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Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski
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.

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Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski
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.

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Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski

Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski

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

Big Klu: The Baseball Life of Ted Kluszewski

by William A. Cook

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780786469994
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date: 11/08/2012
Pages: 196
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

William A. Cook is the author of numerous books, including 11 on baseball history, and has appeared in productions on ESPN2 and the MLB Network. A former health care administrator and township councilman in North Brunswick, New Jersey, he resides in Manalapan, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 From Argo to Bloomington 5

2 Breaking into the Big Leagues 24

3 A Rising Star 30

4 Big Klu and the Rajah 38

5 Kluszewski Becomes a Baseball Icon 53

6 Kluszewski and the Redlegs Almost Win a Pennant 70

7 Kluszewski's Aching Back 92

8 Traded to Pittsburgh 100

9 World Series Hero in Chicago 110

10 Career Twilight in L.A. 125

11 Kluszewski and the Big Red Machine 136

12 Demoted but Forever Loyal 155

Appendices: 163

A Indiana University/Big Ten Football Records and Data, 1944 and 1945 163

B Ted Kluszewski Statistics 164

C Other Statistics and Data 165

Chapter Notes 169

Bibliography 177

Index 179

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