Ken Berry (baseball)

Allen Kent Berry (born May 10, 1941 in Kansas City, Missouri) is a former Major League Baseball center fielder. He was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent before the 1961 season. He played for the White Sox from 1962 until he was traded in 1970 to the California Angels. He also played for the Milwaukee Brewers and finished his career with the Cleveland Indians. Ken won two Gold Glove Awards for his play in the outfield in 1970 and 1972. He played his final Major League Baseball game on May 31, 1975.

Berry is a 1959 graduate of Washburn Rural High School where he starred in football, basketball and track and field. He continued to play football and basketball as a freshman while attending Wichita State University.^[1] Berry also played one year in a work/play program for the McPherson (Kansas) BJs in the Ban Johnson League. That year McPherson went to the National Ban Johnson League tournament finals played in Wichita.

Berry was named to the American League All-Star team in 1967, when his White Sox battled the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Minnesota Twins for the pennant all the way down to the last few days of the season.

He led league outfielders in putouts once (1965) and in fielding percentage three times (1970, 1972, and 1973). He tied for the league lead once each in assists and double plays, both in 1972.

Career batting totals for 1,383 games played include 1,053 hits, 58 home runs, 343 RBI, and a lifetime batting average of .255.

Career highlights include:

• 20 consecutive-game hitting streak (May 28, 1967 – June 15, 1967)
• Eight four-hit games – The most significant being three singles and a home run against the New York Yankees (June 7, 1970)
• 39 three-hit games
• One five-RBI game, including a grand slam against the Detroit Tigers right-hander Joe Sparma (June 15, 1968)
• Three four-RBI games, including a pair of two-run homers vs. the Kansas City Royals (May 15, 1970)
• Served as the baseball coach in the film Eight Men Out (1988)

In 2012, Berry---now a grandfather---published two children's books, Artie the Awesome Apple and Clyde the Clumsy Camel. He told the Topeka Capital-Journal he began writing the books in December 2011 and kept on after his wife told him they were "not bad." The newspaper said Berry often entertained his children on long drives to spring training by making up stories about three friendly ghosts.^[2]

Berry was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or BR Bullpen, or Retrosheet, or Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)