1987 Profile: Ron Kittle

"Power hitters live by the long ball, while they die by the strikeout. Ron Kittle is living proof.
A series of strikeouts put a downer on the six-player trade with the ChiSox which brought the slugger to the Yankees in July of 1986. Instead of helping to boost the team's threat against lefty pitching, the 6'4" 220-pound Kittle found himself sitting on the bench. Then, as is usually the case with big swingers, the homers started to come. After adjusting to his new team and new role as a platoon player, Ron clouted a homer in each game of a September doubleheader.
While it was too late for 1986, Kittle showed he can be the right-handed power hitter the team needs to win in 1987."

-The New York Yankees Official 1987 Yearbook

"Kittle began 1986 with the Chicago White Sox, but was acquired by the Yankees along with Wayne Tolleson and Joel Skinner on July 29 in exchange for Ron Hassey, Carlos Martinez and a player to be named later. At the time of the trade he was hitting .213 (63-for-296) with 17 home runs, 48 RBIs and 87 strikeouts in 86 games for Chicago. In 30 games for the Yankees he hit .238 (19-for-80) with four homers, 12 RBIs and 23 strikeouts. His 1986 totals with both teams in 116 games was an average of .218 (82-for-376) with 21 home runs and 60 RBIs along with 110 strikeouts. With Chicago Kittle made 81 starts, 61 as a designated hitter and 20 in left field, and after joining the Yankees made 20 starts as a DH and one start (September 7 at California) in left field.
He had four two-home run games with the White Sox, including July 20 against New York at Yankee Stadium, hitting solo homers off Bob Shirley and Tim Stoddard. His other two-home run games came on April 26 at Detroit (off Terrell and Hernandez), June 18 at Minnesota (both off Bert Blyleven) and June 23 against Minnesota (both again off Blyleven). Ron has 12 career two-home run games.
In four games from April 26-30, all four of his hits were home runs, including his 100th career home run on April 30. Following that he went 33 games without hitting a homer before his next one on June 13. Ron had 15 multiple-hit games with the White Sox, including four three-hit games, and had four RBIs on April 16 against Detroit. He stole home on a double steal on June 18 at Minnesota. He was 1-for-4 with two RBIs as a pinch hitter for Chicago.
Ron struck out 12 times in his first 22 at-bats as a Yankee, but had only 11 strikeouts in his last 58 at-bats. He started out slowly, hitting .067 (1-for-15) with no homers and one RBI in his first eight games with the club, but hit .277 (18-for-65) with four homers and 10 RBIs over his next 22 games.
He hit his first homer as a Yankee on September 11 in the first game of a doubleheader at Toronto, a two-run shot off Jimmy Key which also gave him his first game winning RBI since joining the club. He then hit a solo homer off John Cerutti in the second game of that twin bill. His other two homers with the Yankees came on September 20 at Detroit (a three-run blast off Frank Tanana) and on September 29, a solo homer off Cerutti in New York, his only circuit clout as a Yankee in Yankee Stadium.
He had a five-game hitting streak, his longest of the season, from September 7 through September 16. In 24 games as a Yankee designated hitter, he hit .222 (16-for-72) with four homers, 12 RBI and 24 strikeouts, and hit .125 (1-for-8) with four strikeouts as a Yankee pinch hitter.
Kittle's professional baseball history is a rags-to-riches story. He signed his first professional contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 1977. He hit poorly and complained of numbness in his right arm. The problem was diagnosed as a pinched nerve in his neck stemming from a pair of crushed vertebrae. The unknown injury prompted spinal fusion surgery in 1978 and Kittle wore a neck brace for four months. The Dodgers, feeling his baseball career was over, released him. In September of 1978, while working as an iron construction worker, he was offered a special tryout with the White Sox at Comiskey Park through former Sox pitcher Billy Pierce.
In 1980 at Appleton (A), he hit .316 in 61 games and was named to the Midwest League All-Star team before being promoted to Glens Falls (AA) where he hit .308 in 17 games. Ron was named the Eastern League Most Valuable Player in 1981 at Glens Falls, with 40 home runs and 102 RBIs, which led the league, but missed the Triple Crown with a .324 batting average.
Ron was named 1982 Minor League Player of the Year at AAA Edmonton in the Pacific Coast League with league leading totals of 50 home runs and 144 RBIs, but didn't win the Triple Crown despite a .345 batting average. The PCL Most Valuable Player that year, he became one of only five professional players to hit 50 or more home runs in one season over the past 23 years.
His 35 home runs and 100 RBIs led the American League West Division title-bound White Sox and earned him the AL Rookie of the Year award. He was the only White Sox named to the AL All-Star team, going 1-for-2 in the All-Star Game. He also led the AL with 150 strikeouts.
Ron's home run total wiped out the Sox rookie record of 27, set by Zeke Bonura in 1934, and he finished just two homers short of Al Rosen's AL rookie record. He joined Greg Luzinski (32 homers) as the most productive home run tandem in White Sox history, and along with Carlton Fisk (26 homers) was part of the most prolific home run trio in the club's history.
His 100 RBIs were the second best rookie total in Sox history, behind Bonura's 110 in '34. It was the most RBIs by an American League rookie since Fred Lynn (105) and Jim Rice (102) in 1975.
His ALCS action ended in Game Three against Baltimore when Oriole pitcher Mike Flanagan hit him in the left knee. He had to leave the game and was unable to play in the decisive fourth game. Ron did hit .286 in the three ALCS games he played in.
With 32 home runs in 1984, he led the Sox in that category for the second straight season and finished third on the club in runs (67), RBIs (74) and walks (49). He also led the team in strikeouts (136) for the second year in a row.
Ron became the first player in history to hit three home runs onto the Comiskey Park roof in one season. He was AL Player of the Week for April 23-29 for a .435 (10-for-23) average with four home runs and nine RBIs. Ron had two pinch-hit homers and three two-home run games.
He was hampered most of the 1985 season by a shoulder injury suffered in a collision with the Comiskey Park left field wall on April 20, and hit just .191 with eight homers and 17 RBIs through August 5. He was placed on the disabled list on July 4th when the shoulder injury would not respond to rest. Ron spent one week at AAA Buffalo on rehabilitative assignment in mid-July and returned to the Sox on July 25.
After his return he had four two-home run games to go with a two-homer game earlier in the year. He batted .265 (52-for-196) with 18 homers and 41 RBIs after August 5 to raise his final average from .191 to .230. Ron equalled his career high with an 11-game hitting streak September 1-17, batting .366 (15-for-41), and was named AL Player of the Week September 9-15 with three homers and a .429 average (9-for-21) in six games.
He appeared in 58 games as a designated hitter in '85 and hit .251 with 16 home runs and 35 RBIs. He was hitless in nine pinch-hitting appearances with seven strikeouts.
Ron graduated from Wirt High School in Gary Indiana, where he was a three-sport letterman. He was an all-Indiana selection in basketball. He married his high school acquaintance Laura Cooke during the 1984 off-season and makes his permanent home in Crown Point, Indiana, near his native Gary.
His hobbies are hunting and fishing, and his favorite spectator sport is pie-eating contests. His favorite team growing up was the Chicago Cubs, his favorite player was Brooks Robinson and his favorite ballpark is Fenway Park."

-1987 New York Yankees Information Guide