Theodore Bernard Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988), nicknamed "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player, best known as a power-hitting first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds teams of the 1950s. He played from 1947 through 1961 with four teams in Major League Baseball (MLB), spending 11 of those 15 seasons with the Reds, and became famous for his bulging biceps and mammoth home runs.
Kluszewski was a four-time National League (NL) All-Star who hit at least .300 seven times, and 40 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons. He retired with a .298 lifetime batting average, 279 home runs, and 1,028 runs batted in (RBI) in 1,718 games.
On August 25, 1959, the Chicago White Sox acquired Kluszewski from the Pittsburgh Pirates in return for pitcher Robert Sagers and outfielder Harry Simpson. The veteran hit .297 in 31 games and helped the "Go-Go White Sox" clinch the American League pennant. In six games versus the Los Angeles Dodgers in that year's World Series, Kluszewski hit .391 with three home runs and drove in 10 runs.
Kluszewski ranks among the all-time Reds leaders in home runs (sixth), slugging percentage (sixth), on-base plus slugging percentage (eighth), and RBIs (ninth). His .642 slugging percentage, 1.049 OPS, and home run rate of one per 11.4 at-bats in the 1954 season have been team records for seven decades. In 1962, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
Early life and athletic success
Kluszewski was born of Polish descent in Summit, Illinois, 14 miles (23 km) west of Comiskey Park in Chicago, where he played with the White Sox in the 1959 and 1960 seasons. He was a star football and baseball player at Argo Community High School. He went on to Indiana University in Bloomington, where he also played both sports. In 1945, he was part of the Hoosiers football powerhouse that finished with a 9–0–1 record. The same year he hit .443 with their baseball team.
Due to wartime travel restrictions, the Cincinnati Reds, who normally held spring training in Tampa, Florida, were forced to train at Indiana University from 1943 to 1945. As a student-athlete at the college, Kluszewski drew the attention of Reds groundskeeper Matty Schwab, who saw him launch several balls over an embankment near the baseball diamond, a 500-plus-foot distance that none of the Reds players were able to reach at the plate. Team scouts were similarly impressed, but Kluszewski, who also was a standout tight end on the Hoosiers football squad, was reluctant to sign a contract because he did not want to jeopardize his collegiate eligibility. Instead, he waited until after graduation in 1946.
After Kluszewski produced .325 and .377 batting averages in two minor league seasons, it was only a matter of time for his big promotion.
Early in the 1948 season, the 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 225-pound (102 kg) Kluszewski became a regular player. He became noted across the league for his physical strength. When asked to name the five strongest players in baseball, manager Leo Durocher left Kluszewski off his list, later joking, "I'm talking about human beings!"
Much to the chagrin of team management, Kluszewski made a bold fashion statement when he cut off both sleeves of his jersey. He explained that they constricted his enormous biceps and shoulders and limited his ability to swing a baseball bat freely: "They got pretty upset, but it was either that or change my swing — and I wasn't about to change my swing."
In 1947, Kluszewski earned a spot on the Opening Day roster and remained with the Reds in the first month of the season. After a four-month stint at Class AAA Memphis, he returned to the parent club in September. Kluszewski recorded his first hit on Sept. 23 at Crosley Field, an RBI single off Chicago Cubs starter Hank Wyse in the fifth inning. One year later, he nailed down the starter job that would be his for nine seasons.
It wasn't long before Kluszewski gained the reputation as one of the most unique hitters of his time, one who combined immense power with the ability to make contact on a consistent basis. In 10 of his 15 major league seasons, the first baseman walked (492) more often than he struck out (365). In 1953, Kluszewski hit 40 homers and struck out a mere 34 times. The following season he upped this to 49 homers against just 35 strikeouts. In 1955 he parked 47 home runs and struck out an even 40 times, the last time a major leaguer has hit 40 homers and struck out 40 or fewer times in the same season.
Kluszewski was his most dominant from 1953 through 1956 and was named to the National League All-Star roster in each of the four seasons. In that stretch, he hit a total of 171 home runs, more than any player in the big leagues. He also drove in more than 100 runs each season with a league-high of 141 RBI in the 1954 campaign.
Also in that period, Kluszewski became the first and only player in MLB history to hit 35 or more homers in four seasons in which he had fewer strikeouts than homers. Only three other major leaguers achieved the feat even twice: Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Johnny Mize, all Hall of Fame members.
Despite somewhat limited range, Kluszewski was a capable defender who combined sure hands with nimble footwork in the field. He led National League first basemen in fielding percentage five straight years (1951–1955), a major league record. In 1,479 games, he compiled a career .993 fielding percentage, which ranked 99th in major league history at the start of the 2025 season.
Kluszewski had his most dominant season in 1954, when he was the NL Most Valuable Player runner-up. He was in contention for the elusive Triple Crown for much of the season, leading the league in home runs (49) and RBI (141) and finishing fifth in batting average (.326). As late as September 19, he trailed New York Giants star Willie Mays by only eight points (.341–.333) in the batting race. Kluszewski went into a 3-of-20 tailspin down the stretch, while Mays held steady to secure the crown.
In 1956, Kluszewski was headed toward a fourth straight 40-home run season, but after a back issue flared up in September, he hit only .202 and two home runs in the month. He aggravated the injury early in the next season and spent most of the first four weeks as a pinch-hitter. While Kluszewski weighed his medical options, many of his fans offered get-well wishes and "sure cures" for what ailed him.
"On Opening Day, I made a sudden, quick movement to field a ball and the pain was unbearable," Kluszewski recalled. "Finally, it was decided that I had a slipped disc. Some doctors recommended an operation and some didn't. But none would assure me that I would still have as much mobility and I decided against going under the knife."