Obituary: Ken Holtzman (1945-2024)

RIP to Ken Holtzman, a 4-time World Series Champ, an All-Star, the author of two no-hitters and one of the most successful Jewish pitchers in baseball history. He died on April 14 in St. Louis, at the age of 78. Holtzman played for the Chicago Cubs (1965-71, 1978-79), Oakland Athletics (1972-75), Baltimore Orioles (1976) and New York Yankees (1976-78).

Kenneth Dale Holtzman was born on November 3, 1945, in St. Louis. Before the rest of the country found out about his pitching skills, he was winning championships and striking out batters in junior legion leagues around town. He did the same as a pitcher for University City High School. As a senior in 1963, he threw a no-hitter to get the school into the Missouri high school championships, and then he pitched the final 2 innings in relief of the championship game to secure the win. Holtzman attended the University of Illinois on an athletic scholarship for two years before he was picked by the Chicago Cubs in the June 1965 Amateur Draft. Although he went in the fourth round, AP reports noted that he may have been the biggest bargain in the draft. Those reports weren’t wrong. Holtzman’s first stop in the minor leagues was for Treasure Valley in the Rookie-level Pioneer League; he stayed there for 4 starts and went 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA. After 8 starts at Class-A Wenatchee, the 19-year-old lefthander was brought to the major leagues. Holtzman’s minor-league career lasted for 12 games.

High school student Ken Holtzman. Source: *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*, July 19, 1963.

Holtzman debuted in the ninth inning of a game against San Francisco on September 4, 1965. The first batter he ever faced, Jim Ray Hart, took him deep for a home run. Holtzman made two more relief appearances and didn’t allow another earned run, leaving him with a 2.25 ERA in 4 innings, with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. He worked as a starter for the Cubs in 1966 — whenever he was on the team. Holtzman was still a full-time college student at the University of Illinois. He had transferred from the Champaign campus to the Chicago campus to be closer to the Cubs, but schoolwork took up most of his free time. “Until school lets out in June, he’ll be a weekend pitcher on the road,” said Cubs manager Leo Durocher. “At home, he’ll work in my rotation.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Holtzman. “I feel very strong about my education.”

When he was able to pitch, Holtzman was excellent, in spite of being stuck on a Cubs team that lost more than 100 games. He picked up his first major-league win in his first start, against the Dodgers on April 24. He outdueled Don Drysdale and threw 6 shutout innings in the 2-0 win. He went on a 5-game losing streak after that and finished with an 11-16 record, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Holtzman was the only Cubs pitcher to win more than 8 games, and he led the team with 171 strikeouts. Though he spent a portion of the season as a part-time pitcher, his 220-2/3 innings pitched were second only to Dick Ellsworth, who threw 269-1/3 innings. His 3.79 ERA was second only to Fergie Jenkins’ 3.31 mark. (Jenkins was a 23-year-old swingman at the time who started just 12 of his 60 appearances.) Holtzman, at 20 years old, was the staff ace. His final win of the season came against Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax. Holtzman was the one who nearly had a no-hitter that day. He didn’t allow a base hit until Dick Schofield singled to lead off the ninth inning, and he settled for a 2-1, 2-hit win. It was the final regular-season loss of Koufax’s career

Holtzman and Koufax had some commonalities, although Holtzman didn’t care for the inevitable comparisons. Along with being lefties with no-hit stuff, they were two of the most recognized Jewish players of the day. They were also both single, and Holtzman eventually turned to Koufax for advice on how to handle being an eligible bachelor. “There are a lot of Jewish people living in Skokie and since they found out there was a Jewish pitcher for the Cubs, I get thousands of letters from Skokie,” Holtzman related. “It got so bad that I had to talk to Sandy Koufax about it. He gets millions of letters. Once he got one thousand in one day and about 85 percent of them were from Jewish girls. You know, the old Jewish mothers want their girls to get married…”

The Cubs improved to a third-place finish in 1967, and Holtzman was poised for a breakout season. He rattled off a 5-game winning streak, including an 11-inning complete game win over the Dodgers on May 14. Then he was inducted into the Army and missed most of the season. Holtzman was able to come back to the Cubs on some weekends in August and September, and he won those starts, too. He ended up with a 9-0 record and a 2.53 ERA in just 12 starts. Holtzman started slowly in 1968, and after a May loss left him with a 1-2 record and an ERA in the 5s, Durocher yelled at him, “I hope you have that big Cadillac paid for, because where you’re going, you’ll have trouble making the payments!” — meaning the minor leagues. It didn’t take long for Holtzman to turn things around, and his 11-14 record and 3.35 ERA included 3 straight shutouts in August for a total of 30 straight scoreless innings. “I just wanted to wake him up. I wanted to shake him up a bit, so he’d throw the ball,” Durocher later said of his locker room outburst.

Ron Santo (#10) and Holtzman celebrate the pitcher’s first no-hitter. Source: *The Tampa Tribune*, August 20, 1969.

The Cubs finished in third place in 1968 with 84 wins, and Holtzman maintained that the Cubs would be “solid contenders in 1969.” He was more than right. The 1969 Cubs were a magical if ultimately heartbreaking team. Holtzman in particular was brilliant. He again threw 3 shutouts in a row for a scoreless inning streak of 33-2/3 innings, and he entered July with a 10-2 record. He slowed down over the second half of the season — he was far from the only Cub to have that problem — and finished with a 17-13 record and 3.58 ERA. He struck out 176 batters and threw the first no-hitter of his major-league career. It came on August 19 against Atlanta. Ron Santo provided all the Cubs offense in the first inning with a 3-run homer off Phil Niekro, and it was all Holtzman needed. He didn’t have hit best stuff that day, as he walked 3 batters and failed to strike out a single Brave. “Along about the sixth inning I decided, well, if all I’ve got is the fastball, I’ll throw it.” he said after the game. “I thought they could hit it at somebody, so I challenged everybody. Our defense was flawless and I think I was in shock.” The wind was also blowing in that day, and it was what turned a Henry Aaron long fly ball from a home run into an out that left fielder Billy Williams caught with his back against the ivy.

Over the last month of 1969, Holtzman won just 1 game, lost 5 and had a 4.56 ERA. His one win was a 10-inning complete game over St. Louis. He threw a total of 261-1/3 innings in ’69 and then threw 287-2/3 innings in 1970. He again won 17 games and topped 200 strikeouts for the only time in his career, with 202. Though his ERA in 1970 of 3.38 was a little better than 1969’s total, Holtzman wasn’t as effective a pitcher as he had been. He allowed 271 hits and gave up a career-worst 30 home runs. After throwing 549 innings over the previous two seasons, Holtzman slumped to 9 wins and 15 losses in 1971, and his ERA rose by more than a run to 4.48. The highlight of the season was his second career no-hitter, against Cincinnati on June 3. He walked 4 and struck out 6 in the 1-0 win, and the only Red who got close to a hit was Johnny Bench, who laid down a bunt in the seventh inning that rolled foul. The rest of Holtzman’s year was forgettable, though. He posted an ERA of over 7 in the second half of the season, missed much of August and September with National Guard service and was part of a group of ballplayers who feuded with Durocher. That November, Holtzman was traded to the Oakland Athletics for outfielder Rick Monday.

Source: *The Orlando Sentinel*, October 14, 1977.

As if being rid of Durocher wasn’t good enough, Holtzman joined Oakland at just the right time. The team’s ace in 1971 was Cy Young Award and MVP-winning Vida Blue. However, Blue won just 6 games in 1972 after winning 24 the previous season. Starters Catfish Hunter and Blue Moon Odom won 21 and 15 games, respectively, but Holtzman returned to his past form to go 19-11 with a 2.51 ERA and 16 complete games. His control was sharp, with only 52 walks allowed in 265-1/3 innings, and he fanned 134 hitters in his American League debut. Holtzman was named to the All-Star Team for the first time in his career, and while he didn’t make an appearance in that game, he got a start in a much more important contest — Game One of the 1972 World Series. “I’m so lucky,” he said before the game. “I’m sure we all looked forward when we were kids. My little buddy wanted to be President of the United States. I knew another kid who wanted to drive a fire truck when he became a man. Me, I just wanted to play in the World Series.” He worked 5 innings against the Reds, allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits and got the 3-2 win. Holtzman got a no-decision in Game 4 and faced one batter in relief during Game Seven. The A’s won that final game to be crowned world champs.

The World Series win launched the Oakland A’s World Series dynasty, with two more championships in 1973 and 1974. Hunter, Blue and closer Rollie Fingers may have been the more visible pitchers during that stretch, but Holtzman was a steady ace. He was the pitcher that managers Dick Williams and Al Dark named as the Game One starting pitcher each year. Holtzman won 21 games in 1973 and 19 in ’74. He made 40 starts in 1973 and threw a career-high 287-1/3 innings, while completing 16 games and posting a 2.97 ERA. He made his second All-Star team and pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief of his A’s teammate Hunter. Holtzman threw an 11-inning complete game over Baltimore in the 1973 AL Championships and then went 2-1 in the World Series against the New York Mets. He helped his own cause in Game One by whacking a double in his first at-bat (Holtzman was a career .163 hitter but hit over .300 in the postseason) and scoring the first run of a 2-1 Oakland win. The following postseason, he tossed a 5-hit shutout against Baltimore in the ALCS and won 1 of his 2 starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. In that Game Four win, Holtzman again took matters into his own hands by hitting a solo home run off Andy Messersmith.

Those champion A’s teams were full of players with big personalities, from owner Charlie Finley down, and sometimes those personalities clashed. Holtzman, though, was quiet and non-controversial. “There’s a lot of guys around this clubhouse who seek out publicity. They’re quoted every day. They capitalize on it financially,” he said. “You know who they are. I just want to go out and play.”

The A’s missed the World Series in 1975, losing to Boston in the ALCS. Holtzman won 18 games and lost 14 during the regular season and came within an out of a third no-hitter, this one against Detroit. He started Game One of the ALCS and gave up 4 runs (2 earned) in 6-1/3 innings in a 7-1 loss. Manager Dark started Holtzman again in Game Three, on just two day’s rest. He was knocked out in the fifth inning as Boston won 5-3 to advance to the World Series. Holtzman said that Dark approached him and asked if he could pitch. “What am I going to say, no?” Holtzman said. “I can’t be tired. I just have to go out and pitch.”

In the offseason, Finley began the process of tearing down the A’s rather than paying his superstars. He traded Holtzman and Reggie Jackson to Baltimore for Don Baylor, Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez. Like most A’s who were shipped away, Holtzman was glad to leave Finley. After averaging 19 wins a year for four years, Holtzman didn’t sign his contract for 1976, so Finley cut his salary by 20 percent — the maximum allowed under baseball’s rules. The Orioles could have restored Holtzman’s pay cut, like the team did with Jackson, but didn’t. That left him with some bad feelings for Baltimore, but his time with the team lasted for just 13 starts. He won 5 of them and had a 2.86 ERA before being traded again, to the New York Yankees on June 15, 1976. Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Jimmy Freeman, Elrod Hendricks and Grant Jackson went to New York for Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, Scott McGregor and Dave Pagan. His Yankees career started with a couple of losses, but he turned things around to win 9 games for the Yankees, giving him 14 victories on the year and a combined 3.65 ERA. The Yankees reached the World Series before being swept by the Reds, but Holtzman didn’t pitch in the postseason.

The Yankees signed Holtzman to a 5-year contract extension shortly after acquiring him, and much was expected of the left-hander. Holtzman, though, approached baseball like a business and not a passion, and his perceived indifference turned off many of the New York sportswriters, and apparently some portion of the Yankees management. Then he didn’t pitch in the postseason, and he made just 18 appearances for the Yankees in 1977, including 11 starts. Holtzman’s ERA was 5.78, he walked more batters (24) than he struck out (14), and was not available for the Yankees postseason run, which culminated in a World Series win over the Dodgers. There were no reported injuries; Holtzman was healthy but didn’t play. The breakdown of the relationship between Holtzman and manager Billy Martin and/or general manager Gabe Paul led the pitcher to spent most of the year in exile on the bench. Martin, when pressed on why the pitcher didn’t appear in the postseason, swore that Holtzman would start in 1978. He did, for 3 starts. He also had 2 relief outings and won his only decision. Then the Yankees traded Holtzman to his original team, the Cubs, for a player to be named later, which turned out to be Ron Davis. After calling himself a mercenary and playing with a business mindset, Holtzman seemed legitimately happy to be back in Chicago and playing in front of Cubs fans.

“The fans here, the people here, really have been super to me,” he said in an August 4 interview with The Chicago Tribune. “They have a feeling for what I’ve been through the last two years, not pitching at all in New York. Two years of hell. It felt great just to go out and pitch again.” Holtzman spoke with genuine enthusiasm about pitching the Cubs into the playoffs, but the team finished in third place in 1978. Holtzman was used as a swingman by manager Herman Franks, and he was pretty ineffective in either role. He returned to the starting rotation in 1979 and had his moments, including a couple of shutouts. But his record was just 6-9, his ERA was 4.59, and he missed almost a month of the season with a bad back. He came off the disabled list in September to pitch one more game, a start against St. Louis on September 19. He didn’t get a decision, but he threw shutout ball for 7 innings and allowed just 4 hits. It was Holtzman’s final major-league game.

Holtzman worked at the Jewish Community Center in Chesterfield, MO. Source: *St. Louis Post-Dispatch*, August 5, 2002.

Holtzman played for 15 seasons and had a record of 174-150, and an ERA of 3.49. He appeared in 451 games, made 410 starts, and threw 127 complete games, including 31 shutouts. He also saved 3 games, all with the Cubs. He struck out 1,601 batters, and opposing hitters batted .255 against him. Holtzman’s ERA+ is 105, and Baseball Reference credits him with 27.3 Wins Above Replacement. In the postseason, he had a 6-4 record and a 2.30 ERA, including a 4-1 record in the World Series. And while he never wanted to be the next Sandy Koufax, he is the all-time winningest Jewish pitcher — Koufax had 9 fewer wins than Holtzman.

During his career, Holtzman worked as a stockbroker, and he returned to it when he retired. He became a very successful businessman in the Chicagoland area before moving back to his hometown of St. Louis. He was the supervisor of health and physical education at the Jewish Community Center in Chesterfield. His only return to pro baseball, as the manager of a team in the Israel Baseball League, ended after less than a season in 2007. He and his former wife, Michelle, raised three daughters, Robyn, Stacey and Lauren. In 1999, he was named as one of the greatest sports figures in St. Louis History. That same year, he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame inducted Holtzman in 2018.

Holtzman remained ready to talk baseball whenever some reporter wanted to ask about the state of the Chicago Cubs or the Athletics’ glory days. One of the stories he had was about the infamous clubhouse fight between Reggie Jackson and Bill North. He was an eyewitness but not a participant, because he was in the middle of a bridge game. “It was a great, great fight, but the bridge game did not stop. I had a good hand, and I’ll be damned if I was going to throw in a hand like that,” he recalled.