Ken Boyer Worth Remembering

After 11 world championships and the tremendous exposure the St. Louis Cardinals receive for suiting up the best current player in baseball in Albert Pujols I am surprised that I hardly ever hear a word about Ken Boyer, one of their great stars of the 1960s.

The man who is the symbol of the franchise is Stan “The Man” Musial. A secondary Mr. Cardinal, a stellar second baseman who served as a long-time coach and a St. Louis manager, is Red Schoendienst. And no one forgets to give fastballer Bob Gibson his props.

I don’t know whether those four so thoroughly overshadow Boyer that his name is avoided when it comes to mentioning great Cardinal contributors of the past, or if it is because Boyer passed away nearly 30 years ago when he was only 51. But in a 15-year career Boyer was an 11-time All-Star, won five Gold Gloves covering third base, and was the Most Valuable Player in the National League in 1964. (That season he led the NL with 119 RBIs.)

Boyer could also hit, avergaging .287 with 282 home runs and 1,141 RBIs. For most of Boyer’s career, which began in 1955, he was associated with the Cardinals. He played his first 11 seasons in St. Louis before back problems kicked up. After that he skippped around for the last four years of a career that ended in 1969. It was the Cardinals, though, who retired his No. 14 jersey.

I was a big Boyer fan when I was younger, but when it came to thinking of potentially overlooked Hall of Famers for a long time I was as guilty as others. Only last summer did a friend throw his name my way and I researched his numbers. Yes, I concluded, he is a worthy Hall of Famer. Now he is one of the 10 finalists on the ballot being considered by the Golden Era Veterans Committee for possible admission to the Hall in a vote on Dec. 5.

Boyer must have come from good stock in small-town Missouri because he was only one of three brothers who made the majors. Clete was a renowned fielding third baseman for the Yankees, though never in Ken’s class as a hitter (lifetime .242), and Cloyd had a brief career as a pitcher (lifetime 20-23). Still, that is a pretty cool family achievement. But that’s not all. There were 14 siblings of that generation of the Boyer clan and three other boys played in the minors, as well. The five tools in that household weren’t hammers, screwdrivers, saws, chisels or drills, but running, throwing, hitting for power, hitting for average and fielding.

As an aside, and as someone also intrigued by neat sports memorabilia, I wonder if it is possible to find a photograph of all three brothers together in their baseball uniforms that is autographed. Probably not too many of those around, especially with both Ken and Clete deceased (Clete died in 2007). Cloyd is 84.

Ken Boyer was the captain of the Cardinals in the early 1960s and during St. Louis’ World Series triumph over brother Clete’s team he knocked a grand-slam homer to single-handedly win a 1964 Series game. Eight times he drove in 90 or more runs in a season and eight times he hit 23 or more home runs in a season.

Following an era of inflated home run totals, some might not be too impressed by Ken Boyer’s lifetime mark of 282 dingers. But at the time he retired it was the second highest total by a third baseman. And at that time he also had the third highest slugging percentage–.462–by a third baseman. That puts Boyer’s career into a different context than simply comparing different power hitting eras.

Ken Boyer would be a deserving addition to the Baseball Hall of Fame.