Ken Boyer

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Ken Boyer bigraphy, stories - American baseball player and coach

Ken Boyer : biography

May 20, 1931 – September 7, 1982

Kenton Lloyd Boyer (May 20, 1931 – September 7, 1982) was an American third baseman, coach and manager in Major League Baseball who played from 1955 to 1969 for four teams, primarily the St. Louis Cardinals. The captain of the Cardinals from 1959 to 1965, he was named the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player in after topping the league in runs batted in and leading the team to the World Series title. Named to the NL All-Star team seven times, he batted over .300 five times and became the second player at his position to hit 250 career home runs, retiring with the third highest slugging average by a third baseman (.462); he also joined Pie Traynor and Eddie Mathews as the third player at the position to drive in 90 runs eight times. His 255 homers as a Cardinal placed him behind only teammate Stan Musial’s 475 at the time, and were a team record for a right-handed hitter until Albert Pujols passed him in 2007. A five-time Gold Glove Award winner, he also led the NL in double plays five times and retired among the all-time leaders in games (6th, 1,785), assists (6th, 3,652) and double plays (3rd, 355) at third base.

Later years

Boyer managed for seven seasons in the minor leagues, also returning to the Cardinals as a coach in 1971–72, before becoming manager in 1978. The following year St. Louis finished in third place, but Boyer was dismissed 18 games into the 1980 season. He compiled a 166–190 record in three seasons (1978–80). He was scheduled to manage in Triple-A, but lung cancer forced him to give up the job.

Ken Boyer died from cancer in St. Louis, Missouri on September 7, 1982 at the age of 51. He was survived by twelve of his thirteen siblings, and by his children Susie, Dave (born December 28, 1955), Danny and Janie; Dave was drafted by the Cardinals in 1974 and played in their farm system until 1978. Boyer’s #14, which he wore throughout his career with the Cardinals, was retired by the team in .

Boyer became eligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975, at a time when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) had only elected one third baseman in thirty elections (Traynor in 1948); Boyer fared no better in the voting than most other stars at the position, and received less than 5% of the vote every year before being dropped from consideration after the 1979 vote. After several years of complaints about overlooked candidates, Boyer was one of three players restored to the ballot in 1980, along with Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood and fellow third baseman Ron Santo – who had himself received less than 4% of the vote in his only year on the ballot in 1980. For four years, Boyer outpaced Santo in the voting, peaking at 25.5% of the vote in 1988; but popular support for Santo grew afterward, and he outdrew Boyer every year afterward until Boyer’s eligibility expired after the 1994 vote. Santo received 43% of the vote in his final year in 1998. Boyer has since been a candidate on the final Veterans Committee ballot in 2007.

Early life

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Boyer grew up in Alba, Missouri as the fifth of fourteen children, and third oldest son, of marble cutter Chester Vern Boyer (1903–1981) and his wife, the former Mabel Agnes Means (1907–1971), including sons Cloyd (born 1927), Wayne (born 1929), Ken, Lynn (born c.1935), Clete (1937–2007), Ronnie (born 1944) and Lenny (1946–2013) and daughters Juanita Woodmansee, Leila, Dolores Webb, Pansy Schell, Shirley Lockhart, Bobbi McNary and Marcy Layton. All seven boys played professional baseball, with two of his brothers also reaching the major leagues: older brother Cloyd was a pitcher for the Cardinals in the early 1950s, and younger brother Clete became a third baseman for the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves.

Career

After signing with the Cardinals in , Boyer was initially tried as a pitcher, but hit the ball so well that the Cardinals shifted him to third base. He served in the U.S. Army from 1951 to 1953, and joined the Cardinals after they traded Ray Jablonski following the 1954 season. He hit .264 with 62 runs batted in as a rookie before earning the first of seven NL All-Star selections in 1956. He was shifted to center field in 1957 to allow rookie Eddie Kasko to break in at third, and led all NL outfielders in fielding percentage, but returned to third base in 1958, winning the first of four consecutive Gold Gloves and again collecting 90 RBI. His 41 double plays in 1958 equalled the second-highest total in NL history to that point.