Cactus Keck

{{short description|American baseball player (1899–1981)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Cactus Keck

|image=

|position=Pitcher

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date={{birth date|1899|1|13}}

|birth_place=St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1981|2|6|1899|1|13}}

|death_place=St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=May 26

|debutyear=1922

|debutteam=Cincinnati Reds

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=October 7

|finalyear=1923

|finalteam=Cincinnati Reds

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=10–12

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=3.51

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=43

|teams=

• Cincinnati Reds ({{mlby|1922}}–{{mlby|1923}})

}}

Frank Joseph "Cactus" Keck (January 13, 1899 – February 6, 1981) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Cincinnati Reds.[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/keckca01.shtml "Cactus Keck Statistics and History"]. baseball-reference.com. Retrieved 2011-02-11.

Keck attended Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, where he threw a no-hitter against Maplewood High School. The St. Louis Browns secured exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with Keck upon his graduation from high school.{{cite news |title=Keck Lets Maplewood Down Without a Hit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch-keck-lets-maplew/138946887/ |access-date=17 January 2024 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=23 April 1919 |pages=26}}

Keck ended his professional baseball career in 1930 to become a firefighter in Kirkwood.{{cite news |title=Former Cardinal Will Return to Ball Park |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-globe-democrat-former-cardinal/138947362/ |access-date=17 January 2024 |work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat |date=30 June 1960 |pages=52}} He retired as an assistant fire chief in 1967 and died in 1981.{{cite news |title=Ex-Cardinal Keck dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/springfield-leader-and-press-obituary-fo/138948303/ |access-date=17 January 2024 |work=Springfield Leader and Press |agency=UPI |date=8 February 1981 |pages=46}}