Article: Catching Up With The Klaw: Part 2

[Seth Stohs]

In Part 1 on Catch Up With The Klaw yesterday, we discussed his unlikely path onto the Minnesota Twins 1985 Opening Day roster. Today, we’ll talk about Tom Klawitter’s brief MLB career as well as what has kept him busy since his playing days came to an end.When Part 1 concluded, Tom Klawitter had just learned that he was heading up to the big leagues. He made phone calls to family, and there was an excitement for the team coming off of a successful (until late) 1984 season.

 

The next few days were a bit of a whirlwind for the left-hander. The team began their season with a West Coast trip. They played three games against the Angels before heading north to Seattle. Finally in the Twins’ sixth game, Klawitter was sitting out in the bullpen. Manager Billy Gardner called and Klawitter came in for his major league debut.

 

“I was really confident, coming off a great spring. I was confident in Seattle, and I went out and did pretty well.”

 

Al Cowens was the first batter that he faced. He popped up to shortstop. Jim “Hound Dog” Presley reached on an error. Dave Valle flew out to Kirby Puckett in centerfield. Spike Owens walked, but Harold Reynolds grounded to shortstop to end the inning. He got out of his first big league inning without any damage.

 

The Twins returned home after the game, and the next night he came in to face the Angels. With a runner on and two outs in the eighth inning, Gardner walked out to the mound and summoned the bullpen, grabbing his left wrist and formed his hand into a claw. In came the left-hander. Rod Carew was the first batter he faced, and he walked the Hall of Famer. However, the runners were stranded and Klawitter got through the next inning as well.

 

Three days later, the first batter he faced was Reggie Jackson who grounded out to first base.

 

Klawitter was thrilled to be in the big leagues, but he was not necessarily adjusting well to his new role. “I struggled a little bit with not being a starter because I like to throw-throw-throw, and you weren’t allowed to do that because you might be used that particular time. It was tough for me to get into that relief type of thing. I just needed a lot of innings to stay sharp. It was a tough adjustment, and it’s obviously the big leagues so it’s not like you have time to work out your problems.”

 

He was getting inconsistent innings as well. He pitched three times in five games and then didn’t pitch for two weeks. And then it was another ten days after that before he got into another game.

 

It was a game on May 14^th that he made his first big league start, and he didn’t know until he got to the ballpark that day that he would be starting. The ballpark was Yankees Stadium. “We walked around New York that afternoon enough that, not that it’s any excuse or anything, but I got to the park and found out ‘we’re going to start you tonight.’ That was like ‘Holy Cow, Yankees Stadium.’ That’s pretty exciting.”

 

He went just two innings in that game. Hall of Famer Dave Winfield hit a solo home run against him.

 

He made another start, on May 19, against the Blue Jays, and this time recorded just four outs. Two days later, he came into a game in relief against the Boston Red Sox. He faced two batters and walked them both.

 

After a solid first three appearances, his next four he really struggled with the strike zone. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues again after the Red Sox game.

 

“I had something going on with my elbow. I couldn’t figure it out. I’d never had any injuries before that. I kept having pain. Finally, I had to go see the doctor, and they found big bone spurs, bone chips in my elbow. I had surgery to take those out in June. That slowed things up. One bone chip actually had a little stem on it, and it was growing into the elbow joint, so it was a little more extensive than just going in and getting bone chips out. I’ve still got a few zippers on the back of my elbow from that.”

 

He made a comeback in 1986 with the Blue Jays organization, but after just six games, he ended his baseball career and moved on to his next career. Teaching.

He recalled, “It was funny, the timing. Someone was looking after me. I went back to Wisconsin Rapids, and because I was in the area, I got to finish up my degree, got my teaching degree. It was the perfect opportunity for me. Then when I got done with pro ball, I just hopped right into all this. Nothing better than going from a pro baseball career to teaching. I still get my summers off.”

 

Klawitter began his teaching career as a physical education teacher at Janesville Parker High School. He said he plans to retire from teaching after this year.

 

He has become one of the most successful high school girls’ basketball coaches, not only in the state of Wisconsin, but in the country. It wasn’t his plan to coach girls’ basketball though.

 

“I got back and the athletic director was my coach in Legion ball way back in the day. He said they had an opening for a girl’s JV coach for basketball. I told him ‘Absolutely not! I’m not coaching girls basketball,’ and then I thought, maybe I should do it. It’s a little extra money. Of course, one thing led to another. I did that for three years, and I got the varsity job and the rest is history. We’ve built a pretty good program.”

 

Coming into this season, Klawitter had a record of 548-120. He has won three state championships. He has coached in the McDonald’s All-America game. His team will begin the playoffs this week as the #4 seed in their section.

 

Klawitter was excited to say that he had coached Mistie Bass in high school. She won three Wisconsin High School Player of the Year awards and helped Parker High School win back-to-back state titles. She went on to Duke and played in two Final Fours. She has played eight seasons in the WNBA, and in 2014, she was part of the WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury, teaming with Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner.

 

Klawitter also helps with the school’s baseball team. “The baseball guys do think it’s something else that I played (in the big leagues).”

 

Has his status as "Former Major Leaguer" helped him out? “I think it’s helped my career. It’s always nice to have that little bit of ‘Wow.’ This guy did that, he must know how to whatever, work hard. He must know what he’s talking about. Credibility-wise, it has always helped me. It’s just one of those things that I can use as a motivational thing, whether it’s baseball or whatever, to achieve a goal. It works to my benefit.”

 

At 57 years old, Klawitter still plays baseball too. He has played in the Wisconsin State League for about 20 years following his career. The league is a combination of college kids and ex-pros. It allows him to remain competitive and meet up with guys he played against in college or in the minor leagues. He still goes to the Chicago or Milwaukee areas to play. That said, he really seems to treasure getting to play with his two sons.

 

“I get to play ball with my two sons. Both of them played ball at UW-Whitewater here in Wisconsin. Every year we go down this MSBL (Men’s Senior Baseball League). They have a World Series every year in the Phoenix area. So we play in the father-son tournament, and it’s fun.”

 

Tom Klawitter generally doesn’t bring up stories from his baseball playing days. If someone wants to talk about it, he is happy to. He enjoys sharing his story and fondly remembers the experiences.

 

“As far as accomplishments, you can’t help but smile about doing something like that. As a kid and a college player, I just wanted to get drafted. I just wanted that chance. And I just wanted to play pro ball. And then you get to A ball and it’s like, I just want to be in AA and then AAA. And if I got just one inning in the big leagues I’d be happy. I’ve got to stop looking back because there was a lot of time where I spent thinking I wish I would have done more. I was there, and I didn’t stay as long as I wanted. I certainly look back at the good times.”

 

He spoke very fondly of his friend Kirby Puckett. “He was as nice a guy as you’d ever want to meet, and generous. He was my roommate on the road at times when he didn’t want his own room. We did go out a lot after the games. He was always so loose and just loved the game. That was one thing about him. He loved the game, and that was the one thing about him, you never saw him get mad. He just loved the game. He was a great person for baseball.”

 

Regarding Kent Hrbek, “He was a very good guy. He was so loose about things. It didn’t seem like things got to him. He just played the game, and it wasn’t like it was life or death. He was one of the leaders on that team.”

 

It seemed that, if given enough time and a couple of beverages, Klawitter would enjoy discussing each and every one of his teammates, from the lower levels of the minor leagues through his stint with the Twins. It was clear in his voice how much those memories mean to him, even to this day, thirty years later.

 

When asked which teammates gave him great memories or helped him through his time with the Twins organization, his list was not short. “When we were home, Mike Stenhouse was my roommate. Mark Salas was close to me, and we did a lot of things together. (John) Butcher was pretty good. I thought that when (Bert) Blyleven came on, he was fun to be around, and someone you could go to even though he was just as nutty as heck. I certainly learned from him. (Greg) Gagne, I played in AAA with. (Steve) Lombardozzi. Those guys. Pete Filson was another one. Ron Davis who was with the Twins that year. Roy Smalley was somebody that came from a different organization and tried to instill some of the things he’d learned.”

 

Having now been in Janesville for almost 30 years, Klawitter has developed a friendship with Twins general manager Terry Ryan, who is from Janesville. “I’ve got a good connection with Terry Ryan. He’s a friend of mine. One of the best men I have ever met. He’s just got it. He understands how to deal with people. He is a true baseball man and loves this game.”

 

Terry Ryan had kind things to say of Klawitter as well. “Tom and I have been close friends for over 30 years. He has been a very successful teacher and high school basketball coach in Janesville for many years. Tom has always loves sports, is very competitive, and has pitched on amateur baseball teams in the area as recently as a year ago. I couldn’t be more proud of Tom’s accomplishments, especially pitching in the major leagues with the Twins after being released by the Dodgers. He is a good family man that has done well in his life after baseball.”

 

Tom Klawitter was from a small school. He wasn’t drafted out of high school. He was released by one team and took full advantage when the Twins offered him another opportunity. He went to big league camp as a non-roster invitee and given a chance, he made the big league roster. His time with the Twins was short-lived, but he made it. He will forever be able to call himself a big leaguer. He still attends many major league baseball alumni get-togethers.

 

As impressive is what he has done since retiring. He has been a teacher. He has been a coach, and a mentor. His competitive fire has served him well in these capacities and yet, he is also a family man. He still plays ball, but he does it in such a way that he gets to spend that time with his sons.

 

Thirty years ago, Tom Klawitter, The Klaw, reached the big leagues and got his 15 minutes of fame. He proved that through hard work and effort, dreams really can come true.

 

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[big dog]

Great story, thanks so much.  Best wishes to the Klaw!

[nater79a]

Given a little more time with Klaw he probably could have touched on a few more notable Twins stories from that season: Ray Miller taking over for Slick Gardner in June, the Blyleven trade in August and Steve Howe's late-season cameo.

 

Good memories!

[Seth Stohs]

Maybe we can do something like this again and ask him a bunch more questions. He truly seemed to enjoy talking about that time in his life. Very few get to say they played in the big leagues, and it was such an interesting time in the Twins history. The AAA Toledo team and that 1985 team were comprised of the players that became that 1987 World Series team. Pretty great stuff!

[jjswol]

Nice job Seth, a fun piece, I enjoyed it. I remember "The Klaw" when he was a Twin, there was a lot of buzz around him.

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

Great set of articles Seth--fun to read and I bet fun to interview the Klaw

[tshide]

Great story, thank you Seth.  Keep looking for stories like this.

[Seth Stohs]

Thanks for the feedback! It was fun!

[JB_Iowa]

Loved both parts of this,  Can't wait to see who you catch up with next.