Cactus Keck
Frank Joseph Keck (1899-1981)

Keck was a sidearm pitcher from St. Louis, who got his nickname in the West Texas League after World War I. Primarily a reliever, Keck played two major league seasons, 1922-23, with the Cincinnati Reds, winning 10 games, losing 12.

Wagon Tongue Keister
William Hoffman Keister (1874-1924)

For a guy who apparently was one heck of a hitter, Keister sure had trouble keeping a baseball job. He played seven seasons of major league baseball, never with the same team two years in a row.

In 1901, with his hometown Baltimore Orioles of the brand-spanking new American League, Keister hit .328 and led the league in triples, with 21. The next season he was in Washington, where he hit .300; the season after that in Philadelphia with the National League Phillies. He hit .320, second best on a team that finished in seventh place. Nonetheless, the Phillies weren't interested in re-signing him. Neither was anyone else, so Keister never played another big league game.

The problem, as it was for Smead Jolley, seems to be defense. Keister played all over the infield before he finally was banished to the outfield. Didn't matter; he kept making errors. Take 1901, for example. The reason Baltimore said goodbye to a .328 hitter was that Keister, at shortstop, made 97 errors, and set the modern record for lowest fielding average (.851) by anyone who played 100 or more games.

In 1903 the Phillies buried him in right field where he made just 10 errors, but his fielding percentage (.931) was the lowest of all the team's outfielders.

Whatever, even in 1904, Keister's .312 lifetime batting average was impressive, but not enough to get him another playing job. If only he had learned to field.

His nickname? For awhile I suspected it should be spelled Waggin' Tongue, as in a guy who's always talking. But that reflected my ignorance of (1) horse-drawn wagons and (2) early baseball bats. A wagon tongue is what I might call the handle; it's what attaches to whatever is pulling the wagon, thus must be made of the strongest wood. In the early days of baseball, the best bats were made from wagon tongues. Even today Spalding offers its Wagon Tongue bat, a product that goes back to the 19th century. So my revised guess is that Keister made a big thing out of his wagon tongue bat; thus the nickname.

King Kelly
Michael Joseph Kelly (1857-1894)

King Kelly is one of baseball's most storied players, one of the game's first superstars and perhaps the most colorful player of the 19th century, if not of all time. He was extremely popular, thus the nickname. He was "The King" long before anyone heard of Elvis.

It has been said that most of the baseball rule book was written to close loopholes Kelly exploited. Take substitutions, for example. In 1891 he was the player-manager of the appropriately named Cincinnati Kellys in the American Association. He benched himself one day and was watching the action from the dugout when an opposing batter hit a pop fly that headed his way. Knowing his catcher didn't have a chance to get the ball, Kelly ran on the field, yelled to the umpire that he was making a substitution, and caught the ball for an out.

This prompted a rule change that substitutions could not be made while the ball was in play.

Another Kelly catch that people loved to talk about was made while he was holding the mug of beer he carried to the outfield because he hadn't quenched his thirst between innings. Legend is it was a running catch made by Kelly's free hand. The mug remained tightly clenched in the other, and people say Kelly caught the ball without spilling a drop.

What's missing from that story is the cigarette that seemed a permanent fixture between his lips. He often smoked while playing the outfield. Reportedly he once hired a Japanese butler whose duties included lighting a cigarette and handing it to Kelly as soon as the player finished his last one.

In Kelly's day, baseball games had only one umpire. Players quickly realized one umpire couldn't possibly keep track of everything that was happening on certain plays. Thus Kelly would sometimes skip second base when the umpire wasn't looking, and run directly from first to third. Or, if he was on second base, he'd run straight home, skipping third base. Kelly wasn't the only player to take shortcuts, but he was the most notorious.

He obviously was no shrinking violet. In 1888 he wrote baseball's first autobiography, "Play Ball: Stories of the Diamond Field." It sold for a quarter. In 2006 it was reprinted, with a price tag of $27.

Most of the time you'd find Kelly in the outfield, though he also did a lot of catching. In between he played every other position at one time or another, including 12 pitching appearances. He led the National League in hitting twice, stole a bunch of bases and inspired a popular saying that was turned into a song, "Slide, Kelly, Slide." Some say he invented the slide. Maybe not, but nobody did it quite like King Kelly.

Kelly's eating, smoking and drinking excesses caught up with him and by 1892 he looked like an old man. He played like one, too, hitting only .189 in 78 games with the Boston Beaneaters. Two years later he died of what was termed "typhoid pneumonia." He was only 36.

In 1945 King Kelly was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Killebrew (1936- )

Killebrew was one of baseball's best home run hitters, with 573 in 8,147 at bats. (At that rate – given the number of at bats Henry Aaron had – Killebrew would have trotted the bases 865 times.)

Killebrew was a third baseman-first baseman-outfielder who broke in with the Washington Senators in 1954 at age 18. It wasn't until 1959 that Killebrew became a regular and proceeded to lead the American League with 42 home runs. Two years later the Senators moved to Minnesota where Killebrew played until 1974.

He finished his playing career the next season with Kansas City. He had a nickname – Killer – but his real name has a better ring to it.

Elmer Klumpp
Elmer Edward Klumpp (1906-1996)

Catcher Klumpp paid two brief visits to the major leagues, appearing in 12 games with the Washington Senators in 1934 and five games with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1937. He had three hits in 26 at bats, an average of .115.

Clyde Kluttz
Clyde Franklin Kluttz (1917-1979)

Kluttz was a catcher who made several stops (Boston Braves, New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Browns, Washington Senators), playing nine major league seasons in 11 years (1942-52). He never had more than 303 at bats in a season, but twice hit over .300 as a backup, though his lifetime average was a modest .268 (in 1,903 at bats).

Still he had a Hall of Fame name, getting the edge over Mickey Klutts (nee Gene Ellis Klutts), an infielder whose 199 big league games were spread over eight seasons (1976-83) with the New York Yankees, Oakland and Toronto.

As for Clyde Kluttz, he later became a major league scout, then director of player development for Baltimore. As a scout for the Kansas City Athletics in the 1960s, he signed Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Ten years later Kluttz changed jobs and in 1974 convinced free agent Hunter to sign with his new team, the New York Yankees. Hunter said he had a lot of respect for Kluttz. Apparently, so did a lot of others.

Sandy Koufax
Sanford Braun (1935- )

This is an afterthought, the result of the way I went about finding players to fill out my roster of X men. But though this pitcher's name qualifies for X (under my convoluted reasoning), Koufax clearly belongs under K – for strike out.

Koufax, a Hall of Famer since 1972, had a two-part, 12-season career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Part one had Koufax struggling with control problems and an inability to finish games. His won-lost record after six seasons: 36-40.

Part two saw Koufax emerge as an overpowering force, a pitcher who convinced many that he was the greatest ever. Count me among that group. In a fantasy world, given any player in his prime for a fantasy season, Sandy Koufax would be my first pick.

In real life Koufax won 129 games in the last six seasons of his career, losing only 47. He was in pain throughout his last season when he won 27 games.

To me the real measure of his greatness – with a nod also to pitcher teammates Don Drysdale and reliever Ron Perranoski – is how Koufax led the Dodgers to World Series championships in 1963 and 1965.

In 1963 the Dodgers had a team batting average of .251 and scored 640 runs; second place St. Louis batted .271 and scored 747 runs. Why did the Dodgers win? Pitching. Koufax was 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA.

In 1965 the Dodgers batted .245 and scored 608 runs, which was 217 less than fourth-place Cincinnati. For that matter, seven National League teams outscored the pennant winner that season. But Koufax won 26 games, Drysdale 23.

The Dodgers won the pennant again in 1966, but this time they ran into a World Series opponent that outpitched them as Baltimore won the classic in four straight games, the last three of them shutouts. So Koufax lost the last game he pitched, giving up one earned run in a 6-0 loss as centerfielder Willie Davis made three successive errors in the fifth inning when the Orioles scored three runs.

In retirement Koufax spent some time as a television broadcaster, but my own take on him was that he was too candid for his own good and never tried to dramatize a routine situation. I don't think he enjoyed the work, nor do I think the network (NBC, I believe) was impressed with Koufax's performance.

Since then he has worked as a Dodger pitching coach, but left that job, claiming he wasn't earning his keep. In 2003 he ended his relationship with the Dodgers over an article in the New York Post, which, like the baseball team, was then owned by Rupert Murdoch. The story implied Koufax was gay. The team has since been sold to Frank McCourt and Koufax returned to the Dodgers organization.

Koufax lives in Bucks County, PA, and has remained single since his second divorce. His first wife was Anne Widmark, daughter of movie star Richard Widmark. They were married almost 13 years.

Incidentally, as a boy Koufax preferred basketball and was very good at it. He attended the University of Cincinnati, earning a partial scholarship when he successfully tried out for the basketball team. Apparently he was undecided about playing on the baseball team, but he tried out, made the team (which saved the coaching staff future embarrassment) and played one season. A year later he was a Brooklyn Dodger.

Joe Krakauskas
Joseph Victor Lawrence Krakauskas (1915-1960)

This pitcher is the answer to a couple of trivia questions:

Who gave up the last hit in Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak?

And who was the opposing pitcher when Lefty Grove won his 300th game?

Both things happened to Krakauskas in 1941 when he played with Cleveland. The Montreal native had started his major league career with Washington, in 1937. His busiest season was 1939 when he won 11 games, lost 17.

He pitched in only three games in 1942, then was gone from baseball until after World War II. He rejoined Cleveland in 1946, but retired after he won just two games (against five losses).

He was only 45 when he died in 1960 from pneumonia.

Mike Krsnich
Michael Krsnich (1931- )

Rocky Krsnich
Rocco Peter Krsnich (1927- )

Mike Krsnich had only 21 major league at bats with the Milwaukee Braves. Older brother Rocky was slightly more successful, playing 120 games with the Chicago White Sox over three seasons. Mike was an outfielder, Rocky played third base.

Joe Kuhel
Joseph Anthony Kuhel (1906-1984)

Kuhel was a major leaguer for 18 seasons (1930-47) bouncing from the Washington Senators to the Chicago White Sox back to Washington and back again to the White Sox. He was a man who needed no nickname. You can't get any cooler than ... Joe Kuhel.

He had 2,212 hits in his career, with 131 home runs. He undoubtedly would have hit many more if he had played with different teams. Washington players were handicapped by having home games in Griffith Stadium where the fences seemed a mile away. How bad was it in Griffith Stadium? So bad that in 1945 the Senators hit only one home run on their home field – and that one, by good ol' Joe Kuhel, was an inside-the-park job. Opponents could manage only six home runs at Griffith that season.

Playing for Chicago in old Comiskey Park was a bit easier, but in those days the White Sox were never known for power. When Kuhel was traded to Chicago the first time, in 1938, the team single-season record was 27, by Zeke Bonura in 1934. In 1940 Kuhel showed what he could do by tying Bonura's record. It was the only season Kuhel hit more than 16. As it was, he hit many more home runs in his 899 games with the White Sox than in his 1,205 games with Washington.

Kuhel's lifetime batting average was a modest .277, but he had three .300 seasons.

After he retired from playing in 1947, he went back to Washington, this time as manager of the Senators. The team finished seventh in 1948 and eighth in 1949, at which point Kuhel was fired.

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