Ken Reitz Dies

[Liut]

Former St. Louis (2x), San Francisco, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh third baseman. He was 69.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Remember him well. RIP. Pretty good hand at the hot corner. Made the 1979 All-Star Game after Ted Simmons broke his hand.

 

[Liut]

Remember him well. RIP. Pretty good hand at the hot corner. Made the 1979 All-Star Game after Ted Simmons broke his hand.

IIRC, Herzog shipped Reitz off in the Bruce Sutter trade. Leon Durham, of course, was the big asset the Cubs acquired.

You're right, Reitz was a very good third baseman, but slow on the bases so he didn't fit in Herzog's plans at all.

I think it was Mike Shannon who gave Reitz the nickname "Zamboni machine."

 

[maumann]

Grounded into 25 double plays while walking just 23 times in 1974. Ten career stolen bases. Yeah, he was not fleet afoot. RIP. Made the 1980 NL All-Star team at 29, out of the game by 31.

 

[Octave]

I miss the days when an all-glove and no-stick guy made the All-Star Game.

Walt Weiss and Omar Vizquel were the last of the tribe.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Started the 1980 All Star game over Mike Schmidt.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I believe it was Shannon who used to joke that you needed a calendar to time him when he ran.

 

[User 149557]

I miss the days when an all-glove and no-stick guy made the All-Star Game.

Walt Weiss and Omar Vizquel were the last of the tribe.

And even Vizquel had turned himself into a pretty good hitter by his prime, although having seven all-stars surrounding him in that line-up helped.

In 1999, he was a downright good hitter.

 

[Liut]

I believe it was Shannon who used to joke that you needed a calendar to time him when he ran.

Herzog said something along the same lines in his book "White Rat" with Kevin Horrigan.

 

[Scout]

No power.
No speed.
Never got on base.

Glad he had a nice career, but he never gets out of AA in 2021.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

No power.
No speed.
Never got on base.

Glad he had a nice career, but he never gets out of AA in 2021.

He had occasional power (career high 17 HRs in 1977) and had a .260 career BA, but yes, he was more known for his glove, no doubt.

 

[Liut]

He had occasional power (career high 17 HRs in 1977) and had a .260 career BA, but yes, he was more known for his glove, no doubt.

I remember an Inside Sports story with a large photograph of Reitz, Hernandez, Simmons and Templeton posing around the Dodger Stadium batting cage. The report concluded with manager Ken Boyer getting fired between games of a doubleheader in Montreal.

Man, that magazine was good, but unfortunately short-lived.

 

[Songbird]

Is .260 really that bad?

 

[Slacker]

Is .260 really that bad?

No, but RBIs are the death of baseball. I saw it on the Internet.

 

[Scout]

Career .290 OBP.

.649 career OPS.

That’s .001 less than Rusty Kuntz.

 

[maumann]

And nobody wants to be that close to Rusty Kuntz.

 

[Slacker]

And nobody wants to be that close to Rusty Kuntz.

Matt Gaetz says, "Hold my beer."

 

[matt_garth]

“In fact, the Cardinals’ front office sent Reitz to California one offseason to work with famed UCLA track coach Jim Bush to work on his speed, but to no avail.

“‘I’m like a station wagon at Indianapolis, but at least I know the direction to first,’” he said at the time.

'Zamboni' Reitz, defensive whiz at third base for Cardinals, dies at 69

 

[Scout]

No, but RBIs are the death of baseball. I saw it on the Internet.

The team with the most RBI almost always wins.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Reitz arrived at the Pearly Gates just now.