At first glance, Kenneth Douglas Frailing's lifetime major league statistics are not that impressive. Starting in 1972, the left-hander compiled a 10-16 lifetime mark and a 3.96 ERA in 116 games in parts of two seasons for the Chicago White Sox and three years with the Chicago Cubs.
After pitching in relief in 1972 and 1973 with the White Sox, Frailing became a spot starter and reliever for the crosstown Cubs. His best season came in 1974 when he pitched in 55 games-second high to rookie relief pitcher Oscar Zamaro's 56 games). Ken started 16 times and posted a 6-9 record with a 3.89 ERA. With a team ERA of 4.28, Chicago finished last in the six-team National League East Division with a 66-96 record.
But Frailing's promising career was cut short. Bothered by a shoulder problem during 1975, he struggled in the first half of the '76 season. After six appearances for the Cubs and 10 games with Wichita of the American Association, Ken decided to have surgery.
Frailing's shoulder tendon operation effectively ended his career at age 28. He rehabbed the arm in 1977. After serving as a White Sox player-coach at Knoxville of the Southern Association in 1978, Ken spent two seasons as the roving minor league pitching instructor for the Kansa City Royals. Still, due the injury and surgery, he had to give up the game he loved--at an age when many big leaguers enter their prime.
Born and raised in Marion, Wisconsin, a small town about 120 miles north of Madison, Ken grew up loving sports, particularly baseball.
In a 2001 interview, Frailing recalled that most of the kids he knew had limited choices for entertainment. As a result, they would get together and play ball:
"Baseball was a big deal at Marion High. But considering our cool weather, in a good year we'd get in maybe 20 games. But we also had American Legion ball. There would be nights that we would draw 800 people in a town of 1,000 to a game.
"I was a pitcher in high school, but I played the outfield, too."
The former big leaguer is modest. John Bartelt, who coached Marion High's baseball team for 41 years, said, "Ken Frailing was the most tremendous athlete I ever coached. Ken was pleasant, conscientious, hard-working, talented-the type of kid you want to coach."
A standout basketball player who scored exactly 1,000 points in high school, Ken was an excellent left-handed batter who played the outfield while not hurling. He pitched four no-hitters for Marion, including his first game as a freshman. During his senior year the lefty fashioned a 13-0 mark and a 0.17 ERA while helping his team finish unbeaten at 16-0.
The White Sox, after drafting Frailing in the fifth round, tried to sign him the day after he finished playing in the semi-finals of the state tournament. Thanks to Coach Bartelt's advice, Ken held out a month-which caused the White Sox to offer a sizeable bonus.
"To play pro baseball was my dream," Ken recollected. "I grew up following the Milwaukee Braves. So I got to see a couple games a year in Milwaukee, and that was really exciting. Somebody's parents would take us. We'd go early when the gates opened, and we'd get to see the clubs take batting practice. We'd be in the bleachers and get the home run balls hit during batting practice. I thought that was the greatest thing!
"Milwaukee had some great players. The Braves had pitchers like Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. But they had hitters like Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Billy Bruton, Joe Adcock, Del Crandall, a bunch of people who could really hit the ball."
When Ken did sign, the White Sox agreed to pay for his college and gave him a $25,000 bonus. He made $500 a month in his first season. But the southpaw spent seven long years working his way up through the minors.
Pitching for the last-place Sarasota White Sox in the Gulf Coast League in 1966, Ken made nine starts and one relief appearance, finishing with a 1-5 record and a 4.88 ERA. He also pitched, and lost, one game at Fox Cities in the Midwest League.
Like many young hurlers, Frailing started out as a power pitcher, relaying mainly on his sinking fastball. But he learned that his breaking ball was his best "out" pitch.
The 6'0" 195-pound lefty spent two full years as a starter in the Midwest League. At Appleton in 1967, when his team took first place, and in 1968, when the Foxes finished sixth, Frailing came up with ledgers of 4-7 with a 2.55 ERA and 5-3 with a 3.30 ERA.
Starting all 15 of his games for Lynchburg, a club that finished last in the Carolina League's West Division in 1969, Ken enjoyed his first winning season since high school. He was 5-4 with an ERA of 3.12. He also struck out 48 while walking 29.
Promoted to Mobile of the double-A Southern League in 1970, the sinkerballing southpaw made 22 starts. Hurling for a club that finished seventh in an eight-team circuit, Ken compiled a 4-9 mark with a 2.71 ERA.
The Wisconsin native toiled all of 1971 and most of 1972 for Tucson of the triple-A Pacific Coast League. Under the dry heat of the Arizona summer, he produced marks of 6-9 and 8-10. Both seasons the Toros had losing records, and both years the club finished last in the four-team South Division.
"During my two seasons in Tucson," Frailing explained, "it was so dry they couldn't keep the field soft enough to play. I was fastball-sinkerball and slider pitcher, but Tucson is too dry for that.
"I threw the fastball, which was a sinkerball, and I threw the breaking ball, which was usually a slider. With so little humidity, your breaking ball won't break as much. Your fastball doesn't sink as well either. There would be nights we'd give up 10 or 11 hits. Maybe eight of them would be ground ball base hits-because the ground was so hard.
"As a sinkerball pitcher, you usually get a lot of ground balls. But for me, I had to finesse the hitters, rather than challenge them, because you needed to get guys out. But being a sinkerball pitcher is not conducive to finesse."
Still, the White Sox called the hard-throwing Frailing to the majors in September 1972. He pitched three innings in four games, winning once.
What was it like to pitch in the minors and the majors during his era?
"I remember the practical jokes we used to pull," Frailing explained. "It was fun stuff! Also, there were times in the minor leagues you just had to laugh about. When I played at Iowa, we'd pull into towns with hotels that had no air conditioning. It was hot.
"You'd be on the fourth floor, put your suitcase down on the bed, and dust would come up, because nobody had been staying there. At the end of the hall would be a rope with knots in it. That was the fire escape! You'd lay there at night with the window open and a wet towel on your body, trying to cool off. Maybe you'd drop off to sleep by two o'clock in the morning.
"We got $3 a day meal money. We'd sit around and say, 'Where are we going to go tonight? Are we going to get pizza and a pitcher of Pepsi between us?'
"It was that way in all the minor leagues. You went from class A to the high-A league in, say, Lynchburg, Virginia, where I pitched in 1969. You'd go from $500 a month to $650 a month. Double-A was a little more. Triple-A was about $900 a month.
"When you got to the big leagues, it was a huge difference. I made it with Chicago in 1972. The meal money, $25 a day, together with the money for washing our clothes was $350 a week. That was more than we made for playing a month in the minors. We were just happy to be there."
Talking about the first game he pitched, Frailing said, "I got called up at the end of August, and I flew into New York. We stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria, which was incredible. I was up half the night, just checking to make sure I was really there. The next day, September 1, we took the subway to Yankee Stadium.
"I was on the field before the Yankees arrived. I put the uniform on and I walked out there. The first time you walk into Yankee Stadium, that was before they remodeled it, they still had those monuments out there in center. I was thinking, 'Babe Ruth played here. Mickey Mantle played here.'
"It was an incredible feeling being in the big leagues and being at Yankee Stadium.
"Chuck Tanner was our manager. He said, 'We like the rookies to get their feet wet by coming in for relief.' It was a Friday night game, and I was sitting in the bullpen.
"It was one of those things where you're hoping your pitcher doesn't do so well, so you can get in the game. Sure enough, the phone rings and Tanner wants me to warm up. I threw about three pitches and I was ready. That's how 'pumped' I was!
"They had a scare and got through it. The next inning I was up and throwing again. Tanner called for me. In those days, a guy came out in a car and brought you in from the bullpen and let you off at the first base dugout. I had my warmup jacket over my arm.
"I got out of the car, slammed the door, took two steps, and my arm was caught. I had to get the door open and pull the sleeve out. I knew the guys in the dugout were laughing. I walked out to the mound and Chuck Tanner was standing there, 'Go get 'em, kid.'
"Somehow I got out of that first inning without allowing any runs. When I got to the dugout, my jersey was soaking wet. It was the adrenalin rush, you know.
"I felt like, 'Yeah! All right! I can do this!'
"When I got back to the hotel, I called my folks and told them about that first game. It was really exciting!
"We go back into Chicago the next week. I threw two pitches and got my first win.
"Chuck Tanner called me from the bullpen against the Twins. Rod Carew was the next hitter, and Dick Allen came over from first base. Dick said, 'How are you going to pitch this guy?'
"I said, 'I'll have to go with the catcher. I'm just a rookie here.'
"Dick said, 'I'll tell you what. Start him out with a fastball off the plate. Come back with a slider. He'll be looking for your fastball.'
"Sure enough, I throw a fastball wide for ball one. I followed with a breaking ball, and Carew hit a ground ball to second base for an out.
"I go into the dugout, and Dick said, "Hey, stick with me, kid, and you'll be all right!'
"We're sitting there talking, and the Sox came back and scored five runs in the bottom of the inning. That gave me my first big league win.
"After the game, Dick comes over to my locker and said, "It's really not that easy, kid. It's really not.'
"That's when Dick started telling me, "Look, if you want to know how to pitch to these guys, I'll let you know.'
"I said, 'O.K., O.K.'
"So between innings, I would sit and talk to Dick when he wasn't hitting. Part of it was that in the 1970s, you had a lot of players who were around for a while. Once you got established, it was fine. But it was tough for rookies. I had to learn to throw guys off-speed pitches. Dick helped me with all that."
After his rookie season, Frailing, advised that he needed more game experience, went to Mexico to play winter ball. In one game for Mazatlan, he threw a no-hitter against Tony Oliva's team. Thinking he had a good negotiating position, Frailing met with the White Sox general manager in February.
After saying the club's offer was not enough, Ken recollected, "The general manager said, 'Dick Allen got your raise.'
"Dick went from $100,000 and something to $250,000. Nobody was making $200,000, not even guys like Harmon Killebrew."
Allen, a right-handed batting power hitter who averaged .308 in 1972, won American League MVP honors thanks to leading the league in four categories: 37 home runs, 113 RBI, 99 walks, and a .608 slugging percentage.
Frailing has a wealth of interesting memories from his years in Chicago:
"One time I was called in to pitch at Metropolitan Stadium against the Twins. I came in to face Harmon Killebrew.
"I started him off and got a 1-2 count on him. I threw this breaking ball, which started off the plate but broke right down the middle. The umpire says, 'Ball two.'
"I said, 'Wow.' The next pitch, Killebrew hit a rocket to the third baseman. He just couldn't get out of the way. He caught it, bang, and the inning's over.
"So I'm walking in and the umpire met me by the foul line. I'll never forget it. He said, 'Hey, rook. Who do you think these people pay to see, you pitch or Harmon hit?'"
Laughing, Ken recalled, "I said, 'O.K. I understand.' And that really was true in the sense that guys like Killebrew had earned it."
Frailing spent most of the 1973 season pitching triple-A ball:
"The next season I got cut the last day of spring training. I got sent down to Iowa of the American Association. But it turned out to be a break. My stuff worked at Iowa."
The Wisconsin native proved himself, producing an excellent record of 11-3 with a 2.86 ERA. Still, Chicago shuttled him up and down. Pitching 18 innings for the Chisox in relief, he posted no decisions but fashioned a fine 2.00 ERA.
"I lost my first game that year in Wichita, 1-0. Then I won something like seven or eight in a row. I was on a roll. I pitched nine innings on Thursday night. Then I got called up to the big leagues.
"I was put into the game on Saturday night, and I walked a guy. Then I sat. I'm sitting in the bullpen for two weeks. Then I got sent down for about three weeks, and I was called up in September. I pitched well in September for the Sox."
After the season, Frailing and his wife Diane bought a condo in Sarasota. On December 11, 1973, he was traded to the Cubs along with Steve Stone, Steve Swisher, and Jim Kremmel in return for star third baseman Ron Santo.
The trade turned out to be a good break for Ken's career. The Cubs needed a left-handed starter. He filled the bill, compiling a 6-9 mark with a 3.89 ERA:
"I got an opportunity to pitch for the Cubs. I started off the '74 season really well. We'd have a team meeting before every series. They didn't have any stuff for left-handed starters, so I was on my own. I did what I did best, which was to throw that sinker. I kept throwing my breaking ball over the plate, and things were going good.
"I started, I pitched middle relief, and I pitched short relief. I did a little of everything. I was happy pitching for the Cubs.
"My first time up to bat in the National League, I got a hit off Bill Stoneman. Ernie Banks was the first base coach. He called time and got the ball, put it in his pocket, and gave it to me after the game was over. That was exciting! I hit .240 that year. After that, I started seeing sliders, curve balls, even change-ups. But I liked the challenge of hitting."
Frailing talks little about wins or losses. For him, it was all about being in the big leagues. Naturally he liked pitching for Iowa when his club won first place in 1973. But he really enjoyed his years with the White Sox and the Cubs
Ken also liked being a player-coach for the White Sox with Knoxville of the Southern League in 1978. Tony LaRussa was beginning his managing career with Knoxville that year. Harold Baines, Rusty Kuntz, Dick Dotson, Britt Burns, and other later big leaguers played for Knoxville in 1978.
"Before that, what happened was my arm started bothering me some in 1975. I felt pretty good most of the time. But there were some bad days, too.
"One day in 1975, I was pitching with a runner on second base, and the catcher called for a fastball. I thought I threw a good fastball. The catcher came out and said, 'If you're going to throw a changeup, let me know.'
"I thought, 'What? That's my fastball.'
"Then I threw what I thought was another fastball to the next hitter. He got way out in front and popped it up. Again the catcher wanted to know when I was throwing a change.
"After the inning, my arm started to shake. After a while, that would go away. But when that happened, I wouldn't have any strength left in my arm. It ended up that I needed surgery.
"But in the summer of 1975, I had one really great thrill. Chicago was the closest team to Milwaukee and the All-Star game. They needed someone as a fill-in. I got to go to the game and be part of the program. I have a picture of the NL All-Star team. The guys included Dave Concepcion, Tony Perez, Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Andy Messersmith, Willie Stargell, Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski.
"You talk about stars! I had fun just being there.
"Also, it was Milwaukee, and that was home country for me. You came out the day before, took batting practice, and they put on a home run hitting contest. The Chamber of Commerce took us on a tour of the city. I met Goose Gossage and Bucky Dent, and I had played with them in the Sox organization. We hadn't seen each other since those days."
In 1976, after going 1-2 in six games for the Cubs, Frailing spent a couple of months at Wichita in the American Association. He made eight starts and two relief appearances, posting a 2-3 record with a 4.50 ERA. But the painful days kept increasing.
Midway through the season Ken had surgery to repair a frayed bicep tendon in his pitching shoulder-an operation that cut down on his range of motion. The plan was that it would take 17 months to rehab the arm. After spending all of 1977 on the Disabled List, he was released by the Cubs on Christmas Eve.
In the spring of 1978, Frailing worked out in Sarasota, throwing mainly a knuckleball. He contacted the White Sox, and they gave him a look. Bob Lemon, the manager, told Ken that 10 Sox pitchers had guaranteed contracts. Bob asked Ken to go to double-A as a player-coach to help Tony LaRussa with the pitchers at Knoxville.
There he worked with young pitchers like Dick Dotson and Britt Burns. Following that season, Ken worked in 1979 and 1980 as a roving minor league pitching instructor for Kansas City. After putting 25,000 miles each summer on his car, the former big leaguer went into the insurance business in Sarasota. He also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, an organization that he has served since the mid-1970s.
The left-hander has collected some memorabilia over the years, including his two All-Star bats and several signed baseballs-including a ball signed by Hank Aaron and Roger Maris when they visited Kansas City's spring camp one day in 1979.
Ken remembers the $5 check that he got for signing to be on Topps bubble gum cards in 1974. They also gave him a couple of ball gloves each year.
"It was really a thrill to see yourself on a baseball card for the first time. I got a $500 gift from Topps. Billy Williams, our perennial All-Star, got a $1,500 gift because they used his picture on more than one card. Billy told me that after he got into the Hall of Fame, he made more money signing autographs at card shows than he made in baseball!"
A former star athlete with a good sense of priorities in his life, Ken observed, "I knew that I had to be a relief pitcher to make the big leagues. That was fine. Chicago had good starters in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I knew my spot. I was just happy to be there.
"As for highlights, I'd say that pitching in Yankee Stadium the first time and winning my first game were two good ones. Being on a baseball card was another highlight.
"Another highlight was batting against Nolan Ryan during an exhibition game at Palm Springs, California, in 1974, when Nolan was with the Angels. He struck out seven of the first eight batters. He was incredibly fast.
"Nolan threw the first fastball so hard that I could hear the seams spinning.
"I didn't see it. I turned and said to the ump, 'That sounded like a ball.'
"The ump said, 'It sounded like a strike to me.'
"The second pitch took off and rose, and it tore the web from Ellie Rodriquez's mitt.
"On the third pitch, I swung when Nolan was at the top of his windup.
"I hit the ball all the way to the warning track in right field. After I ran around the bases and came back to the dugout, the guys wanted to know how I got around and pulled the ball. But I wouldn't tell them that Nolan just hit my bat! That was a fun time.
"What I miss when I look back is the camaraderie, the joking with the other guys, the friendships that we made, the fun that we had together. Many of us lived in the same places, we traveled to the ballparks together, and we talked baseball. Today in the bullpen they talk about stocks that they own."
Even though his opportunity to play in the big leagues led to just one full injury-free season, Ken Frailing has no regrets about his baseball career:
"I enjoyed being able to play ball with guys like Dick Allen, Bill Madlock, Rick Monday, and all of the guys on the White Sox and Cubs. We were friends and teammates. It was really a lot of fun to play baseball in the 1960s and the 1970s."
Reflecting on his baseball experiences, Ken observed, "After a while I learned that if I had a bad day at Wrigley Field, I could go by the Children's Hospital on the way home. I would visit kids who diseases like cancer or leukemia. I always came away from those visits with a better perspective on baseball and on life."
Also by Jim Sargent
» Milt Bolling
» Bennie Huffman: Baseball and the Browns in the 1930s
» Hugh Mulcahy: A Phillie "Workhorse"
» Remembering Harvey Riebe: Pursuing the Baseball Dream During World War II and the Forties
» Gene Woodling -- A Champion Outfielder in Baseball's Glory Years
» Wayne Ambler
» Remembering Hal White
» More submissions
Posted August 5, 2002.
BALLPLAYERS | TEAMS | CHRONOLOGY | TODAY | BOOKS | NEWSLETTER | ERRATA | FAQ
