Ken Reitz, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetKen Reitz
American baseball player
Date of Birth: 24-Jun-1951
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, United States
Profession: baseball player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About Ken Reitz
- Kenneth John Reitz (born June 24, 1951) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball.
- A right-handed hitter, Reitz played for the St.
- Louis Cardinals (1972–75, 1977–80), San Francisco Giants (1976), Chicago Cubs (1981) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1982).
- Ken Reitz retired with the highest all-time career fielding percentage for National League third basemen at .970 which still appears to be a record after leading the National League in fielding percentage a record 6 times.He was nicknamed "Zamboni" for his skill at scooping up ground balls on the artificial turf of Busch Memorial Stadium.
- Selected in the 31st round in 1969 as the 730th player, Reitz, in his rookie season of 1973, replaced Joe Torre as the Cardinals' starting third baseman.
- In both 1973 and 1974, he led all National League third basemen in fielding percentage.
- In 1975 he won a Gold Glove Award at the position, breaking Doug Rader's streak of five consecutive Gold Gloves.
- It would be the last Gold Glove by a National League third baseman prior to Mike Schmidt's nine-year run of the Award.
- In 1977 he set a National League record by committing only nine errors; he bettered that record by committing only eight in 1980.
- In this latter year, he also made his only All-Star appearance, where he started at third base in place of an injured Schmidt. Reitz holds the record for most career plate appearances (5079) among non-catchers who finished their careers with fewer walks than times he grounded into a double play.In his career, Reitz batted .260 with 68 home runs and 548 RBIs in 1344 games played.
- But in 1980, Reitz started the season batting over .400 until cooling off in the middle of May, finishing the season at .270.
- After batting .235 during his rookie season he finished below .250 only once over the next seven seasons.
- In each of his first five full seasons he increased his RBI production: 42 in 1973, 54 in 1974, 63 in 1975, 66 in 1976 (his only season with his hometown Giants) and 79 in 1977.
- Reitz established a career-high in home runs in 1977 with 17—the same number he had hit in his previous three seasons total.Reitz has a place in baseball history for one of the longest Major League games ever played.
- On September 11, 1974, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, with the Cardinals trailing 3-1 with two out in the ninth and pinch runner Larry Herndon on base, he hit a home run off starter Jerry Koosman to send the game into extra innings.
- The score remained tied 3-3 until Bake McBride scored the winning run from first base on two Met errors in the top of the 25th inning.
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