Infield: Shortstop Don Kessinger (1964-79) batted leadoff for the Cubs throughout the mid- to late-1960s. He did this despite hitting about .260 with a very average number of walks, though with a powerful lineup behind him, he did score 100 runs a couple of times. He played in six all-star games, won two Gold Gloves and was a beloved and respected member of the very fine Cubs teams of his era. Kessinger played in more than 2,000 games and hit a total of 14 career home runs. His single-season career high was 4. We point this out in order to make the point that compared to second baseman Duane Kuiper (1974-85), Kessinger looked like Ralph Kiner. Kuiper, who played for the Indians and Giants, appeared in 1,057 career games and hit … uh … one home run. That home run came on Aug. 29, 1977, in the first inning off of Chicago White Sox starter Steve Stone. The White Sox shortstop was (drumroll, please) Don Kessinger, who by the way was still batting leadoff despite the fact that he was 34 years old and hitting .235. Did Kessinger tip off Kuiper on the pitch? You know, to help out his future “initial team” double play partner? We can’t say for sure, but it makes you wonder. Another (sort of) connection between the two: Kessinger stole 100 bases in his career but got thrown out 85 times, which suggests he would have helped his team more by stealing less. Kuiper stole 52 bases but got thrown out 71 times, which suggests that he would have helped his team if he thought that he could not run until the batter hit the ball. First baseman Dick Kryhoski (1949-55) never batted 500 times in a season, but he had three years with double-digit home run totals, so he had a little bit of pop. He was traded from the Senators to the Yankees in a deal that involved 17 players (several of the categorized as “to be named later”). Third baseman Dick Kenworthy (1962-68) was part of the Chicago White Sox revolving door at the hot corner. He hit 141 home runs in the minors but never did much in the majors, batting .215 with four home runs in 251 at-bats. (The White Sox were indecisive with him – he was called up four times between 1962-66 but played in a total of 17 games and came to the plate just 34 times in that period.)
Outfield: Left fielder Dave Kingman (1971-86) is sort of a legendary figure. A 6-foot-6 slugger, he hit 442 home runs and drove in 1,210 runs in his career. He also batted .236, struck out almost once per game, was an atrocious fielder (an announcer once suggested that to repair Kingman’s mitt, the team would need to hire a welder) and had one of the most combative and obnoxious personalities in baseball. He was a talented, if one-dimensional, player but he tended to wear out his welcome and ended up playing for seven teams. Quite famously, in 1977 he set a record that will likely stand forever when he hit home runs for four different teams in one season. While playing for Oakland near the end of his career, he voiced his displeasure with a particular sportswriter by gift-wrapping a dead rat and having it sent up to the press box. Center fielder Dave Krynzel (2004-05) was a first-round draft pick who didn’t pan out. He had a long career in the minors that included more than 200 stolen bases, but he batted .188 in his brief major-league career. Right fielder Dick Kokos (1948-54) was born Richard Kokosza but shortened his surname to a more Anglicized version. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns at age 20 and batted .298 with 40 runs and 40 RBI in just 71 games. For the next few years, he was a solid hitter – modest average, but lots of walks and decent power – but he fell off the radar screen in 1954 at age 26 and was never seen again. Injuries seem likely, but we don’t know for sure. (Kokos can wear number 00 if we can get George Costanza’s “KOKO” jersey from that “Seinfeld” episode.)
Catcher: Doc Kennedy (1879-83) had a couple of good seasons with the Cleveland Blues, and he was a member of the team that was the victim of the baseball’s first perfect game (Lee Richmond, 1879).
Rotation: Darryl Kile (1991-2002) was still at the top of his game when he died in his sleep at age 33 in a Chicago hotel room during a Cardinals road trip to Wrigley Field. Kile had gone 20-9 for the Cardinals in 2000 and 16-11 in 2001 despite lowering his ERA by almost a full run. He was 5-4 with a 3.72 ERA in June 2002 when he died. He won 133 games in his career for the Astros, Rockies and Cardinals, and he might have made a run at 200 victories if he had lived. Dave Koslo (1941-55) went 92-107 in his career, mostly with the New York Giants. Despite the losing record, his ERA was better than league average, and in 1949 he went 11-14 while leading the NL in ERA (2.50). Dickie Kerr (1919-25) was a rookie on the 1919 White Sox, and he pitched brilliantly and won two games during the World Series that his crooked teammates were throwing to the Cincinnati Reds. He subsequently won 21 games for the Sox in 1920 and 19 in 1921 but then quit in a bitter salary dispute. A 5-foot-7 pepperpot, he later became a minor-league manager and was responsible for coverting young Stan Musial, then a sore-armed pitcher, into an outfielder. (Musial respected Kerr so much that he named his first son Richard Kerr Musial.) Dave Keefe (1917-22) won nine games as a swingman for the Philadelphia A’s, which means he was only 333 victories away for the record of most career wins by a player named Keefe. Dick Kelley (1964-71) won twice as many games as Dave Keefe.
Bullpen: Closer Darold Knowles (1965-80) was a lefty who saved 143 games over the course of 16 seasons. With the 1973 A’s, he set a record that absolutely will not be broken (barring major rule changes) when he pitched in all seven games of the World Series. (He was in the A’s bullpen for the 1974 World Series, too, but where Dick Williams used him in every game in 1973, manager Alvin Dark did not use him once in 1974.) Righty Danny Kolb (1999-2007) had a two-year run as a very effective closer for the Brewers, putting up a 1.96 ERA and 21 saves in 2003, followed by a 2.98 ERA and 39 saves in 2004. His career went downhill from that point. Dae-Sung Koo (2005) was a South Korean star who played one season with the Mets at age 35, putting up a 3.91 ERA in 33 appearances. Koo had two at-bats in his major-league career. In his first, against Todd Coffey, he stood as far away from the plate as possible and struck out without moving his bat. In his second, against The Big Unit Randy Johnson, he banged a double over the center fielder’s head and – incredibly – then scored from second base on a sacrifice bunt on a mad dash when he noticed that no one was covering home plate. Go figure. Lefty Dennis Kinney (1978-82) pitched in 97 games for four different teams and had a career ERA of 4.55. Don Kirkwood (1974-78) was a swingman who won 18 games for three teams. Don Kaiser (1955-57) was a 6-foot-5 country boy who was signed by the Cubs as a “bonus baby,” came straight to the majors, and was immediately fleeced by a cab driver who took him several miles out of his way en route to the ballpark, an event that apparently caused a great deal of mirth in the Chicago media. Kaiser hung around for three years, went 6-15, and was out of the majors for good by age 22. Dana Kiecker (1990-91) had a decent year as a 29-year-old rookie with the Red Sox, winning 8 games with a 3.91 ERA, but the next year he developed elbow problems, posted a 7.36 ERA and drifted out of baseball.
Bench: Infielder Don “Cab” Kolloway (1940-53) might well wrest the starting second base job away from Kuiper, though his versatility will come in handy on the bench as he can play all over the infield. A career .271 hitter, he led the AL with 40 doubles in 1942. Danny Klassen (1998-2003) was a Canadian-born utility infielder who batted .226 in a short career. Dick Kauffman (1914-15) was a switch-hitting first baseman who played briefly with the St. Louis Browns. Outfielder Dan Kerwin (1903) had a long career in the minors, but his big-league career lasted just one day. On the final day of the 1903 season, he played in both games of a doubleheader for Cincinnati. He went 4-for-6 with a double and two walks, giving him a career batting average of .667, on-base of .778 and slugging of .833. If he keeps that up, he’ll move into the starting outfield on this team. Danny Kravitz (1956-60) spent five years as a backup catcher with the Pirates, who traded him early in the 1960 season and made him miss the World Series championship that came later that year.
Manager: Don Kessinger will serve as player-manager, as he did for the White Sox in 1979. He wasn’t successful in that role, but he later went on to a highly successful six-year career as head coach at Ole Miss.
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