{{Short description|American baseball player (1939–2009)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Ted Uhlaender |image=Ted Uhlaender Indians.jpg |position=Outfielder |birth_date={{Birth date|1939|10|21}} |birth_place=Chicago Heights, Illinois, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2009|2|12|1939|10|21}} |death_place=Atwood, Kansas, U.S. |bats=Left |throws=Right |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=September 4 |debutyear=1965 |debutteam=Minnesota Twins |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 30 |finalyear=1972 |finalteam=Cincinnati Reds |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.263 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=36 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=285 |teams= '''As player''' * Minnesota Twins ({{baseball year|1965}}–{{baseball year|1969}}) * Cleveland Indians ({{baseball year|1970}}–{{baseball year|1971}}) * Cincinnati Reds ({{baseball year|1972}}) '''As coach''' * Cleveland Indians ({{baseball year|2000}}–{{baseball year|2001}}) }} '''Theodore Otto Uhlaender''' (October 21, 1939 – February 12, 2009) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder for the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds from {{mlby|1965}}–{{mlby|1972}}. He is also the father of Olympic women's skeleton competitor Katie Uhlaender.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20140131/SPT04/301310098/Daughter-former-Red-goes-Gold-Sochi|title = Cincinnati News, Sports and Things to do | Cincinnati Enquirer}}</ref>
Signed by the Twins out of Baylor University in 1961, he made his major league debut four years later. He was ineligible for the 1965 World Series because his promotion occurred after the August 31 deadline. He became the team's starting center fielder for the next four seasons. Despite the {{mlby|1968}} campaign being totally dominated by pitchers, he managed to finish with a .283 batting average, fifth in the American League . He followed that up with his most productive season, establishing career highs with 152 games played, 93 runs scored, 151 hits and 62 runs batted in (RBI). His first playoff experience was in the 1969 American League Championship Series, with one hit in six at-bats.
He was traded along with Graig Nettles, Dean Chance and Bob Miller to the Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams on December 10, 1969. He started in center in {{mlby|1970}}, before being shifted to left field the next season.
After he was acquired by the Reds for Milt Wilcox on December 6, 1971, Uhlaender spent his last year as a player in the majors strictly as a reserve outfielder. He served as a pinch hitter during the postseason, going 1-for-2 in the National League Championship Series and getting a double out of four at-bats in the 1972 World Series.
Years after his playing career ended, Uhlaender returned to the Indians in {{mlby|2000}}, spending two seasons as the first-base coach under manager Charlie Manuel. He was a scout for the San Francisco Giants from 2002 until learning he had multiple myeloma in 2008.<ref>[http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_11693147 Moss, Irv. "Uhlaender, big-league outfielder and scout, dies," ''The Denver Post'', Friday, February 13, 2009.]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090304182541/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1151985/index.htm "For The Record," ''Sports Illustrated'', February 23, 2009.]</ref>
Uhlaender died of a heart attack at his ranch in Atwood, Kansas on February 12, 2009, just before his daughter Katie finished second in the women's skeleton World Cup season finale at Utah Olympic Park.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20140131/SPT04/301310098/Daughter-former-Red-goes-Gold-Sochi|title = Cincinnati News, Sports and Things to do | Cincinnati Enquirer}}</ref> Uhlaender's wife, Karen, stated that Katie did not know he had died until after the competition was finished.<ref>[http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=11674&DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=3669060 Universalsports.com February 13, 2009 article on Ted Uhlaender's death.] - accessed February 17, 2009.</ref> In memory of her father, she wears around her neck his ring from the 1972 season in which the Reds won the National League pennant.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{baseballstats| mlb=123549|br=u/uhlaete01|brm=uhlaen001the|fangraphs=1013264}} *[https://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-02-14-ted-uhlaender-obit_N.htm "Former major league OF Ted Uhlaender dead at 69," ''The Associated Press'', Saturday, February 14, 2009.] * [https://archive.today/20130117161200/http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-skeleton0227,0,2973416.story Thomson, Candus. "Emotional rush for skeleton racer Uhlaender," ''The Baltimore Sun'', Friday, February 27, 2009.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Uhlaender, Ted}} Category:1939 births Category:2009 deaths Category:Cincinnati Reds players Category:Cleveland Indians players Category:Deaths from multiple myeloma in Kansas Category:Major League Baseball outfielders Category:People from Rawlins County, Kansas Category:Minnesota Twins players Category:Cleveland Indians coaches Category:New York Yankees scouts Category:San Francisco Giants scouts Category:Sportspeople from Chicago Heights, Illinois Category:Baseball players from Cook County, Illinois Category:Baseball players from Kansas Category:Baylor Bears baseball players Category:Wytheville Twins players Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Category:Denver Bears players Category:Erie Sailors players Category:Iowa Oaks players Category:Rio Grande Valley White Wings players Category:Wilson Tobs players