Ron Kline was a very good major league pitcher.

He was an even better man.

Long-time Butler County sports radio personality Jim Lokhaiser claims you wouldn't be able to find anyone in Butler County who disliked the Callery native.

"Everybody loved him," Lokhaiser said. "He never said no to any person or any group. If somebody asked him to speak at an engagement, he'd be there. He was a man of his word and that's one of the things I admired about him."

Kline passed away in June 2002 from diabetes at the age of 70. He had served as Callery's mayor for eight years.

"His viewing lasted two days," said Kline's widow, Dottie. "There were steady lines of people each night until the funeral home closed. I remember a lot of former Pirates being there, like Elroy Face, Dick Groat and Steve Blass."

Kline began playing baseball at an early age. He would go on to pitch for Evans City High School, where his talents attracted attention from several major league teams.

The Boston Red Sox expressed interest in Kline, but it was the Pittsburgh Pirates who got him to sign a minor league contract.

No sooner had Kline graduated in 1950 when he began playing in the Pirates' farm system.

"That year, the Pirates signed seven hard-throwing pitchers," said Lokhaiser. "They all had a lot of promise, but Ron was the only one to end up making it to the big leagues."

After pitching in 27 games for Pittsburgh in 1952, Kline spent two years in the Army. He returned to the Pirates in 1955.

"An interesting thing about Ron, he was the first Pirate to sign a multi-year contract," said Lokhaiser. "Back then players' contracts were dealt with year to year. When Joe Brown was general manager, he signed Ron to a multi-year deal."

From 1956-59, Kline was a consistent starter for Pittsburgh. In that span, he averaged 33 starts a season, leading the team in earned run average in 1956 (3.38) and 1958 (3.53). He even earned a nickname from Pirates' radio announcer Bob Prince - The Callery Hummer."That was probably the best time he had during his career, playing in front of the hometown fans," said Lokhaiser.Pittsburgh traded him to St. Louis following the 1959 season."During spring training in 1960, Mike Surkalo (former Butler Eagle sports editor) and I went to Florida to check out some different major league teams," said Lokhaiser. "That's when I met Ron. And we became very good friends."The funny thing is, Ron was in Pittsburgh when they had some pretty bad teams," added Lokhaiser. "And in 1960, they win the World Series, but he was with the Cardinals. But he wasn't down about it. He was happy for all of his old friends still in Pittsburgh."After stints with the Cardinals, Angels and Tigers, Kline found himself wearing a Washington Senators' uniform by the mid-60s.By that time, he was pitching exclusively out of the bullpen.In 1965, he won the A.L. Firemen of the Year Award after leading the league in saves with 29. He also sported a 2.63 ERA."Earlier in his career, he was a power pitcher," said Lokhaiser. "He lost some of that speed, but then became a finesse pitcher with a wicked slider. And he was very effective coming in for two or three innings at the end of a ballgame."Kline returned to the Pirates in 1968 and arguably had his best season ever.On a team that finished in sixth place in the National League, Kline went 12-5 with seven saves and a 1.68 ERA.Shortly after a stint with the Atlanta Braves in 1970, Kline retired.His career numbers included 114 wins, 108 saves, 989 strikeouts and a 3.75 earned run average."It wasn't that hard for Ron to walk away from the game," said Lokhaiser. "He had pitched 17 seasons and just knew he'd had enough."But retirement from professional baseball didn't take the game out of his blood."Shortly after he retired, Kline, (former Pirate) Bobby Del Greco and I decided to have a baseball camp at the Butler Cubs Hall," said Lokhaiser. "We figured 40 or 50 kids would take part."But 400 kids ended up showing up and we had to run the camp over 12 weekends to accommodate all of them. And Ron made sure to sit down and sign autographs for all of them. He was very appreciative of his fans."Kline enjoyed retirement, according to Dottie."He liked to hunt and play cards with his friends," she said. "We had a mobile home near East Brady and used to go up there a lot. After a while, I stopped going, but Ron went up to stay even in the last few years of his life. He loved it up there."Kline also made sure to keep in contact with his old teammates.One of his last meetings with a former teammate came on April 27, 2002.Former Tigers' pitcher Paul Foytack, who now lives in Detroit, had flown in to sign autographs at a nearby sports card show.Lokhaiser arranged for Kline and Foytack to meet at Pullman Park, a venue the latter had played minor league baseball in during the 1950s.The two had been teammates in Detroit in 1961-62 and reminisced about their playing days."Ron was thrilled to see Paul again," said Lokhaiser."Just knowing how many people came to the funeral home to show how much he meant to them, that meant a lot to me," Dottie said.