Ted Kluszewski

Ted Kluszewski
Kluszewski in 1954.
First baseman
Born: (1924-09-10)September 10, 1924 Argo, Illinois
Died: March 29, 1988(1988-03-29) (aged 63) Cincinnati, Ohio
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
April 18, 1947, for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
October 1, 1961, for the Los Angeles Angels
MLB statistics
Batting average	.298
Home runs	279
Runs batted in	1,028
Teams
As player Cincinnati Reds / Redlegs (1947–1957) Pittsburgh Pirates (1958–1959) Chicago White Sox (1959–1960) Los Angeles Angels (1961) As coach Cincinnati Reds (1970–1978, 1983)
Career highlights and awards
4× All-Star (1953–1956) 2× World Series champion (1975, 1976) NL home run leader (1954) NL RBI leader (1954) Cincinnati Reds #18 retired

As player

As coach

Theodore Bernard "Big Klu" Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988) was an American professional baseball player from 1947 through 1961. He spent most of his 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Cincinnati Reds as a first baseman.

Kluszewski was a National League (NL) All-Star for four seasons. He had a .298 lifetime batting average, hitting over.290 three-times and over .300 seven-times. In 1954, he was the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) runner-up (he had a .326 batting average, led the NL in home runs (49), RBI (141), and fielding average (.996)). In 1959, Kluszewski was traded late in the season to the Chicago White Sox from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted .297 and did not commit any errors in 31 games for Chicago which helped the "Go Go" White Sox of the 1950s clinch the American League pennant. In 1962, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

Ted Kluszewski was born in Argo, Illinois a few miles west of Chicago and was of Polish descent. He played football and graduated from Argo Community High School, and was discovered at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he played football (team was 9-0-1) as well as baseball (he hit .443 in 1945).