Ted Kluszewski | |||
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Kluszewski in 1954.
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First baseman | |||
Born: Argo, Illinois |
September 10, 1924|||
Died: March 29, 1988 Cincinnati, Ohio |
(aged 63)|||
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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
As coach |
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Career highlights and awards | |||
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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).