Ken Phelps

Ken Phelps was a baseball player, who played primarily with the Seattle Mariners.

Phelps was born August 6, 1954 in Seattle, Washington. After attending Seattle's Ingraham High School and Arizona State University, the lefty-hitting first baseman was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 15th round of the 1976 baseball amateur draft. Phelps became a good minor league hitter, clubbing a combined 43 HR from 1980-81 for Kansas City's Omaha affiliate in the American Association. Nonetheless, the Royals traded him to the Montreal Expos in the 1981-82 offseason for pitcher Grant Jackson. Phelps proceeded to demolish the American Association 1982, hitting .333 with 46 homeruns and 141 RBI for Montreal's Wichita affiliate. However, the Expos still saw fit to give him only eight major league at-bats that year. That gave him a grand total of 32 in his career. There was no room on a very talented Montreal roster for Phelps to break in. Phelps' hometown club, Seattle, purchased him from the Expos during the 1982-83 offseason.

Phelps, a mediocre defensive player, was better suited to play with Seattle in the American League, as he could serve as the designated hitter there. The pitiful Mariners franchise also had plenty of room for advancement. Phelps split time in 1983 between Seattle and its Pacific Coast League affiliate in Salt Lake City. Again, he destroyed minor league pitching (.341 with 24 HR and 82 RBI in 74 games), but did not play much in the majors. In 1984, he played a bit more for Seattle, clobbering 24 HR in only 290 at-bats. And yet, the Mariners still refused to give him playing time. He received a mere 116 major league at-bats in 1985.

Finally, in 1986, at the age of 31, Phelps got into the major league lineup on a more-or-less regular basis. Although he was normally platooned against left-handed pitchers, Phelps still clocked 51 HR from 1986-87. It was at this time that Phelps' career travails inspired author Bill James to create the "Ken Phelps All-Star" team. As James described it:

Ken Phelpses are just available; if you want one, all you have to do is ask. They are players whose real limitations are exaggerated by baseball insiders, players who get stuck with a label -- the label of their limits, the label the things they can't do -- while those that they can do are overlooked... The Ken Phelps All-Stars [are] a whole teamful of guys who are wearing labels, but who nonetheless can play major-league baseball, and will prove it if they ever get the chance.^[1]

Phelps banged 14 more homeruns in half a season in 1988. Impressed by his continued onslaught, George Steinbrenner and his New York Yankees made a trade that the Yankee franchise would soon regret, shipping youngster Jay Buhner to Seattle in exchange for the now aging slugger. The trade made little sense to begin with for the Yankees, who already had Don Mattingly and Jack Clark to play first base and DH. It got even worse when Phelps' production quickly screeched to a halt, while Buhner went on to become an All-Star. A Seinfeld episode depicted Yankee fan Frank Costanza as more upset about the Buhner trade than about the death of his own son George. Phelps only hit 17 homeruns for the Yankees before finishing his career with the Oakland A's and Cleveland Indians.

Phelps' career .239 batting average hides the things that, as James pointed out, he could do. Thanks to outstanding power and strike zone judgment, his career OPS is an excellent 854. Phelps hit 123 homeruns in 1854 career at-bats, one of the very best ratios in major league history.

Ken Phelps at baseball-reference.com

Ken Phelps at The Baseball Cube

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