Ted Power
Inducted 2023
Ted Power
Born: Guthrie, Oklahoma Graduated: Abilene High School, 1973 / Kansas State University, 1976
Sports was everything to Ted Power as a youth. In fact, he played five sports during his teenage years over the course of the school year and summer months.
Born Jan. 31, 1955, in Guthrie, Okla., his family later moved to Abilene, Kan. Ultimately, a strong summer performance on the baseball diamond earned him a spot on the Kansas State roster in 1973.
The tall right-hander (6-4, 215) was a three-time letter winner for the Wildcats from 1974-1976 and named to the Kansas State baseball All-Century Team in 2000. Power holds the single-game record with 19 strikeouts against Wayne State on March 18, 1976, a record that he still stands to this day. He also led the Wildcats with a 2.34 ERA that season. In the first ever Big Eight baseball tournament game in 1976, Power and future major league Jay Howell of Colorado dueled in a contest eventually won by the Buffs, 2-0.
After his stint at Kansas State, Power was a fifth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It took him five years to get the call, but in 1981 he would make his Major League debut. After two years with the Dodgers, Power was traded to the Cincinnati Reds where he would play five seasons from 1983-1987. In 1984, he led the National League with 78 appearances, and in the following season recorded a career-high 27 saves. After his five-year stint with the Reds, Power would go onto play for the Royals, Tigers, Cardinals, Pirates, Indians, and Mariners with a brief return to the Reds during his 13-year career.
Power’s career stats for his MLB career would end up seeing him win 68 games with a 4.00 ERA, striking out 701 batters over 1,160 innings and earning 70 saves.
After Power retired from playing in the Majors, he stayed in the game as a pitching coach. In 2000, he was the pitching coach for the Billings (Mont.) Mustangs, an independent, Pioneer League team.
After three years at this job, he spent a season as the pitching coach for the Dayton Dragons, the High-A affiliate of the Reds.
From 2006-2016 he was the pitching coach for the Louisville Bats, the Reds Triple-A team and then from the second half of the 2016 season through 2018, Power was the Reds bullpen coach.
Photo Courtesy Kansas State University