Many major leaguers are more remembered for their accomplishments in the minors and Leo Kiely had one of them when he won 20 games in relief during the 1957 season while with the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League. It stands in sharp contrast to a middling career with the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Athletics.
Kiely pitched extremely well for the Sox in his rookie 1951 season before reporting to the Army. Stationed in Japan, he was spotted by his former and future teammate, Frank Sullivan who recalled, “I was in a group of guys walking back to our barracks and saw a really fat body with Leo’s head on it leading a group of soldiers marching down the street. I kept looking and as they got abreast, I said, ‘Hey! Is that you, Leo?’ ‘Yeah, who wants to know?’ He halted his troops, looked over and said, ‘Hey, Sully! How the hell are you?’ ‘None of your business,’ I replied, ‘and how the hell you get so fat?’ ‘The rice beer is blowing me up.’ We both laughed and hugged and stood there talking until his troops started grumbling. ‘See you back in the real world, Sully. We’ll play some ball and have some real beer.’ ”
Upon his return, he became one of the first true relief pitchers for Boston. Becoming the ace of a pennant-winning team did not change Kiely’s temperament. The sinkerballer was known as a quiet man, a gentleman, and one who unhesitatingly took the ball when called upon. Kiely had another characteristic noted by many. Frank Sullivan, a keen observer of his surroundings, described Kiely’s penchant for beer: “He was one of the all-time beer drinkers. Never loud, never out of hand, he could sit quietly and drink you into oblivion. I continually marveled at the way he would pour each bottle of beer slowly and deliberately into a small glass and savor each sip as if it were the first of the day. I believe he was made up of 98% liquid. After five warm-up pitches, he would literally be dripping sweat from the bill of his cap. His personality was as even-keeled as anyone I had ever met; he had absolutely no enemies. I counted him as one of my best pals on the team. Leo was one of the sweetest guys I ever met. There wasn’t a bad bone in his skinny body.” - SABR
A good facegen to work with. Just tweaking on my part. Tried to brighten it a bit and to square-off the jaw a bit more. Now my Random Debut team closer has a face
