Ken Henderson played in 16 seasons from 1965-1980. Ken was signed by the San Francisco Giants in 1964. Despite batting .191 for three minor league teams in 1964 Ken was on the Giants major league roster for the entire 1965 season. He played in 65 games for the Giants but had only 83 plate appearances. Ken batted .192 in 73 at bats.
Henderson was in the minors for most of the next three seasons. He batted .310 in 29 late season at bats for the Giants in 1966. In 1967 Ken was up and down between AAA Phoenix and the Giants. In 65 games Henderson batted .274 in 179 at bats. Henderson was in Phoenix for most of 1968 and went 1 for 3 in three games for the Giants at the end of the season.
Henderson started to get some playing time for the Giants in 1969. He played in 113 games but batted only .225 in 374 at bats.
Ken developed some power in 1970 and batted .294, scored 104 runs, hit 17 home runs and had 88 RBI as the Giants' starting left fielder. In 1971 Henderson batted .264 with 15 HR and 65 RBI and batted .313 in the NLCS. Ken had a similar year in 1972, batting .257 with 18 HR and 51 RBI.
The Giants' Invisible Man - June 1972 Baseball Digest. After the 1972 season Henderson was traded to the Chicago White Sox with Steve Stone for Tom Bradley.
Henderson had an injury-riddled 1973 season (he had major knee surgery). He missed the entire month of June and didn't play after August 7. Ken batted .260 with 6 HR in 73 games for the White Sox in '73.
Ken had his best season in 1974. As the back of the card says, he was the White Sox Player of the Year and also got a few top-ten votes for MVP (he was 19th in the balloting). Henderson batted .292 with 20 HR and 95 RBI while playing in all 162 games.
Henderson batted .251 with 9 HR and 53 RBI in 1975. By the time this card came out, Ken had already been traded with Ozzie Osborn and Dick Ruthven to the Atlanta Braves for Larvell Blanks and Ralph Garr.
Ken's last season as a full-time player was 1976. He batted .262 with 13 HR and 61 RBI for the Braves. After the 1976 season Ken was traded with four other players and $250,000 to the Texas Rangers for Jeff Burroughs.
Henderson was a fourth outfielder and a DH for the Rangers in 1977. He played in 75 games and batted .258 with 5 HR and 23 RBI. During spring training in 1978 Ken was sent to the New York Mets in a complex 4-way deal between the Rangers, Mets, Braves, and Pittsburgh Pirates. He started the 1978 season with the Mets but played in only seven games before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Dale Murray on May 19. Ken played in 64 games but batted only .167 in 144 at bats.
The Reds didn't really have a place for Henderson to play. He started the 1979 season with the Reds and was sold to the Chicago Cubs on June 28 (Ken had batted only 13 times for the Reds in the first part of the season). Henderson finished the 1979 season with the Cubs and batted .234 in 94 at bats for the season. Ken's
1979 gamelog on Baseball Reference looks strange. It shows that he played in one game for the Cubs on May 10 and then went to the Reds and played in 11 games before going back to the Cubs on June 28. Baseball Reference shows the June 28 transaction but it doesn't show a transaction sending him to the Cubs before the 1979 season. It also doesn't show the transaction in May.
Ken started the 1980 season with the Cubs and was a pinch hitter and substitute outfielder. He played in 44 games and batted .195 in 82 at bats. The Cubs released Ken on July 20.
Liked to face: Grant Jackson (.500 in 16 AB); John Curtis (.474 in 19 AB); Bill Lee (.424 in 33 AB)
Hated to face: Roger Moret (.000 in 15 AB); Jim Bunning/Gaylord Perry (.083 in 24 AB); Steve Carlton (.091 in 33 AB)
Edit: Ken recently took a position with the Giants organization selling luxury boxes. An update is here on the seamheads website.
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