"There is a picture currently making the rounds of late-night TV. It is entitled 'Tell Them Willie is Here.' It is about a proud American Indian who never accepted the 'rights' promised him by certain legal and law enforcement agencies.
There is a baseball player on the New York Yankees who is currently battling back from a shattered face- cheek, jaw and eye socket. His name is Steve Kemp. His message is simple: 'Tell Them Steve Kemp is Coming Back.'
Kemp, called 'Kemper' (as in cavalry and insurance) by his teammates, is a tough, proud baseball player who may never regain full sight in his left eye, but who doesn't know how to spell the word quit.
'I want everybody to know,' he says, 'that I'll be all right. I have a positive attitude. It may take a year for the eyesight to return, but I have to feel the worst is behind me.'
If the worst is behind, then the best is yet to come. Kemp was injured on September 7 when a line drive in batting practice smashed into his face. His year was over, and there were fears for his sight, let alone his chances of playing hard-nose baseball (the only kind that Kemp ever plays).
He worked all winter, with weights and sprints and batting against machines and live pitching in Yankee Stadium. In between, he spent more than 40 hours in a dentist's chair, having his shattered teeth replaced.
Kemp is no thief. He knows the Yankees gave him an excellent five-year contract, but one that he deserved because in five years with the Tigers and another with the White Sox, he invariably hit 20 homers and knocked in 90 runs. And he never, but never, stops hustling. He knows how to win, but he must play to do so. He is the starting left fielder- he is back- and the best is yet to come."
-The New York Yankees Official 1984 Yearbook
"In a frustrating first season as a Yankee in 1983, Kemp had 12 home runs and 49 RBI, his lowest run production totals since 1981 (the strike season). He homered in his first game as a Yankee, on April 5 in Seattle off Gaylord Perry, and hit an inside-the-park home run at Yankee Stadium against Seattle on June 6. Steve hustled all year, but never more than on Don Baylor's bloop single behind third base when Kemp scored all the way from first base with two out in the bottom of the ninth to win the first game of a doubleheader against the Royals on July 22.
Steve had his season ended prematurely on September 7 in Milwaukee when he suffered a broken jaw when struck by a batting practice line drive off the bat of Omar Moreno. He worked out all winter at Yankee Stadium to be ready for the 1984 season.
He is a proven RBI man, twice driving in more than 100 runs in a season. Kemp enjoyed an excellent season in 1982, establishing new personal season highs by playing in 160 games, scoring 91 runs and getting 166 hits. He tied for sixth in the AL with 89 walks, was ninth with a .384 on-base percentage and was tied for ninth with 14 game-winning RBI. Kemp was named to the American League All-Star team in 1979, winning Detroit's triple crown.
Kemp was the nation's No. 1 pick in the regular phase of the January 1976 free agent draft by Detroit. In August of his one and only season in the minor leagues, Kemp tore ankle ligaments which were repaired surgically. Steve was a member of an American League team of all-stars that toured Japan in 1979.
Steve was an All-American baseball player at the University of Southern California. He holds the USC record for season batting average with a .435 mark set in his sophomore year."
-1984 New York Yankees Information Guide
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