Ken Reitz

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Ken Reitz (born Kenneth John Reitz on June 24, 1951 in San Francisco, California) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball.

A right-handed hitter, Reitz played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1972-75, 1977-80), San Francisco Giants (1976), Chicago Cubs (1981) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1982).

Known as the "Zamboni" for his skill at scooping up ground balls on the artificial turf of Busch Memorial Stadium, Reitz, in his rookie season of 1973, replaced Joe Torre as the Cardinals’ starting third baseman. In both 1973 and 1974, he led all National League third basemen in fielding percentage. In 1975 he won a Gold Glove Award at the position, breaking Doug Rader’s streak of five consecutive Gold Gloves. In 1977 he set a National League record by committing only nine errors; he bettered that record by committing only eight in 1980. In this latter year, he also made his only All-Star appearance, where he started at third base in place of Mike Schmidt (who, after Reitz's Gold Glove season of 1975, would win the next nine).

Offensively, while Reitz was not a flashy hitter, he was a consistent one, his hitting improving during his first few seasons. After batting .235 during his rookie season he batted below .250 only once over the next seven seasons. In each of his first five full seasons he increased his run batted in production: 42 in 1973, 54 in 1974, 63 in 1975, 66 in 1976 (his only season with his hometown Giants) and 79 in 1977. Reitz also established a career-high in home runs in 1977 with 17—the same number he had hit in his previous three seasons total.

In his career, Reitz batted .260 with 68 home runs and 548 RBIs in 1344 games played.