Ken Suarez | |||
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Catcher | |||
Born: Tampa, Florida |
April 14, 1943 |||
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MLB debut | |||
April 12, 1966, for the Kansas City Athletics | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
September 22, 1973, for the Texas Rangers | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .227 | ||
Home runs | 5 | ||
Runs batted in | 60 | ||
Teams | |||
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Career highlights and awards | |||
Medal record | ||
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Men's baseball | ||
Representing United States | ||
1964 Summer Olympics Tokyo, Japan |
Kenneth Raymond Suarez (Born April 12, 1943) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1966 to 1973. The 5'9", 175 lb. right-handed hitter is best remembered for a suit he filed against the Texas Rangers in which he claimed that his February 12, 1974 trade to the Cleveland Indians was in retaliation for his having filed for arbitration. Suarez never reported to camp for the Indians, retiring at just thirty years old, instead.
Suarez was born in Tampa, Florida, and attended Jesuit High School. As well as being the catcher for the Jesuit Tigers, Suarez played for West Tampa's American Legion team with Lou Piniella and Tony La Russa.
Suarez attended Florida State University, and took over catching duties for the Seminoles baseball team as a sophomore in 1963. After leading his team to the College World Series in 1963, Suarez erupted his junior year. He batted .404 with 44 hits, six home runs, thirty runs batted in, 25 runs scored and 21 walks, all tops on his team. He was named a 1964 First Team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association, and was selected to the 1964 U.S. Olympic Baseball Team. After which, he signed with the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent.