Kent Tekulve Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Kent Tekulve
This article was written by Bob Hurte and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research

At the Pirates’ minor league pitching camp in 1970, Harding Peterson, then the team’s minor league director, told two pitching prospects to abandon their sidearm pitching delivery. Fortunately neither listened, as each would become a Pirate World Series hero, with Bruce Kison starring in 1971 and Kent Tekulve in 1979 with the “We are Family” champs. During off-season banquets, Tekulve said, “That’s how smart you need to be as the general manager of a World Series champion.”

Kenton Charles Tekulve was born on March 5, 1947, in Cincinnati to Edna and Henry Tekulve, and his younger brother Jerry came along a few years later. Kent was named after a used car dealer his parents patronized and claims, “I might be the only major leaguer ever named after a used car dealer!”

Like many other boys across America, Tekulve’s first exposure to baseball was playing catch with his father. His dad pitched in the semi-pro leagues throughout Ohio and shared his love of baseball with his oldest son.