Harold Patrick Kelly (July 30, 1944 – October 2, 2005) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1967 to 1981 with the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians. He batted and threw left-handed. His brother, Leroy, was a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kelly was an "All Public" baseball player at Simon Gratz High School, honored with the Cliveden Award as Philadelphia's finest prep school athlete in 1962. Signed by the Twins that year, he spent the next several seasons in the minor leagues, debuting with the Twins in 1967. He played a handful of games for them in 1968, then was selected in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft by the Royals, becoming an everyday player over the next two years with the fledgling franchise. Traded to the White Sox before the 1971 season, he spent part of 1971 in the minor leagues but got more playing time as a right fielder and designated hitter in the following years, reaching the All-Star Game for the only time in his career in 1973. Traded to the Orioles after the 1976 season, he received significant playing time in left field in 1977 and 1978, then served as a bench player the next two years. With a career-high .536 slugging percentage in 1979, Kelly helped the Orioles reach the MLB playoffs, appearing in the World Series, which Baltimore lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games. After one last season with the Indians in 1981, Kelly retired.
After becoming a born-again Christian in 1975, Kelly became very involved in Christian ministry. Under his influence, several of his Oriole teammates became Christians. Following his career, he became an ordained minister, serving at ministries in Baltimore and Cleveland until his death of a heart attack in 2005.
Early life Harold Patrick Kelly was born on July 30, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to parents Orvin and Argie Kelly. His parents had originally lived in South Carolina, but they had moved to the Nicetown neighborhood of northern Philadelphia in the 1920s, when Orvin was hired by a steel company. Pat was one of nine children, though he never met two of his siblings who died in 1940 because of rheumatic fever. He recalled, "My father worked for $12 a week to serve nine kids and put food on the table. He would wake up at four in the morning and it would be freezing cold outside. He would go in a pickup truck with no heat some 30 miles and work all day, but he went with God in his heart."
A faithful Baptist family, the Kellys attended Sunday school each week. They were also an athletic family; Leroy, Pat's older brother by two years and the closest in age to him, succeeded Jim Brown as the Cleveland Browns primary running back and was eventually inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Pat and Leroy competed all the time, which Pat credited for helping instill in him a competitive nature. He went to baseball games at Connie Mack Stadium growing up, and his favorite ballplayer was Jackie Robinson.
Kelly attended Simon Gratz High School, graduating in 1962. He was part of the "All Public" teams in both baseball and football. As a senior, he was honored with the Cliveden Award, presented to the finest Philadelphia prep school athlete. Though he would be an outfielder in the major leagues, Kelly was used as a pitcher in high school. After allowing home runs, he would often display a bad attitude, but the reprimands of coach Pete Lorenc eventually helped him overcome the habit. "When you played for him, the first thing you learned was discipline," Kelly said, observing its importance both in hitting and keeping a good attitude.
Minor leagues (1963–66) On September 11, 1962, Kelly signed his first professional baseball contract with the Minnesota Twins, who decided to use him as an outfielder. He split the 1963 season with the Erie Sailors of the Class A New York-Penn League and the Orlando Twins of the Class A Florida State League. Having grown up in Philadelphia, Kelly, who was black, was unused to dealing with segregation. At Orlando, though, he and his black teammates had to stay at a different hotel from the white players on the team. "I know those times were hard, but what always kept me going was what Jackie Robinson went through," he later recalled. In 69 games with Erie, he batted .283 with 50 runs scored, 70 hits, four home runs, and 30 runs batted in (RBI). With Orlando in 49 games, he batted .242 with 27 runs scored, 28 hits, no home runs, and 26 RBI.
Kelly spent most of 1964 with the Wisconsin Rapids Twins of the Class A Midwest League. In 104 games, he ranked among the league leaders with a .357 batting average (third, behind Dave May's .368 and Ed Moxey's .362), 138 hits (third, behind May's 166 and John Matias's 151), 26 doubles (tied with May, Eusebio Rosas, and David Burge for the league lead), 16 home runs (third, behind Rene Lachemann's 24 and Chuck Gross's 18), and 70 RBI (eighth). He also played 18 games with the Wilson Tobs of the Class A Carolina League, batting .245 with eight runs scored, 12 hits, no home runs, and eight RBI.
In 1965, Kelly spent the whole season with Wilson. He played 144 games, batting .283 with 138 hits, four home runs, and 52 RBI. Kelly ranked fifth in the league with 27 stolen bases (in 32 attempts), and his 101 runs scored were topped only by Sam Thompson's 121.
Kelly expected a promotion to the Class AA Charlotte Hornets of the Southern League in 1966; thus, he was very disappointed when he found out the Twins planned to send him back to Wilson. "When I found out I didn’t make the Charlotte team, I packed up my Pontiac LeMans and told them I was leaving camp if they did not put me on the Charlotte roster by noon,” Kelly recalled. “And they agreed." The ballplayer went on to have the second-highest batting average (.321) in the league that year, behind only Johnnie Fenderson's .324. He also finished second to Thompson in steals, with 52 as opposed to Thompson's 60. In 113 games, Kelly scored 74 runs, recorded 126 hits, had three home runs, and batted in 55 runs.
Minnesota Twins (1967–68) In 1967, Kelly moved up to Class AAA, spending most of the year with the Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). He played 65 games for them, batting .286 with 42 runs scored, 70 hits, no home runs, 15 RBI, and 19 stolen bases. That September, he reached the major leagues for the first time, promoted by the Twins when rosters expanded. His first game came on September 6, when he pinch-ran for Frank Kostro in a 3–2 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Seven of the eight games he played were as a pinch runner; he pinch hit in one other game, striking out against Bob Humphreys in his only at bat of the season. After the 1967 season, he played some games for the Twins affiliate in the Florida Instructional League as well.
Kelly spent most of the 1968 season in Denver. In 108 games, he had 70 runs scored, 121 hits, three home runs, and 31 RBI. Kelly finished third in the league with a .306 batting average (topped only by Jim Hicks's .366 and José Herrera's .311), and he led the league with 38 stolen bases. That September, he was again called up by Minnesota. Though he only appeared in 12 games this year, he received more playing time, as he started in the outfield for nine of them. On September 23, he hit his first major league home run, coming against Clyde Wright in a 3–0 victory over the California Angels. With the Twins in 1968, he had four hits in 35 at bats. After the season, he went to Venezuela to play winter baseball. Originally, he was going to play for the Leones del Caracas with Twins teammate César Tovar, but because the Leones already had enough outfielders, he played for the Navegantes del Magallanes instead. In 60 games, he batted .342 with 11 home runs and 45 RBI. He and Cito Gaston were some of the first foreign stars for the team as they helped the Navegantes to reach the first round of the playoffs.
Kansas City Royals (1969–70) While Kelly was in Venezuela, the Kansas City Royals selected him in the fourth round of the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft. His playing time increased in 1969, as he started 106 games in the outfield: 60 as a right fielder, 44 as a center fielder, and two as a left fielder. "He’s tremendously improved with the bat," opined manager Joe Gordon. "He’s changed his whole style of attacking the ball. . .he has a quick bat, a good level swing and has no fear at the plate. He’ll hit all kinds of pitching."Lew Ferguson, “Pat Kelly Knows Way Around Bases,” Associated Press, August 27, 1969. In 112 games (417 at bats), Kelly batted .264 with 61 runs scored, 110 hits, eight home runs, and 32 RBI. He stole a career-high 40 bases in 53 attempts. After the year, the Royals sent him to their instructional league affiliate to refine his hitting, bunting, and fielding technique.
Kelly began 1970 as the Royals starting right fielder. He seemed to be losing the position to Joe Keough in June, as Keough started 12 straight games there beginning June 16 while Kelly was used mainly as a pinch hitter during that stretch. After Keough broke his leg on June 28, Kelly served as the starting right fielder again for the rest of the year. On September 11, against the Oakland Athletics, his single with two outs in the eighth inning spoiled a no hitter by Vida Blue, who went on to complete one 10 days later. In 136 games (452 at bats), Kelly batted .235 with 56 runs scored, 106 hits, six home runs, and 38 RBI. He stole 34 bases in 50 attempts.
Chicago White Sox (1971–76) Kelly was traded along with Don O'Riley from the Royals to the Chicago White Sox for Matias and Gail Hopkins on October 13, 1970."Four‐Player Trade Made By White Sox and Royals," The Associated Press (AP), Tuesday, October 13, 1970. Retrieved September 9, 2022. Before he played a game for the White Sox, Kelly spent the 1970–71 offseason in Venezuela with the Tiburones de La Guaira. He batted .365 with six home runs in 27 games, then batted .405 in the postseason as the Tiburones won the league championship. Kelly was less successful in spring training with the White Sox, as he ran into a fence and hurt his right knee, struggled to hit, and was sent to the minor leagues to begin the season. "I was a little upset. . . no, I guess I was a great deal upset," Kelly recalled three years later. "But I talked to my brother and finally got myself together again." In 75 games (301 at bats) with the PCL's Tucson Toros, Kelly batted .355 with 71 runs scored, 107 hits, six home runs, 43 RBI, and 15 stolen bases in 19 tries. Called up by the White Sox in June, Kelly never played a game in the minor leagues again. He had established himself in the major leagues, though for the rest of his career, he was mainly used against right-handed pitching. In 67 games (213 at bats) for the White Sox, he batted .291 with 32 runs scored, 62 hits, three home runs, 22 RBI, and 14 stolen bases in 23 attempts. After the season, he played for the Tiburones again, hitting no home runs but batting .400 as La Guira reached the final round of the playoffs.