Kevin Seitzer: Tales from the Teepee

The year was 1996, and the Indians were desperate for a veteran bat after they traded Eddie Murray back to Baltimore.

August 31 was the last day to add a player to the post season roster, and John Hart felt he needed a spark to the lineup.  Kevin Seitzer was added from the Milwaukee Brewers for a young outfield prospect named Jeremy Burnitz.

Burnitz did have seven homeruns and 26 RBI while batting .281 in 71 games. This was the first deal of a few more to come when Hart dealt up and coming players for veterans and specialty players (Casey, Giles, Graves).

Kevin Seitzer did have a great month with the Tribe batting .386 with one homerun and 16 RBI in 83 at-bats in September. He also batted .294 and drove in four runs during the ALDS, but the Indians fell to the Orioles in four games.

Terry Pluto wrote in his book, "Our Tribe," wrote this interesting story about Seitzer.

"In 1996, teammate Kevin Seitzer missed a couple of weeks with appendix surgery. When he returned to the team, (Manny) Ramirez was excited to see him back. He came up behind Seitzer and lifted him off the ground, putting his hands around Seitzer's waist.

Seitzer screamed in pain.

Ramirez quickly put him down.

"Manny," said Seitzer. "I just had an operation there."

"Oh," he said. "I thought you had heart surgery."

Our Tribe, Terry Pluto page 66.

Yet another example of Manny being Manny.

Seitzer played as a role player in 1997 participating in 64 games and batting .268 while making the post season roster. He retired after the season, compiling a career batting average of .295.

All Jeremy Burnitz did was have six seasons of 30 plus homeruns and four seasons of 100 plus RBI. These type of deals eventually spelled doom for the Tribe (see 2002-2004).

Seitzer currently runs a baseball training facility in Kansas City with former Royals teammate Mike Macfarlane. I will always remember him as the professional hitter with the weird batting helmet whose last name rhymed with mine.