Chuck Klein Says…

On the 1935 Goudey baseball card series, known as the Gehrig series, there is a blue strip on the card that states ‘Lou Says’. Without question Lou Gehrig was THE player of that year. But part of the series was dedicated to one Chuck Klein. Yes. There was a strip on the card that stated ‘Chuck Says’.

Why Chuck Klein? He is one of only of six players ever to have had five or more consecutive 200-hit seasons since 1901. Imagine, only six players have ever accomplished this spectacular feat. The ‘Hoosier Hammer’ was one of the great sluggers in the late 1920s and in the 1930s. He was the first player to be named to the All-Star Game as a member of two different teams, as he played for the Phillies fifteen years (1928-33, 1936-39 and 1940-44), the Cubs (1934-36) and the Pirates (1939). He is acknowledged as one of the Top 100 players all-time. The right fielder was named to the Hall of Fame in 1980.

He was one of the great Philadelphia Phillies. The Great Depression hit the city hard, and as unemployment climbed, fans stopped coming to baseball games. Attendance at Baker Bowl, where the Phillies played, dropped from 299,000 in 1930 to 156,000 in 1933. The Phillies were on the verge of bankruptcy. The team owner Gerald Nugent had no choice but to unload his most valuable player to help satisfy the club’s debts. And so on November 21, 1933, the Phillies traded Klein to the Chicago Cubs for shortstop Mark Koenig, outfielder Harvey Hendrick, pitcher Ted Kleinhans, and $65,000 in cash. The Cubs paid their new outfielder $30,000, the highest he made in the Major leagues.

While with the Cubs, he was injured, he was part of the team that got them to the 1935 World Series.

After one season with the Pirates he was back with the Pirates in 1940. One of the few bright spots of the season came on September 4 with the Phillies held ‘Chuck Klein Night’ at Shibe Park to honor their longtime slugger. More than 18,000 fans attended the game, the largest crowd to watch a Phillies game all season.

For a few bright years, Chuck Klein was one of the great stars of the game. He is honored by not having his number retired but by have an old English type-font ‘P’ retired by the Phillies. He is one of only two to be so honored. The other? Grover Cleveland Alexander. They join #1 Richie Ashbury, #14, Jim Bunning, #20 Mike Schmidt and #32, Steve Carlton for a team founded in 1883..

There were only five other players to accomplish the feat of hitting 200+ hits in five or more consecutive 200-hit seasons. Al Simmons (1929-1933); Charlie Gehringer (1933-1937); Wade Boggs (1983-1989); Ichiro Suzuki (2001-2010) and Michael Young (2003-2007).

All of these players are members of the Hall of Fame or will be upon eligibility.

Play Ball!

Kiner Gentler Korner

For some reason, which cannot be fully explained, I have been fascinated by Ralph Kiner as a player in a bygone era of the game. In a time when players in pain took an aspirin, the post-War era of the game had a host of great players who dominated the headlines. Guys like Williams, DiMaggio, Spahn & Sain, Mise, Musial, Klu, Feller, Richie, Trucks and Yogi dominated the headlines in papers all over America. But one guy, from 1947-52, when gasoline cost about twenty cents a gallon, crushed the ball better than al others in the National League.

That was Ralph Kiner.

In 1949, Kiner hit 54 home runs. It was the highest total in the major leagues from 1939 to 1960, and the highest National League total from 1931 to 1997. Think about that. Nobody hit more home runs in the Senior Circuit in a span of 66 years than he did. It made Kiner the first National League player with two fifty-plus home run seasons. Kiner also matched his peak of 127 RBI. To our knowledge, during this time, he was PED free. From 1947 to 1951, Kinder topped 40 home runs and 100 RBI each season. Through 2011, he was one of seven  major leaguers to have had at least four 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons in their first five years, along with Chuck Klein, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mark Teixeira, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Ryan Braun.

His string of seasons leading the league in home runs reached seven in 1952, when he hit 37. This also was the last of a record six consecutive seasons in which he led Major League Baseball in home runs.

He was an All-Star six straight seasons, 1948-1953.

He holds the major league record of eight home runs in four consecutive multi-homer games, a mark that he set in September 1947.

For all of this show of strength, he is famous for one of the great sayings in baseball: “Home run hitters drive Cadillacs and singles hitters drive Fords.”

For those who enjoy video, you can see Kiner hitting a homer in Forbes Field in the 1951 film, “Angels in the Outfield”.

When you got a Ralph Kiner card in your pack of Bowman’s, you had something special. But it wasn’t just the man himself, it was also for the beauty of the card. Take a look at the 1953 Bowman (color) card and you will see one of the most pristine poses of the ‘Golden Era’ of the game.

He was the face of the Pirates. He was the man among men. A WWII Naval aviator, he had full confidence of his position in life. He produced at every turn, Then the world changed.  On June 4, 1953, after all of these accomplishments, Kiner was sent to the Chicago Cubs as part of a ten-player trade. This was due to his continued salary dispute with the Pirate general manager at that time, “the Mahatma.”, Branch Rickey. Here was a legend in the game who had not only broken the color barrier; created the farm system that we know today for the St. Louis Cardinals; but also brought the batting helmet into existence. A shrewd lawyer and experienced baseball man, he reportedly told Kiner, “We finished last with you, we can finish last without you.”

What many forget, Ralph Kiner’s power was fan drawing. In 1947, the Pirates drew over 1 million fans for the first time in their history, a 70% increase in attendance in  one year. He WAS the reason for this popularity in Pirates baseball. For a few short years, Ralph Kiner was the greatest slugger in all of baseball. For 6 straight seasons he was baseball’s greatest light. This Hall of Famer, often forgotten, is what baseball could use today.

This is a great season of hope for the Pirates. Lets hope they remember the man who brought the first million fans to their ballpark so many years ago. It would be a Kiner Gentler Korner on the river in Pittsburgh this season.

Play Ball!