Kenneth Francis Landreaux (born December 22, 1954) is an American former professional baseball

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

. He played in Major League Baseball for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

, and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1977 through 1987.

Playing career

After graduating from Dominguez High School in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

, Landreaux was drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

in the eighth round of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft, but chose to attend

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. While at Arizona State, he played in the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1976 College World Series The 1976 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1976 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Series, ...

on teams that included future major leaguers Floyd Bannister,

Chris Bando Christopher Michael Bando (born February 4, 1956) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 1980s, spending most of his career with the Cleveland Indians before playing for the Detroit ...

, and Bob Horner. Landreaux was selected by the

in the first round of the

1976 Major League Baseball draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1976 Major League Baseball draft. ''*'' Did not sign Other notable Selections ''*'' Did not sign Background The 1976 Arizona State University team, considered by ma ...

. In his major league debut with the Angels, on September 11, 1977, against the Chicago White Sox, Landreaux threw out three base runners from the outfield. In , the Angels traded Landreaux, Dave Engle,

Paul Hartzell Paul F. Hartzell is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in all or part of six seasons, between 1976 and 1984. During that time, he pitched for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Balt ...

, and

Brad Havens Bradley David Havens (born November 17, 1959) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins (1981–83), Baltimore Orioles (1985–86), Los Angeles Dodgers (1987–88), Cleveland Indians (1988–89) and Detroit Tigers (1989). ...

to the

for Rod Carew. In 1980, Landreaux set a Minnesota record with a 31-game hitting streak, tied for the longest in the AL since Dom DiMaggio's 34 in 1949. He still holds the record for most consecutive games with a hit in Minnesota Twins history. Landreaux was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for three prospects ( Mickey Hatcher and two minor leaguers) in . Landreaux was a member of the

1981 World Series The 1981 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1981 season. The 78th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees and the Nati ...

champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and caught the final out of the

, a fly ball to center field off the bat of Bob Watson. Landreaux's best seasons were 1982 and 1983. Usually batting 2nd in the order, he combined with leadoff man Steve Sax to give the Dodgers two formidable "table setters." Landreaux hit over .280 and had at least 30 stolen bases in each of those seasons. He also hit a career high 17 home runs for the 1983 National League Western Division champion Dodgers. He remained with the Dodgers, completing his major league baseball career in .

Career statistics

In 1264 games over 11 seasons, Landreaux compiled a .268 batting average (1099-for-4101) with 522 runs, 180 doubles, 45

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 91

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 479

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

, 145

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

, 299

base on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, 421 strikeouts, .317

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .400

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. Defensively, he recorded a .981

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

at all three outfield positions. In postseason play covering 24 games, he batted .221 (15-for-68) with 6 runs and 4 RBI.

Post-playing career

After retiring, Landreaux abused substances. After achieving sobriety, he worked as a counselor at Bellwood Health Center in Bellflower, California. He and Darrell Jackson, a former baseball teammate, founded the Athletic Connection Team to aid athletes with substance use problems. Landreaux spends his time teaching young baseball players at the

Urban Youth Academy Major League Baseball Youth Academies are a series of academies in American cities and one in Puerto Rico that provides free year-round instruction in baseball and softball to the areas' youth. The academies are run as not-for-profit organizations ...

in Compton. Ken Landreaux returned to Arizona State University in 2012 and earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies Degree in 2014.

Personal life

Landreaux is a cousin of former major league third baseman Enos Cabell.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Landreaux, Ken 1954 births Living people Major League Baseball center fielders California Angels players Minnesota Twins players Los Angeles Dodgers players American League All-Stars Baseball players from Los Angeles African-American baseball players Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Los Angeles Dodgers Legend Bureau Águilas Cibaeñas players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic El Paso Diablos players Salt Lake City Gulls players Albuquerque Dukes players Rochester Red Wings players St. Petersburg Pelicans players Orlando Juice players All-American college baseball players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople