Bob Kelly obit

Cubs Pitcher Bob Kelly Has Died 

He was not on the list.

Bob Kelly, the Major League Baseball player, was born on Tuesday, October 4, 1927, in Cleveland, Ohio. Kelly was 23 years old when he broke into the major leagues on May 4, 1951, with the Chicago Cubs.

Kelly led East Cleveland Shaw High School to a state title in 1944, compiling a 7–2 record in 13 games with 75 strikeouts. He attended Purdue University, where he played college baseball for the Boilermakers from 1946 to 1947. Kelly also pitched collegiately for Western Reserve (now Case Western Reserve University) from 1948 to 1949. As of 2022, Kelly is the last surviving Major Leaguer managed by Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch.

When BallNine asked Bob Kelly who his favorite player was growing up, his answer was far from the typical baseball fan response.

As a youngster, Kelly’s favorite players were Lou Gehrig and Lou Boudreau.

Kelly is not your average baseball fan. The fine gentleman turned 93 recently and the former Big League pitcher joins BallNine for this week’s edition of Spitballin.’

It’s not hyperbole to call Kelly a baseball treasure. His minor league career began in 1948, just one year after integration. He served up home runs to Jackie Robinson and Ralph Kiner and had showdowns with Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Monte Irvin.

There are 7.8 billion people in the world today and only four of them can say they were managed by baseball immortal Rogers Hornsby. Kelly is one of them, not that his memories of The Rajah as a manager were fond ones.

The names Kelly rattles off when talking about his career are striking.

What shouldn’t be lost though, is the passion you hear in his voice when talking about the sport, no matter what generation of player he’s talking about.

He may be a nonagenarian but mention any player from Gehrig to Mookie Betts and Kelly is a kid again.

The BallNine Time Machine has ten different decades to cover with Kelly today, so hop in and let’s go Spitballin’ with the great Bob Kelly.

“When you stood on the mound and looked in at home plate, you felt like you could urinate on home plate from the mound. It seemed so small.” – [On Ebbets Field]

Thank you so much for joining us Mr. Kelly and a happy 93rd birthday to you! It’s an absolute honor to talk with someone who has such an incredible history with the game. Let’s go all the way back to the beginning to start. How did you develop your love for baseball?

That’s a very profound, interesting story. As far as I can remember as a child, I always wanted to be a ballplayer. My parents’ friends or my relatives would ask me what I would want to do when I grew up and from the get-go, I said, “I want to be a ballplayer.”

I had an Uncle Carl who pitched professionally, and he must have grabbed me out of the playpen and played catch with me, because that’s all I ever wanted to do. I didn’t have an interest in anything else, which made it tough when I was done with baseball.

Who were your favorite players growing up?

My favorite player growing up was Lou Gehrig, I always admired him. A little later, Lou Boudreau too. I must have had a thing for the Lou’s in baseball. Then later on, I kinda disliked Cal Ripken for breaking Lou’s record.

Bob Kelly was born on October 4, 1927, in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended East Cleveland Shaw High School, where he led his team to a state title in 1944 with an impressive 7-2 record and 75 strikeouts in 13 games. Kelly then went on to play college baseball at Purdue University (where he was once their winningest pitcher) and Western Reserve University (where he was also once their winningest pitcher).

 

Journey to the Majors

Kelly made his Major League debut on May 4, 1951, with the Chicago Cubs. He quickly made an impact, finishing his rookie season with a 7-4 record. Over the next few years, Kelly continued to develop his skills and became a reliable pitcher for the Cubs.

MLB Career Highlights

Kelly played for four seasons in the Major Leagues. He spent most of his career with the Chicago Cubs (1951-1953), but also played for the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1953 and 1958, and the Cleveland Indians in 1958. Some of his career highlights include:

1951: Kelly had a standout rookie season with a 7-4 record and a 4.66 ERA. He faced 534 batters across 123.2 innings of work, recorded 48 strikeouts, and faced-off against dozens of Hall of Fame hitters — including Jackie Robinson, who stood in the batter's box twelve times versus Kelly in '51, and never recorded a single hit.

1952: Kelly posted a 4-9 record, but lowered his earned run average to 3.59. He pitched the last three complete games of his big league career, and recorded two shutouts, the last being on the last day he took the mound in '52.

1953: Kelly split the season between the Cubs and the Redlegs, finishing with a combined 1-3 record and a 5.40 ERA. The Cubs had moved Kelly to the bullpen in '53, where he was summoned fourteen times, finishing-off six games, but traded him mid-season to get another starting pitcher (Bubba Church) for their rotation.

1958: Kelly made a brief return to the majors with the Redlegs and Indians, due to a 24-11 record in the minors with the 1957 Nashville Volunteers, but struggled with a 5.16 ERA, and was sent back down to the minor leagues.

After the majors, Kelly continued to play in the minor leagues and eventually transitioned into coaching. He was known for being the last surviving Major Leaguer managed by Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch. On Wednesday, November 27, 2024, Bob Kelly died in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He was 97-years-old.