Astounding feat: Pat Kelly managed to turn a 0.0 bWAR season in 1973 into an All-Star Game appearance.
1970 – New player personnel director Roland Hemond made his first deal for the club, sending John “Pineapple” Matias and (now-“Dr.”) Gail Hopkins to the Kansas City Royals for Don O’Riley and Pat Kelly. Kelly, who was the brother of Cleveland Browns running back LeRoy Kelly, provided speed for the “new look” White Sox. A solid hitter and leadoff man, Pat would make the All-Star team in 1973.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Published by Brett Ballantini
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, publishing at the NBA, MLB, NHL, and for Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer for their first Stanley Cup season of 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and managing editor of SB Nation's South Side Sox. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.
View all posts by Brett Ballantini
Loved Pat Kelly. Would imitate his flat-bat, hunched over stance when playing fast pitch. We would be different teams, and would really try to mimic every famous batting tic. Joe Morgan’s front arm flinch, Stargell’s staggered warm-up loop.
LikeLike