Tom Klawitter Was A 1985 Spring Training Flash In The Pan

Neil Young once proclaimed, “It’s better to burn out than fade away.” A statement so profound it was reiterated by Def Leppard, the movie Highlander, and sadly, Kurt Cobain, among others. Is it true? Or is it perhaps better to fade away from one vocation to thrive in another? 

Thomas Carl Klawitter was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on June 24, 1958. He graduated from Craig High School on the other side of the state in Janesville. The rare left-handed thrower but right-handed batter first attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but ultimately settled in at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he played college baseball. During his senior season, the six-foot-two, 190-pound Klawitter began to attract the attention of scouts when he went 5-0.

Tom Klawitter was drafted in the 19^th round of the 1980 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers and played four seasons in the Dodgers minor league system. The big lefty always walked too many batters, including a whopping 110 in 162 innings in 1981. The Dodgers released Klawitter in May 1983, but Minnesota quickly signed him. He played two seasons for the Twins minor leagues and produced good to great ERAs. The Twins of the early- to mid-80s could be described as pitching-starved, so after a great spring training in 1985, the unassuming Klawitter made the Opening Day roster. 

Klawitter made his MLB debut on April 14, 1985, in a 5-1 loss against the Seattle Mariners. Klawitter pitched one inning and allowed no hits or runs. He did walk one, which proved to be an omen of bad things to come. He again gave up no runs in his second game, but then the problems started. He gave up runs in each of his next five outings while pitching 7 1/3 innings, and that was it for his major league career. In all, he gave up seven runs in 9 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and striking out five. The biggest killer was the 13 walks he issued. He did not record a decision in his seven games for the Twins, including two short starts. He finished with a 6.75 ERA. His walk rate was much too high – 28.9 percent.

What made him memorable to me and perhaps a section of other Twins fans was the name Klawitter and his nickname, Klaw. In the 1980s, Minnesota was the heart of the American Wrestling Association territory. There was a wrestler named Baron von Raschke whose signature move was “The Claw,” where he would grab and squeeze the head of his opponent, thereby rendering the opponent incapacitated, perhaps unconscious. The Baron’s “Claw” became Manager Billy Gardner’s hand signal to the bullpen to send in Klawitter. It possibly made the pitcher a bit of a cult hero in the spring of 1985. Unfortunately for Klaw, this notoriety did not lead to a long and successful MLB career. His baseball career was over after pitching for Toronto’s Double-A affiliate in 1986.

After his playing career, Klawitter returned to Wisconsin and became a physical education teacher and girls’ basketball coach at Parker High School in Janesville, Wisconsin. Maybe this was his calling. He was immensely successful. In 26 seasons, Klawitter's teams won 564 games and 16 conference titles and appeared in 12 state tournaments – winning three championships. He retired in June 2015. Since retirement, Klawitter has been an assistant college baseball coach at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He was inducted into the Wisconsin State Baseball League Hall of Fame.

While Tom Klawitter faded away from a Major League Baseball career, he certainly burned bright as a high school basketball coach and teacher. He had much success on the court and had a profound effect on many young women and students. Sounds like a life well-lived. 

Do you have any recollection of Tom Klawitter? If so, please share your memories in the comments section below.

If you like looking back at the Twins past, check out my previous articles at Twins Daily History.

Sources include Baseball Reference, Baseball Almanac, and Wikipedia.

Ten years ago, @Seth Stohs interviewed Klawitter on the 30th anniversary of his big-league season in a two-part story (Part 1, Part 2). 

Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!