Baseball player
| Clyde Kluttz | |
|---|---|
| Catcher | |
| Born: (1917-12-12)December 12, 1917 Rockwell, North Carolina, U.S. | |
| Died: May 12, 1979(1979-05-12) (aged 61) Salisbury, North Carolina, U.S. | |
| Batted: RightThrew: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 20, 1942, for the Boston Braves | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 27, 1952, for the Washington Senators | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .268 |
| Home runs | 19 |
| Runs batted in | 212 |
Stats at Baseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
Clyde Franklin Kluttz (December 12, 1917 – May 12, 1979) was an American professional baseball player, scout and front-office executive. In Major League Baseball, Kluttz was a catcher for the Boston Braves (1942–45), New York Giants (1945–46), St. Louis Cardinals (1946), Pittsburgh Pirates (1947–48), St. Louis Browns (1951) and Washington Senators (1951–52). He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 193 pounds (88 kg).
Born in nearby Rockwell, he was a longtime resident of Salisbury, North Carolina, where he attended Catawba College. His 17-year playing career began in 1938. Kluttz appeared in 52 regular season games as a member of the 1946 world champion Cardinals—and was the starting catcher on October 3 for the flag-clinching Game 2 of the postseason playoff against the Brooklyn Dodgers—but he did not play in the 1946 World Series.
In nine Major League seasons, Kluttz played in 656 games, and had 1,903 at-bats, 172 runs, 510 hits, 90 doubles, 8 triples, 19 home runs, 212 RBI, 5 stolen bases, 132 walks, .268 batting average, .318 on-base percentage, .354 slugging percentage, 673 total bases and 30 sacrifice hits.
Kluttz was a longtime scout after his playing days ended, working with the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees. He was credited with signing Baseball Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter, a fellow North Carolinian, for the Athletics in 1964, and, 11 years later, while serving as the Yankees' scouting director (1974–75), he played a key role in convincing free agent Hunter to join the Yankees. Kluttz resigned from the Yankees and was reunited with friend and Athletics colleague Hank Peters as director of player development with the Baltimore Orioles on January 7, 1976. He served in that capacity from 1976 until his 1979 death, in Salisbury, at age 61 from kidney and heart ailments.
References
- 1946-10-3 box score from Retrosheet
- Catfish Hunter obituary, Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1999
- Harvin, Al. "People in Sports," The New York Times, Thursday, January 8, 1976. Retrieved June 15, 2021
- "Clyde Kluttz: Baseball America Executive Database". Baseball America. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
- Associated Press, May 13, 1979
Sources
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference
External links
Categories:
- 1917 births
- 1979 deaths
- Baltimore Orioles executives
- Baltimore Orioles (International League) players
- Baseball executives
- Baseball players from Rowan County, North Carolina
- Boston Braves players
- Columbus Red Birds players
- Decatur Commodores players
- Indianapolis Indians players
- Johnson City Soldiers players
- Kansas City Athletics scouts
- Kilgore Boomers players
- Major League Baseball catchers
- Major League Baseball farm directors
- Major League Baseball scouting directors
- New York Giants (baseball) players
- New York Yankees executives
- New York Yankees scouts
- Sportspeople from Salisbury, North Carolina
- Pittsburgh Pirates players
- Sacramento Solons players
- St. Louis Browns players
- 20th-century American sportsmen
- St. Louis Cardinals players
- Savannah A's players
- Washington Senators (1901–1960) players