Ron Kline Marquee

b. March 9, 1932 · Pittsburgh Pirates 1952, 1955–1959, 1968–1969, St. Louis Cardinals 1960, Los Angeles Angels 1961, Detroit Tigers 1961–1962, Washington Senators 1963–1966, Minnesota Twins 1967, San Francisco Giants 1969, Boston Red Sox 1969, Atlanta Braves 1970

He started 203 games in his twenties for Pittsburgh and St. Louis and lost more than he won in almost all of them, twice leading the National League in defeats. Washington moved him to the bullpen at thirty-one, and in 1965 he saved 29 games in 74 appearances with a 2.63 earned run average, the most saves in the American League.

Seventeen seasons gave him 114 wins against 144, 108 saves and a 3.75 earned run average across 2,078 innings and 736 games. Nine clubs employed him.

He was from Callery, Pennsylvania, and went home to it, serving as the township's tax collector for years after he stopped pitching. No Hall of Fame ballot has ever listed him. He died in 2002, at seventy.

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1952	PIT	27	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0	.000
1955	PIT	37	38	1	5	0	0	0	1	21	0	.132
1956	PIT	44	79	2	10	0	0	3	4	26	1	.127
1957	PIT	40	66	0	4	0	0	0	1	24	0	.061
1958	PIT	33	74	2	2	1	0	1	4	42	0	.027
1959	PIT	38	59	4	8	0	0	6	1	23	0	.136
1960	STL	34	35	1	5	0	0	1	0	13	0	.143
1961	DET/LAA	36	49	2	6	1	0	2	1	25	0	.122
1962	DET	36	16	1	2	0	0	0	0	5	0	.125
1963	WSA	62	11	0	1	0	1	0	0	7	0	.091
1964	WSA	61	6	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	0	.167
1965	WSA	74	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000
1966	WSA	63	6	1	1	0	0	1	1	4	0	.167
1967	MIN	54	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000
1968	PIT	56	16	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0	.000
1969	BOS/PIT/SFG	43	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000
1970	ATL	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
Career	—	743	491	14	45	2	1	14	15	221	1	.092

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1952	PIT	0	7	27	11	0	78.2	74	48	66	27	5.49
1955	PIT	6	13	36	19	2	136.2	161	63	53	48	4.15
1956	PIT	14	18	44	39	2	264.0	263	99	81	125	3.38
1957	PIT	9	16	40	31	0	205.0	214	92	61	88	4.04
1958	PIT	13	16	32	32	0	237.1	220	93	92	109	3.53
1959	PIT	11	13	33	29	0	186.0	186	88	70	91	4.26
1960	STL	4	9	34	17	1	117.2	133	79	43	54	6.04
1961	DET/LAA	8	9	36	20	1	161.0	172	74	61	97	4.14
1962	DET	3	6	36	4	2	77.1	88	37	28	47	4.31
1963	WSA	3	8	62	1	17	93.2	85	29	30	49	2.79
1964	WSA	10	7	61	0	14	81.1	81	21	21	40	2.32
1965	WSA	7	6	74	0	29	99.1	106	29	32	52	2.63
1966	WSA	6	4	63	0	23	90.1	79	24	17	46	2.39
1967	MIN	7	1	54	0	5	71.2	71	30	15	36	3.77
1968	PIT	12	5	56	0	7	112.2	94	21	31	48	1.68
1969	BOS/PIT/SFG	1	6	43	0	4	59.0	77	34	28	29	5.19
1970	ATL	0	0	5	0	1	6.1	9	5	2	3	7.11
Career	—	114	144	736	203	108	2078.0	2113	866	731	989	3.75

On this day & linked events

1932

Born March 9, 1932

Callery, PA, USA

2002

Died June 22, 2002

1952

Major-league debut: Ron Kline

Ron Kline made a major-league debut on April 21, 1952.

1970

Final major-league game: Ron Kline

Ron Kline played a final major-league game on June 13, 1970.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain