Kenneth Frederick Keltner (October 31, 1916 – December 12, 1991) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1937 to 1950, most prominently as a member of the Cleveland Indians where he was a seven-time All-Star player and was a member of the 1948 World Series winning team. He played his final season for the Boston Red Sox.
Keltner was notable for being one of the best fielding third basemen in the 1940s and for helping to end Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak on July 17, 1941. He was inducted into the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame in 1951. In 2001, he was voted one of the 100 greatest players in Cleveland Indians' history by a panel of veteran baseball writers, executives and historians.
Baseball career
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Keltner began his professional baseball career in playing for his hometown team, the Milwaukee Brewers, then a minor league team. The drop broke the 555-foot, 30-year-old record set by Washington Senator catcher Gabby Street at the Washington Monument. In the 1941 All-Star Game, he spearheaded a ninth inning four-run rally as the American League fought back from a 5-3 deficit. Keltner beat the throw to first base for an infield single to start the rally. DiMaggio walked and grounded out in his other two plate appearances, as the record-setting hitting streak came to an end.
Keltner had a career-season in 1948, placing third in the American League home runs with 31 and posting career-highs with 119 runs batted in, 91 runs, and 89 walks, and placed fifth in the league with a .522 slugging average, helping Cleveland earn a first-ever one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox. The Indians won the game 8-3 behind knuckleballer Gene Bearden, with the help of Keltner's single, double, and 3-run home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park. The Indians then went on to defeat the Boston Braves in the 1948 World Series.
Due to injuries, Keltner appeared in only 80 games in 1949. Keltner made 7 All-Star teams in 13 seasons. When he left the Indians, he was in the Top 5 in many of their all-time hitting records.
Post-playing career
After his retirement as a player, Keltner served as a scout for the Indians and the Red Sox. Keltner was also inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame, the Ohio Baseball Hall of Fame and was named to the 100 Greatest Cleveland Indians in . Keltner was the subject of a brief campaign for the Baseball Hall of Fame. While he was never a popular candidate, his candidacy gave rise to the Keltner List by baseball historian Bill James - a list of questions designed to guide thinking on the Hall of Fame. James ranked Keltner 35th all-time among third baseman in his Historical Baseball Abstract.
Keltner died in his home state of Wisconsin at age 75 of a heart attack.