games for them in 1980. Simmons, who returned to the lineup on July 24, hit 26 home runs for the 1979 Cardinals. He had 21 homers and 98 RBI for the Cardinals in 1980.
After the 1980 season, the Cardinals, who turned over their baseball operations to Whitey Herzog, traded Simmons to the Brewers and Kennedy to the Padres. Porter, a free agent, was signed to be their catcher and was backed by Gene Tenace, one of the players acquired for Kennedy.
In 14 seasons with the Cardinals (1978-80), Padres (1981-86), Orioles (1987-88) and Giants (1989-91), Kennedy was a four-time all-star who produced 1,313 career hits and played in two World Series.
In addition to his first big-league home run, Kennedy hit one other grand slam. It occurred on May 15, 1990, for the Giants against the Mets’ Ron Darling.
RetroSimba 
A solid and durable player. Please correct me if I’m wrong. In 1982, when he won the Silver Slugger Award, he hit 42 doubles breaking the record that Johnny Bench had establieshed for most doubles by a catcher in a season. Is that still tops for a NL catcher? Also, in doing a little research I discovered that Terry and his Father Bob were the first father and son duo to have World Series rbi’s. Terry drove in two runs for the Padres in the ’84 Series. His father Bob had an rbi for the ’48 world champion Cleveland Indians.
I didn’t know about Bob and Terry Kennedy being first father and son to have World Series RBI. Thanks for sharing. In 1930, A’s catcher Mickey Cochrane hit 42 doubles, setting the major-league record for most doubles in a season by a catcher. Ivan Rodriguez of the Rangers broke the major-league record for catchers when he hit 47 doubles in 1996. He remains the big-league record-holder for catchers. In 1968, Johnny Bench of the Reds hit 40 doubles, setting the National League record for most doubles in a season by a catcher. Ted Simmons tied the NL mark with 40 doubles for the 1978 Cardinals. Indeed, in 1982, Terry Kennedy hit 42 doubles for the Padres. That remains the record for most doubles in a season by a National League catcher. Two American League catchers _ Lance Parrish of the 1983 Tigers and Jorge Posada of the 2007 Yankees _ also have hit 42 doubles in a season.
Oops. Give me an E-2. I erred, big-time. The list I found and referred to above was incomplete. Jonathan Lucroy of the 2014 Brewers hit 53 doubles and holds the big-league mark for most doubles in a season by a catcher. Also, Yadier Molina of the Cardinals hit 44 doubles in 2013. Technically, Lucroy’s total is 46 doubles in a season as a catcher. As Baseball Almanac notes, “In 1996, Ivan Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers set the major-league record for doubles hit by a catcher during a season with 45 (he hit 47 total, but 2 were not while catching), since broken by Jonathan Lucroy of the Milwaukee Brewers, who broke the Hall of Famer’s record by 1 double, hitting 46 in 2014 (he hit 53 doubles that year, but 7 were not while he was catching).
Where is Terry at now? Wikipedia says he’s a scout with the Cubs, but I can’t find him on their site.
According to the 2019 Chicago Cubs media guide, Terry Kennedy still is a major-league scout for the Cubs: https://pressbox.athletics.com/Publications/MLB%20Media%20Guides/2019%20Chicago%20Cubs%20Media%20Guide.pdf
Terry Kennedy…I understand that baseball is a business and that Whitey was building a winning team—but it simply broke my Cardinal heart to see a talented young catcher like Kennedy traded by the team. Everyone knew he would prosper as baseballer. It’s just just too bad it did not happen in STL.
Well said. I agree.