Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski by William A. Cook


Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski
Title : Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0786469994
ISBN-10 : 9780786469994
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 196
Publication : First published July 1, 2012

During the mid-1950s, an unlikely star stood alongside baseball standouts Mickey Mantle, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays--a slugger with a funny name and muscles so bulging that he had to cut the sleeves off his uniform to swing freely. Ted Kluszewski played little baseball in his youth, making a name for himself instead as a hard-hitting football player at Indiana University before showing potential on the diamond and being signed by the Cincinnati Reds. Between 1953 and 1956, no other player in major league baseball hit more home runs than Kluszewski. If not for a back injury, he might have gone down in major league history as one its greatest players. With detailed statistics from both his football and baseball careers, this biography chronicles the unusual odyssey that took Kluszewski to the big leagues and ultimately made him a ballgame icon in the 1950s.

Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski Reviews

  • Bruce

    When I was a lad the big baseball debate about first basemen in the National League centered around
    three men Joe Adcock of the Braves, Gil Hodges of the Dodgers and the man who was called Big Klu.
    Ted Kluszewski was a muscle bound man who took his cue from another 1st baseman of the past
    Jimmy Foxx and let the world see and more particularly the Cincinnati Reds fans those bulging biceps
    that muscled many a ball out of bandbox Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

    Ironically he did not originally aim for a baseball career. Given his build football was his first love. He
    was born in Argo, Illinois and played for the University of Indiana. He could have turned pro, but
    professional football wasn't the glamorous sport it is now. He signed with the Cincinnati Reds and
    Cincinnati's large Polish community took him to their hearts.

    Klu made his debut in 1947 and he was good, but not great at first. He learned to hit major league
    pitching slowly. He also made a change in position from the outfield to 1st base. He was compared to a couple of other well built guys who played 1st base and hit for power, Jimmy Foxx
    and Lou Gehrig. In 1953 and for the next four seasons Kluszewski racked up some big power
    numbers. 40, 49, 47, 35 home runs, all star game appearances from 1953 to 1956. In 1956 the
    Reds as a team hit 220 homeruns and tied a National League team record that year.

    Klu's back went out in 1957 and he could never get a proper home run swing after that. He was
    traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1958 and was there until halfway through 1959 when the White
    Sox on the way to the pennant picked him up on waivers for the last couple of months of the 1959
    season. His contribution during the season was negligible, the mysterious back problems wouldn't
    heal.

    But he was given a shot at glory in the 1959 season and while the White Sox went down in 6 games.
    Kluszewski batted .391 and hit 3 home runs. Some last bit of the crowd roar the baseball god
    decreed for him.

    Kluszewski played part time for the White Sox in 1960 was drafted by the expansion Los Angeles
    Angels for the 1961 season, but quit midpoint.

    Despite the trades Klu considered Cincinnati his home and took a job with the Reds as well as opening a steakhouse there. His job with the Reds was as 1st base coach and as hitting instructor
    to the legendary big Red Machine teams of the 70s. He worked over a dozen years there.

    Kluszewski died in 1988. He was and is a legend in Cincinnati baseball. Glad William A. Cook
    wrote this book about said legend.