Kenneth George Sanders (born July 8, 1941) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from 1964 to 1976 for the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins,

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, California Angels,

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

, and Kansas City Royals.

Early years

Sanders attended St. Louis University High School in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, and was a standout in soccer, football and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. After a month at St. Louis University, he signed with the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in . He went 19–10 with a 3.21

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

as a starting pitcher his first professional season with the Florida State League's Sanford Greyhounds. He split his time between starts and relief appearances until , when he was converted to a full-time reliever with the Birmingham Barons. He made his major league debut against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

later that season, pitching 1.2 innings without giving up a run. For the season, Sanders went 0–2 with a 3.67 ERA and one save. After spending all of in triple A, Sanders was selected by the

in the 1965 rule 5 draft. In , he went 3–6 with two saves and a 3.80 ERA for the Bosox before being dealt back to Kansas City with

Jim Gosger James Charles Gosger (born November 6, 1942) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and first baseman. He played in the majors for ten seasons between 1963 and 1974 for six different teams. Gosger was listed at and and batted and ...

and Guido Grilli for Rollie Sheldon, Jose Tartabull and John Wyatt. He made his only major league start upon his return to the A's, pitching four innings of one run ball against the California Angels before giving way to the bullpen. With the exception of a brief one month call-up in by the Oakland Athletics, Sanders spent the next three seasons in the minors. Just prior to Spring training 1970, he, Mike Hershberger, Lew Krausse Jr. and

Phil Roof Philip Anthony Roof (born March 5, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and minor league manager. He played for 15 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball in and from to , most notably for the Kansas City/Oa ...

were traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for

Don Mincher Donald Ray Mincher (June 24, 1938 – March 4, 2012) was an American Major League Baseball first baseman and longtime minor league executive. He played in the majors from 1960–1972 for the "original" Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, Cal ...

and Ron Clark.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers lost 97 games their first season in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

(after having spent one season in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

as the Pilots). One of the few bright spots on the team was Sanders' emergence as a legitimate major league closer. Sanders set a club record with 13 saves to go along with a 5–2 record and 1.75 ERA. His season was even more impressive as he led Major League Baseball with 83 appearances on the mound (his closest competitor was Cincinnati Reds

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Wayne Granger Wayne Allan Granger (born March 15, 1944) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1968, 1973), Cincinnati Reds (1969–1971), Minnesota Twins (1972), New York Yankees (1973), Chicago Wh ...

with 70), and set a major league record by finishing 77 of them. He also led the major leagues with 31 saves. Coupled with his seven wins, Sanders figured in 38 of the Brewers' 69 wins. He began the season as the Brewers' closer, pitching 18.2 innings and earning four saves before giving up his first

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

of the season. From there, things went south for Sanders, as he found himself at 1–7 with a 3.45 ERA and 13 saves at the All-Star break. He lost the confidence of new Brewers manager

Del Crandall Delmar Wesley Crandall (March 5, 1930May 5, 2021) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He was born in Ontario, California. Crandall played as a catcher in Major League Baseball and spent most of his career with the Boston / ...

, and only picked up four more saves for the rest of the season. Following the campaign, Sanders was traded twice in a span of 32 days. First, to the Philadelphia Phillies along with

Jim Lonborg James Reynold Lonborg (born April 16, 1942) is an American former professional baseball right-handed starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Phillies. Though nickname ...

Ken Brett Kenneth Alven Brett (September 18, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and the second of four Brett brothers who played professional baseball, the most notable being the youngest, George Brett. Ken played for ...

and Earl Stephenson for

Don Money Donald Wayne Money (born June 7, 1947) is an American former professional baseball infielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Kintetsu ...

John Vukovich John Christopher Vukovich (July 31, 1947 – March 8, 2007), nicknamed "Vuk" or "Johnny Vuk", was an American professional baseball utility infielder, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB),

and Bill Champion on October 31. Then, to the Minnesota Twins along with Ken Reynolds and Joe Lis for

César Tovar César Leonardo Tovar (July 3, 1940 – July 14, 1994), nicknamed "Pepito" and "Mr. Versatility", was a Venezuelan professional baseball player, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins (–), Philadelphia Phillies (), ...

on December 1.

Journeyman

Sanders earned eight saves for the Twins by the end of May despite a relatively high 5.60 ERA. He lost the closer's job to Ray Corbin, and was placed on waivers. He was soon claimed by the

, and pitched far more respectably with his new club, going 5–1 with a 1.65 ERA and five saves. Back-to-back poor performances against the Boston Red Sox and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

led to his release in . He soon signed a minor league deal with the California Angels, and was promoted to the big league club after 19 games at triple A. He appeared in nine games with the Angels, earning one save. During the off season, he was traded to the

for

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Ike Hampton. Though the Mets finished in third in the

National League East The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central it is one of two divisions to have every member win at least one World Series title. The division was created when the National Leag ...

in , it was not out of a lack of pitching. Sanders, along with former Brewers teammate

Skip Lockwood Claude Edward (Skip) Lockwood Jr. (born August 17, 1946) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Seattle Pilots / Milwaukee Brewers (1969–1973), California Angels (1974), New York Mets (1975–1979) and Boston Re ...

and Bob Apodaca, gave the Mets one of the more formidable bullpens in the division. For his part, Sanders went 1–1 with a 2.30 ERA and five saves. Toward the end of the season, his contract was sold to the Kansas City Royals. He started the season playing minor league ball for the Brewers before retiring, and moving into

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

Career stats

As a reliever, Sanders only had 67 plate appearances. One of his two career

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

came against Hall of Famer

Jim Palmer James Alvin Palmer (born October 15, 1945) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1965–1967, 1969–1984). Palmer was the winningest MLB pitcher in the ...

in 1966.

Personal life

He and his wife, Mary Ann, have three children, Leanne, Steven and Laura, and five grandchildren.

References

External links

Ken Sanders
at Ultimate Mets Database
Ken Sanders
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Ken 1941 births Albuquerque Dukes players American League saves champions Baseball players from St. Louis Binghamton Triplets players Birmingham Barons players Boston Red Sox players California Angels players Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Cleveland Indians players Industriales de Valencia players Iowa Oaks players Kansas City Athletics players Kansas City Royals players Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers players Minnesota Twins players Nashville Vols players New York Mets players Oakland Athletics players Portland Beavers players Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides players Salt Lake City Angels players Sanford Greyhounds players Spokane Indians players Tidewater Tides players Vancouver Mounties players