CALGARY – Canadian baseball legend Ferguson Jenkins will be the keynote speaker at the 2011 fundraising dinner for the Dinos baseball and fastball clubs, the University of Calgary announced Friday.

The event goes Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 at the Red and White Club, McMahon Stadium. Tickets are available for $175 by calling Kinesiology Client Services at (403) 220-7749.

Jenkins follows a long line of distinguished speakers at the event – a list that includes Jim Abbott, Jack Morris, Bill Buckner, and 2010 speaker Ken Griffey Sr.

A native of Chatham, Ont., Jenkins was a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher. After breaking into the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1965, his 19-year career also included stops in Texas and Boston, but it is his work with the Chicago Cubs from 1966-73 and again from 1982-83 that he is best remembered for.

His 1971 season with the Cubs earned him the National League's Cy Young award, a first for a Canadian. From 1967-72 he recorded six consecutive 20-win seasons, a feat that has yet to be equaled, and finished his career with a 284-226 record and a 3.34 ERA.

Along with Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling, and Pedro Martinez, Jenkins is one of just four MLB pitchers to have recorded more than 3,000 strikeouts while allowing fewer than 1,000 walks in his career.

In 1987, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and just four years later he became the first-ever Canadian to earn induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. His jersey number 31, which he shared with Maddux, was jointly retired by the Cubs in May 2009. He will celebrate his 67th birthday on Dec. 13.

The annual fundraising dinner provides operating funds for the Dinos men's baseball and women's fastball club teams. A silent auction and various raffles will also take place at the event.

-UC-