Ken Boyer | Memories of Ken Boyer

This page is for baseball fans from the '50s and '60s who actually saw Ken Boyer play, either for the Cardinals, Mets, White Sox, or Dodgers, to share their memories of him.

What do you remember? Do you recall any great fielding plays he made at third base? Or a great day he had at the plate? Did you ever get the opportunity to meet him or get an autograph in person?

Do you feel Ken Boyer had the kind of career that warranted his induction into the Hall of Fame?

Please send your memories here!

I remember going to my first game at old Busch Stadium.

I was 10 years old and just getting interested in baseball from listening to my dad. He was huge Cardinals fan. I remember just staring at all the larger than life figures- Lou Brock, Bob Gibson and Ken Boyer just to name a few. I remember listening to the game when Ken hit the grand slam in the 64 World Series and it was then I became a baseball fan forever!!

-- Bill Vogt, August 5, 2008

Huge Ken Boyer fan. When I was about 11, I dreamed of owning the Ken Boyer Rawlings 6 fingered Trapeze Glove. Our father owned a Western Auto Store in Southern Illinois and I would work in the store after school and each day I would try on the glove, go thru a couple fielding motions and hope Dad would recognize my desire to have that glove (and hide the glove behind all other gloves when returning it to the shelf). The hiding strategy worked for weeks but then the day I saw the local Boyer family walk in the store looking for baseball gloves I knew my dream was over. That was tough to get over.

Now with children of our own with financial means I continue to hope they will recognize my Ken Boyer Trapeze desire and gift me with an antique glove. Somehow, buying it for myself just would not provide the same enjoyment. #14's grand slam in the '64 World Series was a realized dream that will stay with me forever. I was in 7th grade that year and teachers allowed us to listen to the game during classes with our transistor radios and an ear phone. Great memories. The smell of leather and moth balls (we had wool uniforms) instantly transport me back to the exciting days of Little League baseball.

--D. Caldwell, July 18, 2008

What I remember about Ken Boyer was that the St. Louis fans often booed him in spite of his accomplishments. He gave the appearance of being lazy. He was not actually lazy but made what was difficult look easy. I remember that particularly about his fielding. Boyer played third base and often played inside the bag towards home plate. He was great at snatching up hot grounders and with his great arm threw runners out easily at first base.

Boyer was not a speedster on the bases and probably he should have ran out ground balls a little harder. On the other hand, it is a long season and he was probably just trying to conserve his strength.

Boyer was a very consistent hitter and he also hit for power. He was always around .300 with about 25-30 home runs per year and around 100 RBI's.

It could be that he was overshadowed by some of the players he was playing around, but I thought he was a very good player and very consistent.

I grew up in St. Louis and saw Boyer play very often.

-- H. Toder, November 10, 2007

I was 10 years old when I became a big baseball fan in 1963. I lived two blocks from Yankee Stadium, but my father said he was a St. Louis Cardinals fan. I followed the team and Ken Boyer became my baseball idol.

To make a long story short, I followed his remaining career religiously and when he was traded to the Mets, I became a Mets fan and have been (ever) since.

The memory I would like to share is as follows. We all remember the grand slam home run in the 1964 World Series he hit off of Al Downing into the left field stands. I saw it on TV.

I never got to see Ken in person until he played for the White Sox. It was a double header. If I remember, Ken played in the second game. I was in the right field grand stand. Darned if Ken didn’t hit a home run into the same left field stands almost in the same spot. It was a memory I will never forget.

-- Fred Mattson, August 9, 2006

Kevin, I had the chance to check out your website, excellent stuff...I hope you continue on your book project about Boyer, I think it would sell pretty well in the St. Louis area, although I don't have the slightest idea of what a publisher expectation for sales of a bio of that type is.

Some random Boyer thoughts:

He was the named team Captain in just his 4th season, when by longevity, ability and respect, that honor should have been Musial's. I think it isn't a reflection against Stan, but just how Boyer's leadership ability was recognized by the Cardinals.

Boyer had a bad cigarette habit, supposedly 4-5 packs a day, no doubt the major factor in his early death [age 51] from lung cancer. I wonder how much it factored in his dramatic career decline after his MVP season of 64?

If you can, check out the DVD of the '64 World Series. In game 1, Boyer makes an incredible play, grabbing a shot down the 3B line, then wheeling around and throwing out the runner [Tresh?] by an eyelash. Similar to the play Brooks Robinson made on Lee May in '70 World Series.

Heard this on a Cards broadcast this week, in 1959 Boyer hit his 3rd inside the park home run for the season on this date, June something.

Heard Mike Shannon, the Cards broadcaster and Ken's teammate telling this story that Boyer told him. in 1968, when he was wrapping up his career with LA, someone from the team, maybe Alston or Al Campanis asked him if he was going to play another season. Boyer said no, he was ready to retire. They asked him to stay on, because they were bringing up some talented players from the minors like Garvey, Lopes, Cey, Russell and they specifically wanted Boyer to teach them how to walk, talk and act like big leaguers. Boyer told them he would be happy to stay on as a coach, but wanted to retire because he just couldn't play worth a damn anymore. The Dodgers knew that too, but told Boyer that wanted him to stay with the team as a player, because the young wouldn't pay as much attention to him if he was a coach.

In Whitey Herzog's bio, he said that in 1966, when he was the Mets third base coach and Boyer was playing for them, he and Boyer shared an apartment with Maris and Clete Boyer, who were playing for the Yankees. Evidently the teams were never both in town at the same time. Could you possibly imagine that happening today, with the salaries ML players pull down? Also, Herzog ended up replacing Boyer as Cardinal manager in 1980, after Kenny was canned.

Got Boyer's autograph when I was a kid, at the St. Louis airport, along with Musial, Schoendienst, Gibson, Ernie Broglio, Bill White, Javier, on my little Rawlings glove. Searched high and low for the damn thing when my parents finally moved out of the house I grew up in and of course couldn't find it.

Boyer was a terrific player, still beloved in St. Louis.