Born in nearby Rockwell, he was a longtime resident of Salisbury, North Carolina, where he attended Catawba College. His 17-year playing career began in 1938. In August and September 1952 with Washington, his teammate (and fellow catcher) was George Bradshaw, also a Salisbury native (2010 population: 33,663). Kluttz appeared in 52 regular season games as a member of the 1946 world champion Cardinals—and was the starting catcher on October 3 for the flag-clinching Game 2 of the postseason playoff against the Brooklyn Dodgers—but he did not play in the 1946 World Series.\n', '

In nine Major League seasons, Kluttz played in 656 games, and had 1,903 at-bats, 172 runs, 510 hits, 90 doubles, 8 triples, 19 home runs, 212 RBI, 5 stolen bases, 132 walks, .268 batting average, .318 on-base percentage, .354 slugging percentage, 673 total bases and 30 sacrifice hits.\n', '

Kluttz was a longtime scout after his playing days ended, working with the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees. He was credited with signing Baseball Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter, a fellow North Carolinian, for the Athletics in 1964, and, 11 years later, while serving as the Yankees\' scouting director (1974–75), he played a key role in convincing free agent Hunter to join the Yankees. Kluttz soon departed to become director of player development of the Baltimore Orioles, serving from 1976 until his 1979 death, in Salisbury, at age 61 from kidney and heart ailments.\n', '

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