Growing up a Holtzman in ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ Jewish community — which is as tight knit as lace on a Rawlings — Doug Holtzman routinely heard stories about his uncle, including one particular yarn more than once.
“People would say, ‘I hit a foul ball off him one time.’ Doug said. “Not a hit — a foul ball. ‘I made contact!’ They were proud of that!â€
Ken Holtzman was a ºüÀêÊÓƵ star well before he became a Major League Baseball All-Star. From a young age, he dominated as a pitcher, even though he was so short “he had to get on a stand (to be seen by the congregation) to get Bar Mitzvahed,†said his brother, Bob.
Kenneth Dale Holtzman, 78, died Sunday night. He was battling heart issues and had been hospitalized for three weeks. A brilliant lefty from University City, Ken Holtzman threw two no-hitters for the Chicago Cubs, made two All-Star teams and won three World Series with the Oakland Athletics — including in 1973, when he was the starting and winning pitcher in Game 7.
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Locally, this was a loss of a legend — Ken Holtzman was, if you will, ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ Sandy Koufax.
“I had guys send me texts today, guys I haven’t heard from for years,†said Ron Zetcher, who grew up in University City. “And they were just devastated.â€
In the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Jewish community, everybody seems to know everybody — and if they don’t know you, they know your dad or your cousin or your cantor. And everyone seems connected to Kenny Holtzman. Either you grew up with him or played ball with or against him or knew his family or, at minimum, looked up to him because he was one of the few fellows in the middle of the ultimate Venn Diagram: Jewish ºüÀêÊÓƵans to pitch in the big leagues.
He was their guy.
“ºüÀêÊÓƵ is a town where a lot of people live their whole life,†Doug Holtzman said. “You know how the Jewish community is — he was kind of everybody’s hero. ... Everybody will tell stories about him.â€
Ken Holtzman was the great Jewish pitcher of his era — a starter, he pitched in 15 MLB seasons from 1965 to 1979 with a 3.49 ERA. In fact, he has the distinction of being the winningest Jewish pitcher in major league history (with 174). Koufax, who pitched 12 seasons, won 165.
The two even met once in 1966 — Holtzman’s first full season and Koufax’s last.
Both men sat out the Sept. 24 Cubs-Dodgers game because it was Yom Kippur — Holtzman also wouldn’t pitch on the high holy day, also changing his starting day during a World Series. The two faced off the next day.
Holtzman carried a no-hitter into the ninth.
“My dad and I were sitting in the third or fourth row at Wrigley Field,†Bob Holtzman said. “In the fifth inning, I told him I had to get up and go to the bathroom. He wouldn’t let me get up. I would’ve jinxed it!â€
Alas, Ken Holtzman allowed two hits in the ninth but still won the game, 2-1.
Some of his greatest pitching, however, came on the blacktop behind Jackson Park Elementary School.
Zetcher remembers a “tiny†9-year-old showing up on a bike. Zetcher and his buddies were around 15 — they were playing a version of cork ball with a shaved tennis ball. Young Kenny Holtzman asked to play.
“We laughed at him!†Zetcher said of the request. “But we finally said, ‘Yeah, let him play, what the hell.’ Well, he had a damn curveball with that shaved tennis ball — and there wasn’t a guy who could hit him! It was unbelievable. ... He just had a gift from the time he was little. … In the Khoury League, some of my friends were old enough then to umpire. And they said, ‘We just got behind the plate and it was, ‘Strike three! Strike three!’
“When we grew up in U. City, it was all Jewish kids. I mean, if there was a kid who wasn’t Jewish there, it was an oddity. ... Any kid in those days went to Hamburger Heaven. That’s where we used to hang out. It was the farthest east end of Heman Park (in University City). And if you mentioned baseball, you’d hear about Kenny.â€
Ken Holtzman grew up on Dorset Avenue — same street as Sandy Pomerantz, a local basketball legend — and Holtzman ultimately led U. City to a state baseball title.
He played college ball at Illinois and was drafted in the fourth round by the Cubs in 1965. That season, on Sept. 4, Holtzman made his big league debut for Chicago — at age 19.
“He lived every kid’s dream,†Bob said.
Holtzman threw the two no-hitters for Chicago. He was traded, for Rick Monday, to Oakland before the 1972 season.
He pitched four seasons for the A’s, with win totals of 19, 21, 19 and 18.
In 1972, he made his first All-Star team and finished with a 19-11 record and a 2.51 ERA. The A’s won their first of three consecutive World Series in 1972. Holtzman went 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in two Series starts.
An All-Star again the following year, Holtzman was 21-13 with a 2.97 ERA. He won Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Mets. And he won Game 7, allowing a lone run in 5â…“ innings.
In 1974, Holtzman won 19 games but also lost 17, finishing with a 3.07 ERA. In the Fall Classic, he thrived again, going 1-0 in two starts with a 1.50 ERA.
Holtzman’s last year with Oakland was 1975, when he went 18-14 with a 3.14 ERA.
He was traded to Baltimore in the offseason, and from 1976 to 1979, the lefty pitched for the Orioles, Yankees and Cubs again.
“It was always being the Jewish pitcher,†his brother said. “To me, that’s what he’s famous for.â€
And on Monday night, the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals fittingly played in, of all cities, Oakland. Before the game there was a moment of silence for the late, great lefty.