John Irvin Kennedy

John Irvin Kennedy (October 12, 1926 – April 27, 1998) was a Major League Baseball shortstop. He signed as a free agent with the New York Giants before the 1953 season, and released before the 1954 season. Kennedy caught on with the Birmingham Black Barons, and later the Kansas City Monarchs, both of the Negro American League. Near the end of the 1956 season, with Kennedy having led the NAL batting race for most of the year, the Monarchs sold his contract to the Philadelphia Phillies.