Inductees

On his first day in the big leagues with the Kansas City Royals, Kevin Seitzer was given a locker next to the team’s great closer, Dan Quisenberry.

“I was scared to death. I had never been on the 40-man roster before, so I wasn’t in big-league camp in spring training, and I didn’t really know anybody. I was petrified,” Seitzer said. “But if it wasn’t for Quiz, I don’t know if I would have been able to do what I did. He talked to me and calmed me down.”

Seitzer went on to a tremendous, 12-year career in the big leagues, including from 1986 to 1991 in Kansas City as he kept the Royals contending in the American League. Which is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Seitzer with the Class of 2017.

A third baseman, Seitzer led the American League in hits (207) and plate appearances (725) in 1987, when he was voted to the All-Star Game and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Mark McGwire. His 80 walks that year remain a Royals rookie record.

Seitzer’s .294 career batting average is fifth-best in Royals history, and he ranks 18^th in hits (809). He also helped four Royals teams to at least 82 wins, including the 1989 team that won 92 games and finished seven games back in the AL West of Oakland, the eventual World Series champion.

Call it an impressive run for a guy who thought of baseball, he said, “as something I did to kill time in the summer. I was basketball guy.”

Seitzer was All-State at Lincoln High School in Illinois and then went to Eastern Illinois University, where coach Tom McDevitt transformed his game.

“He pretty much taught me how to hit to the opposite field,” said Seitzer, who helped the program finish as the NCAA Division II Tournament runner-up. “I was a straight pull hitter. And he was anally detailed about how to play the game the right way. We worked on cutoffs, relays, bunt defenses, first-and-third situations. But he would take it to the nth degree.”

“When I got into pro ball,” Seitzer added, “I was more grounded and ready at every level I played at than some of my teammates.”

Still, the fact Seitzer made it the big leagues at all was remarkable, given he was only an 11^th-round draft pick in 1983.

“They didn’t have a lot of money in me,” Seitzer said. “And I was kind of slow moving at first, but then I got to Double-A and Triple-A and the big leagues in the same season (1986).”

His secret?

“I could hit. That was it,” Seitzer said. “I played hard. I knew the game. I ran OK. But I also ended up hurting my arm in the low minors and couldn’t throw.”

He moved to first base and the outfield in the minor leagues but soon found his way back to third base, thanks to improved footwork and angles. At times, he had to cheat on pitches, so he studied hitters and even had special signs with the catcher as to which pitch was to be thrown.

Even better, there was Quiz, the closer on the Royals’ great teams of the late 1970s and 1980s.

“It was a very good environment to come in to,” Seitzer said. “I was a small piece surrounded by a good veteran club who was coming off the World Series and they had had a lot of success. I just wanted to go do my part.”

Seitzer had six hits in an August 1987 game.

“It was kind of a storybook beginning,” he said.

After he had left Kansas City, he played for Milwaukee, Oakland and Cleveland. His last year was 1997, when he helped Cleveland win the AL pennant and also was a de facto hitting coach as a clubhouse veteran. He finished his career with 613 RBI, 75 home runs and 285 doubles.

Seitzer eventually opened Mac-N-Seitz hitting facility with former Royal catcher Mike Macfarlane in Kansas City.

Thanks to the support of his family – wife Beth, sons Brandon and Cam and step-sons Tyler and Nick – he has given back as a big-league hitting coach with the Diamondbacks, Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.

“I used to tell the guys, I stunk a lot in my career just to help you get out of your slump,” Seitzer joked. “But getting to do what I do – helping these guys along and sharing experiences, it’s been great.”