Like Many early relievers, Kline originally came up as a starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates way back in 1952, but would find his niche as a reliever about ten years into his career, then with the Detroit Tigers in 1962.
In 1969 he played for no less than three teams: the Pirates, Giants and Red Sox, combining for a 1-5 record with a 5.19 earned run average in 43 appearances and four saves.
This was a stark contrast to his excellent 1968 season which saw him post a 12-5 record with a miniscule .168 ERA over 56 games, with seven saves in 112.2 innings pitched for Pittsburgh.
In 1970, his last year in the big leagues, he’d appear in five games for the Atlanta Braves, posting a bloated 7.11 ERA without a record, thus closing out his career with a 114-144 record over 736 appearances, with a 3.75 ERA and 108 saves in 2078 innings pitched.
