Jay Allen Kleven (December 2, 1949 – June 30, 2009) was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player in 1976 for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

. He played in 2 games as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

that year due to injuries to starting catcher

Jerry Grote Gerald Wayne Grote (October 6, 1942 – April 7, 2024) was an American professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball from 1963 through 1981 for the Houston Colt .45s, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Kansas City Roya ...

and second-string catcher Ron Hodges. Kleven singled in his next to final at bat as a major leaguer, going one for five for his career. This lone hit of his career drove in two runs against future Hall-of Famer

Bruce Sutter Howard Bruce Sutter (; January 8, 1953 – October 13, 2022) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1976 and 1988. He was one of the sport's dominant relievers in the late 1970 ...

. Kleven attended

California State University, East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post-baccala ...

Hayward, California Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California, United States, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, and the third largest in ...

, where he played baseball from 1967–1971. He was named to the All Far Western First Team twice and is listed in the CSUEB Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.CSUEB, Athletics Hall of Fame
, accessed December 19, 2007

References

External links

SABR BioProject
1949 births 2009 deaths Baseball players from Oakland, California Major League Baseball catchers American people of Norwegian descent New York Mets players Visalia Mets players Cal State East Bay Pioneers baseball players People from San Lorenzo, California Baseball players from Alameda County, California Indianapolis Indians players Tidewater Tides players Victoria Toros players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-catcher-1940s-stub