STEVE KEMP

ALASKA BASEBALL ALUMNI HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2023
Day Seven Inductee

ALASKA BASEBALL ALUMNI HALL OF FAME

2022 saw the first class of the AKGPA Hall of Fame inducted during the month of April. The inaugural group were drawn from players, executives, mascots, and personnel directly involved with baseball in Fairbanks, Alaska. Listed below is the first class in its entirety:

THE ’22 TWENTY: Dan Pastorini, Bill Lee, Dave Kingman, Morganna the Kissing Bandit, Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Bowie Kuhn, Andy Messersmith, Alvin Davis, Bob Boone, Sean Timmons, Allan Simpson, Bruce Robinson, Rod Dedeaux, H.A. (Red) Boucher, Hap Dumont, and Don Dennis.

2023 will see the induction of a new member into our Ball Hall every day during the month of April until the class is complete on the 20th.

Join us during the month of April for our second countdown of the Alaska Baseball Alumni Hall of Fame.

’23 TWENTY HALL OF FAME, DAY SEVEN INDUCTEE:

STEVE KEMP

Steven F. Kemp (born August 7, 1954) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Texas Rangers.

– 1976: First Overall Selection of MLB Amateur Draft (January)

– Detroit Tigers (1977–1981)
– Chicago White Sox (1982)
– New York Yankees (1983–1984)
– Pittsburgh Pirates (1985–1986)
– Texas Rangers (1988)

NEWS CLIPPINGS:

– 1980’s Yankees: Steve Kemp (https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/1/27/23573310/yankees-history-forgotten-players-steve-kemp-billy-martin)

– Steve Kemp: The Last Detroit Tigers No. 1 pick as hitter (https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/06/07/steve-kemp-detroit-tigers-wishes-he-stayed/3170032001/)

– Baseball Reference Statistics Page (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kempst01.shtml)

– Wikipedia: Steve Kemp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Kemp)

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

1983 NATIONAL BASEBALL CONGRESS YEARBOOK

STEVE KEMP – NEW YORK YANKEES OUTFIELDER

LIBERAL, KAN., BEEJAYS (1973)
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, GOLDPANNERS (1974, 1975)

Kemp is one of the most successful players in NBC tournament history. In ’74, he led Fairbanks to the crown and was named as the tourney’s Most Valuable Player after batting .452. He came back the next season to lead the Panners to a second-place finish to the Boulder, Colo., Baseline Collegians and was the runnerup in the MVP voting.

A native of San Angelo, Texas , the 29-year-old Kemp was the first player selected in the January free-agent draft of 1976, going to the Detroit Tigers. He says his success started in Liberal in ’73, when he batted .370 in the national tournament and was selected to the all-tourney team.

‘That was after my freshman year at Southern California, and I had to pay my own way to go there that first year,” Kemp said. “After the summer I had at Liberal, though, I got a full-ride scholarship before my sophomore year. My parents could afford to send me to college for one year. But they Wouldn’t have been able to do it for four years.”

Kemp batted only 10 times as a freshman at USC and came to Liberal as a virtual unknown. “Everybody found out that I played at Southern Cal,” Kemp recalled. “But nobody had heard of me. All of the other Liberal players at that time were playing varsity ball for their respective college teams. And here I was a junior varsity player.”

But Kemp made an immediate impact with his bat and went on to have a sensational collegiate career at USC.

“I played in both Liberal and Fairbanks and to tell the truth, I had a better time in Liberal,” he said. “Both were great. But I was spending my first summer away from home in Liberal and it was a neat experience. I met a lot of great people that year and played on the team with Steve Bartkowski (Atlanta Falcons quarterback). I was the youngest guy on the team.”

At Liberal, Kemp mowed grass while working for the city. “But the better I hit the ball, the less grass I cut,” Kemp said. “Every summer I played in the tournament in Wichita, I had a good summer. It’s very possible that I Wouldn’t be playing major league ball now if I hadn’t played in those summer leagues. The big thing that got me to the big leagues was playing at USC, but I’m not sure I would hav.e gotten to play there if it hadn’t been for that first summer at Liberal.”

Kemp has become a top-notch run producer in the majors. In six full seasons prior to ’83, Kemp averaged 85 RBI per season . He was traded from Detroit to Chicago prior to the ’82 season, then signed with the Yankees as a free agent in December of ’82.