Kirkpatrick put in 16 seasons in the Big Leagues between 1962 and 1977, coming up as a 17-year-old with the Los Angeles Angels, for whom he played the first seven years of his career.
In 1969 he was one of the original Kansas City Royals, having the best run of his career through 1973 with them, getting the only truly full-time work in the Majors in that period.
In 1974 he found himself as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he got to play in his only post-season action, coming in 1974 and 1975 during the National League Championship Series.
He played with the Pirates into the 1977 season before getting traded first to the Texas Rangers, then to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he played out the season, and his career.
Interesting note I never knew before: the trade that brought him to Milwaukee in his final season of 1977 was for slugger Gorman Thomas, who was sent to Texas!
Turns out that the Brewers purchased Thomas back and thus led to him becoming the slugging home-run champ we all got to know later in the decade, into the 1980’s.
As for Kirkpatrick, he finished his MLB career with a .238 batting average, with 824 hits in 3467 at-bats, appearing in 1311 games while playing every position except for pitcher and shortstop along the way.
Truly a utility man who could fill in anywhere.
