Arthur David "Art" Pennington ("Superman"), born May 18th, 1923 in Memphis, TN,1 was a Negro League baseball player from 1941-1950, a Mexican League baseball player from 1946-1948 and professional baseball player from 1949-1959. Pennington grew up in Hot Springs, AR.
Biography
Pennington was the son of Harry Pennington and Fannie Pearl (nee Walker) Pennington.2 3
Pennington attended Langston High School in Hot Springs, AR. His first appearance in professional baseball came in 1938 with the African Clowns, a barnstorming team based out of Memphis, TN that performed a similar styled of comedy-baseball to the better-known Zulu Cannibal Giants, playing in grass skirts. In 1939, he played alongside his brother James with the Brooklyn Giants, a another barnstorming team based out of Memphis.4
Pennington died on January 4th, 2017 in Cedar Rapids, IA.5 He was buried in Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.6
Stats
Negro League statistics at Baseball-Reference.com.
Minor League statistics at Baseball-Reference.com.
Statistics at the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database.
The following statistics were compiled from the best available resources for Pennington's Negro and Mexican league careers.
| Yr. | Tm. | Lg. | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | CHI | NAL | 9 | 35 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .200 | |
| 1942 | CHI | NAL | .183 | |||||||||||
| 1943 | CHI | NAL | .197 | |||||||||||
| 1944 | CHI | NAL | 46 | 157 | 35 | 47 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | .299 | |||
| 1945 | CHI | NAL | 68 | 234 | 48 | 84 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 29 | 18 | 36 | 49 | .359 |
| 1946 | 3 Tms. | MEX | 80 | 290 | 40 | 91 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 48 | 8 | 50 | 51 | .314 |
| 1947 | PUE | MEX | 123 | 437 | 86 | 127 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 50 | 6 | 75 | 29 | .291 |
| 47-48 | LEO | CUB | 77 | 6 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 1 | .234 | |||
| 1948 | PUE | MEX | 84 | 276 | 48 | 83 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 42 | 12 | 57 | 19 | .301 |
| 1949 | CHI | NAL | 57 | 201 | 39 | 70 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 34 | 12 | .348 | ||
| 1950 | CHI | NAL | 43 | 146 | 40 | 54 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 28 | 14 | 35 | 16 | .370 |
| 1953 | CIB | DEM | 48 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 1 | .229 |