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Patek was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 22nd round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft out of Seguin High School in Seguin, Texas. He made his major league debut on June 3, 1968 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at shortstop, and played all but six of his 292 games with the Pirates at shortstop. However, with All-Star Gene Alley firmly entrenched at shortstop there was a desire on the part of management to convert him into a utility player. Guerrero’s best game with the Angels came during his 2004 AL MVP campaign, as he went 4-for-4 with two homers and nine RBIs in a 10-7 win at Angel Stadium.
Every now and then a player surprises with an incredible individual performance in a game, setting team records along the way. On June 20, 1980, Patek hit three home runs against the Red Sox in a 20-2 Angels win, becoming only the second shortstop – Ernie Banks did it twice – to hit three home runs in one game. It was a feat that would not be repeated until Barry Larkin of the Reds hit three in one game against the Astros in 1991. In 1979, a shoulder injury which first manifested itself the year before hampered Patek to the point where Herzog began playing Washington and youngster Todd Cruz at shortstop.
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Had there not been a hotel employee in the elevator gushing about the upcoming game and what a great season they were having, I wouldn’t have even known they were ballplayers. When you stand 5’5 and are one of the biggest stars in a small, baseball crazed city, a simple shopping trip to the local Price Chopper can turn into an event. But the Patek’s loved Kansas City and Kansas City loved them back. Being one of the shortest men to play Major League baseball, Patek had a series of nicknames with the most common being The Flea. The 1974 Royals yearbook also lists his nicknames as Midg and Midget, two unfortunate terms that would not be used in today’s hyper sensitive, politically correct environment, but things were different in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The yearbook also states that Fred worked at a local auto dealership during the offseason.
The Pirates won the World Series the season after Patek left the Pirates , and the Royals lost the World Series the season after Patek left the Royals . Baseball analyst Bill James has ranked Patek, a member of the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame, the 14th best player in Royals' history. The Hall of Famer had his best game in his 18th season, going 5-for-6 with three homers and six RBIs in a 15-9 win while setting the club record of 15 total bases, which still stands. The Minnesota native was 39 at the time but was incredible in his return to the Metrodome, homering in the first, third and fifth innings.
#CardCorner: 1969 Topps Freddie Patek
Washington positioned as the Royals’ shortstop of the future, Patek maintained his regular role despite leading AL shortstops with 32 errors that season. Patek finished the 1970 season with a .245 batting average and eight steals over 84 games, helping the Pirates win the National League East title. But on Dec. 2, 1970, the Pirates shipped Patek to the Royals along with Bruce Dal Canton and Jerry May in exchange for Jim Campanis, Jackie Hernández and Bob Johnson. Born Oct. 9, 1944 in Oklahoma City, Patek was raised in Seguin, Texas. His mother and father were both softball players, and Patek starred on the baseball field while working for the family’s butcher shop before graduating high school and being drafted into the Air Force.
In his first at-bat, Patek doubled off Fenway Park’s Green Monster in left; he was just warming up. Still, his three-homer effort—the second by a major league shortstop after Ernie Banks—was all the more impressive given his size and the fact that he never hit more than six in any one season. What Manning and the other two players had in common besides going deep three times was that they all did it at the same ballpark, Chicago’s Lakefront Park—very possibly the smallest ballfield in major league history. The wall measured roughly 180 feet down each line from home plate; straightaway center was only 300 feet away.
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They did it so long that I went back out and tipped my hat. That’s really unique for a visitor, but Fenway and the Boston fans were special.”52 His outburst also produced a career-high seven RBIs. Days later, Patek talked about his playing bonus to manager Jim Fregosi, who reminded GM Buzzy Bavasi. “It was a $25,000 or $50,000 bonus and when I got close to 100 games, they sat me on the bench.”53 He realized that Bavasi had ordered his playing time to rookie Dickie Thon to save the bonus money.
Merv Connors had eight career home runs, the fewest career home runs by any player with a 3-homer game on their resume. Babe Ruth was the first player to hit three home runs in game at least once both leagues, once with the New York Yankees in 1930, and once in the National League, with the Boston Braves in 1935. Alas, McCullough’s shots, all solo, wouldn’t be enough for the Cubs, who lost 4-3. It was the first time—but not the last—in which a team lost while one player accounted for all of its runs on three solo homers. He had a .242 batting average, 1,340 hits, 41 home runs, 490 RBIs and 736 runs scored. Patek and the Bucs had to wait until December to find a trading partner.
Just five years earlier, in 1945, the home team hit one home run at the ballpark—for the entire season. With the exception of the right-field porch, there was no easy place to poke a ball over the Griffith Stadium fence; it was even 400 feet down the left-field line. Josh Gibson, the powerful Negro Leagues legend, had once hit three homers at Griffith.
Herzog saw Patek as the prototype to play the position in the ’70s. Patek’s play also earned him his second All-Star Game appearance. Fred Patek holds a special place in the heart of many older Royals fans. He was a centerpiece of the great Royals teams from 1976 to 1978. Though he never played in the World Series, he played very well in 1976 and 1977 ALCS against the Yankees, batting .389 in both 1976 and 1977, going an identical 7 for 18 in both series. Fred struggled in the 1978 ALCS, going only 1 for 13, but that hit was his only post-season home run.
Wes Chamberlain drove in a career-high six runs with a pair of three-run homers at Veterans Stadium. Chamberlain singled in the second, homered in the fourth and sixth off Greg Harris (2-3) and singled in the seventh. Ventura, who hit a solo home run in third inning, won it with his fourth hit of the game.
He had chances to add to his home run total but settled for a double in the sixth, a groundout in the eighth and an RBI single in the ninth. Winfield said after that it was the best game of his storied career. Anderson became just the 13th player in Major League history to record 10 RBIs in a game when he accomplished the feat in an 18-9 win over the Yankees at Angel Stadium. He went 4-for-6 with two homers -- a grand slam and a three-run blast -- and two doubles. Most impressively, Hall of Famer Mike Mussina started the game for the Yankees and Anderson ripped a two-run double off him to start things off in the first inning. He helped chase Mussina from the game in the second, when he smacked an RBI double to score Vladimir Guerrero as part of a five-run rally.
He left his mark on the diamond with a variety of unique records, ranging from stolen bases to defensive double plays and even home runs. Runs, stolen bases and caught stealing are calculated from the point of view of the player as the baserunner in a given situation rather than as the batter. For example, for the Runner on 3rd, less than 2 Outs split, Runs Scored indicate how many times the player scored while was a runner on base and there was a runner on third and less than two outs. Deion Sanders is beginning to make a habit of hitting home runs on his getaway day of the baseball season. But for all the big home runs Jack Clark had hit, he'd never done it. Until Wednesday night.Clark, who already had connected for a grand slam and a solo shot, homered with two outs in the 14th inning, lifting the Boston Red Sox over Oakland and stopping the Athletics' five-game winning streak.
Larry Shepard managed the team until being dismissed late in the season – and Patek and Shepard clashed several times as Patek saw regular time at shortstop in place of Alley, who was nursing a chronic shoulder injury. Listed at different times anywhere from 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-6, Freddie Patek fought for every minute of his 14 years in the big leagues. And for Kansas City Royals fans of the 1970s, Patek remains one of the heroes of a team that drafted the blueprint for expansion success. Kevin Gross (6-6) struck out nine and pitched five shutout innings in relief of Orel Hershiser, who gave up three runs and six hits in four innings.
