I’ve seen the picture dozens of times and yet it still haunts me. I came across it while flipping through a 1973 Royals game program. The program had a section titled "The families visit Royals Stadium". Most of the pictures were staged: couples and their children pictured in the locker room, or at the keyboard or the stadium organ or in the Royals front offices. Most are mildly entertaining, what with the outlandish 1970’s clothing styles. This picture is different. It’s not posed in the traditional sense. I’m only guessing, but to me the photo looks like someone in the Royals office realized there was not a photo of one of their biggest stars and hurriedly sent an intern out with a camera to snap a picture. I’ve seen these faces hundreds of times. Since this picture appeared in the game program for the second half of the season, I’m guessing it was taken in mid to late June. Maybe early July. Late June in Kansas City can be hot. July can resemble the gates of hell. The man has the fatigued look of a guy who just spent the last three hours fielding ground balls on 100-degree turf. She’s got the look of a wife who has been to hundreds of games, in all sorts of weather, doing her best to cheer for her man, be attentive to the other wives and girlfriends and trying keep an eye on two toddlers, all in the stifling Kansas City heat. That’s not an easy job. They’re on their way home when the intern stops them and asks for a quick picture. They’re tired but do their best, squinting into the hot summer sun. Kimberly holds onto her father’s hand while her older sister Heather waves a Royals pennant. This was Fred and Jerri Patek’s like back in the good old days, when Fred was a three-time American League All-Star and one of the best shortstops in the game. That all changed on July 21, 1992 when Kim was badly injured in a one car accident in St. Joseph, Missouri. The accident left Kim a quadriplegic and threw the Patek’s lives into turmoil. The Baseball Assistance Team (BAT) gave what support they could. Former teammates like Darrell Porter, Dennis Leonard and George Brett helped raise money.

Once at a charity basketball game in Independence, for Kim and another young lady who was also a quadriplegic, Fred gave his share of the benefit to the other family. "Her father’s insurance ran out, and he needs the money as much as I do," said Patek. That is the kind of man Fred Patek is. Just as he had as a player, Fred Patek, Jerri and Heather, gave everything they had at helping Kim. Unfortunately, it would not be enough. Kim passed away on June 14, 1995.

Freddie Patek overcame obstacles his entire life. The pride of Seguin, Texas, Fred was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1965 Amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. When Patek was called up to Pirates in June of 1968, the manager, Larry Shepherd said, "You’re not the damn guy they sent me to play shortstop, are you?". He was, and he did. When he made his major league debut, Fred was the shortest player in the major leagues, at 5’5 and 148 pounds. Baseball is a funny sport in that a lot of the athletes look somewhat like normal people. You can usually pick out football players due to the muscular builds and massive size. You can usually pick out basketball players by their height. Hockey players usually by their crooked noses and missing teeth. I was in San Diego one week in the summer of 2016. The Chicago Cubs were in town for a series and I happened to be staying at the same hotel as the Cubs. I found myself in the elevator with two young Cubs and for the life of me, I had no idea who they were. Had there not been a hotel employee in the elevator gushing about the upcoming game and what a great season they were having, I wouldn’t have even known they were ballplayers. For Fred Patek, that kind of anonymity was impossible. When you stand 5’5 and are one of the biggest stars in a small, baseball crazed city, a simple shopping trip to the local Price Chopper can turn into an event. But the Patek’s loved Kansas City and Kansas City loved them back. Being one of the shortest men to play Major League baseball, Patek had a series of nicknames with the most common being The Flea. The 1974 Royals yearbook also lists his nicknames as Midg and Midget, two unfortunate terms that would not be used in today’s hyper sensitive, politically correct environment, but things were different in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The yearbook also states that Fred worked at a local auto dealership during the offseason.

On December 2nd, 1970, Royals General Manager Cedric Tallis pulled off one of his most brilliant trades, acquiring Patek from Pittsburgh along with pitcher Bruce Dal Canton and catcher Jerry May for Jim Campanis, Jackie Hernandez and Bob Johnson. The trade was a steal for Kansas City as those three players created 21 WAR for the Royals, most of that by Patek, while the three that Tallis gave up only gave the Pirates 2 WAR. Patek had played parts of three season’s in Pittsburgh, including 147 games in 1969, but found himself blocked by Gene Alley, a two-time National League All Star and Gold Glove winner. The trade paid immediate dividends for the Royals as Patek hit .267 with a league leading eleven triples and 49 stolen bases in 1971, which was good enough for a sixth-place finish in the American League MVP race. At the close of his fourteen-year career, Patek still ranks 61st in career putouts with 2,690 and 38th in double plays turned by a shortstop, with 1,004. Patek wore uniform number thirty-seven early in his Royal career, but switched to number two in 1975.

Patek was one of the fastest men in baseball and stole at least thirty bases every season between 1971 and 1978. He led the league in steals in 1977 with 53 and is still 83rd on the all-time major league steal list with 385. I still remember the first time I saw Fred Patek steal second base. He got a decent jump then had tremendous acceleration. I was amazed to see that kind of speed from him. When he went for the steal, he put his head down and ran full tilt, finishing with a hard slide. The effort impressed me.

Patek was also a master with the glove. Former manager Whitey Herzog called him "the best artificial turf shortstop I ever managed". This means a lot coming from Whitey, because it means Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, no slouch with the glove, is number two. Patek teamed with second baseman Cookie Rojas to form one of the best double play combos’ in major league history. Former Royals manager Jack McKeon said, "Most others can’t do all of the things Freddie can do. You don’t get a picture of Patek and Rojas until you see them play together every day. They amaze you." Five times in 1972, Rojas ranged behind second base to snag what looked to be a sure hit and flipped the ball to Patek, who gunned out the runner at first in what became one of the most sensational single-killings ever witnessed. Can you imagine what the batter must have thought? "All right! A hit…oh crap!"

Freddie Patek finished his career with a .242 batting average, 1,340 hits and 736 runs scored. He was a three-time All Star, all with Kansas City (1972, 1976 and 1979). Patek led the American League in defensive WAR in 1972 at 3.2 and still ranks among the all-time Royal leaders in hits (1,076), walks (413) runs (571) stolen bases (336) and games (1,245). Patek led the American League in double plays turned by a shortstop for four consecutive seasons (1971-1974). He was the first Royal to hit for the cycle, accomplishing the feat against Jim Perry and the Minnesota Twins on July 9, 1971. After his release by the Royals, Patek played two more seasons with the California Angels, before retiring at age 36. While with the Angels, Patek became the second shortstop in history to hit three home runs in a game, on June 20th, 1980 against the Boston Red Sox.

Fred Patek holds a special place in the heart of many older Royals fans. He was a centerpiece of the great Royals teams from 1976 to 1978. Though he never played in the World Series, he played very well in 1976 and 1977 ALCS against the Yankees, batting .389 in both 1976 and 1977, going an identical 7 for 18 in both series. Fred struggled in the 1978 ALCS, going only 1 for 13, but that hit was his only post-season home run. In the fifth and deciding game of the 1977 ALCS, George Brett lashed a first inning triple off of Yankee ace Ron Guidry. Brett slid hard into third and gave a slight push to Yankee third baseman Graig Nettles. Nettles responded with a kick to Brett’s midsection and the boys were off and running. Brett bounded to his feet and threw a haymaker. Royal coach Chuck Hiller tried to separate the combatants as both benches and bullpens rushed into the brawl. Yankee manager Billy Martin, no stranger to melee’s, wrapped an arm around Patek, pulled him from the fracas, and said to him, "Stay with me over here and we won’t get hurt. Let those guys sort it out." Eventually order was restored and unbelievably, no one was ejected. One of the most iconic images of those great series was a picture of Fred sitting in the Royals dugout after he made the final out of the 1977 series, head in his hands, long after the stadium had cleared out.

Fred Patek was elected to the Royals Hall of Fame in 1992 and baseball historian Bill James ranks him the 14th best Royal of all time. I still rank him as the greatest shortstop to play for the Royals.