Ron Kittle

Kittle maintained his home run power, but after 1983 his batting average declined and his strikeouts increased. Kittle left the White Sox after 1986 and played part of 1986 and all of 1987 with the New York Yankees. Kittle then played 1988 with the Indians. He briefly returned again to the White Sox in 1990, sharing playing time at first base with Carlos Martínez.^[1] He batted .245 with 16 homers and 43 RBI but struck out 77 times in 277 at-bats through the first four months of that season.^[2]

Kittle was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles from the White Sox for Phil Bradley on July 30, 1990.^[2] He was resentful of the trade which brought forth the possibility of Frank Thomas being promoted from the minors.^[1] In need of a right-handed power hitter, the Orioles received a player with a $550,000 salary as opposed to the $1.15 million that Bradley was earning. Baltimore general manager Roland Hemond was criticized by the Daily Press for bringing on too many ex-White Sox like Kittle, Greg Walker, Kevin Hickey, Tim Hulett and Dave Gallagher.^[3] He became a free agent again in the off-season when the Orioles, who had earlier signed Dwight Evans, elected not to exercise the option on his contract on December 15, 1990.^[4]

He returned to the White Sox again and finished his career in Chicago in 1991. Kittle appeared in 843 games over the course of his 10–year MLB career. He recorded 176 home runs and 460 runs batted in.^[5]

Managerial career

In 1998, Kittle was hired as the first manager of the non-affiliated minor league

Kittle's memoirs, Ron Kittle's Tales from the White Sox Dugout, was published in 2005. Co-written with Bob Logan, who also co-wrote Michael Jordan's book Come Fly with Me, the book features anecdotes from Kittle's time as a major leaguer, mostly with the White Sox.^{[citation needed]}

Kittle builds custom collectible benches out of baseballs, bats and bases. He also works in public relations for the White Sox.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Ron Kittle's website
• Ron Kittle's Celebrity Annual Golf Outing website