Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Keltner began his professional baseball career in 1936 playing for his hometown team, the Milwaukee Brewers, then a minor league team. He made a rapid ascent through the minor leagues, and in 1938, the Cleveland Indians invited him to their spring training camp. The twenty-one-year-old Keltner made the team and played in 149 games that season, posting a .276 batting average with 26 home runs and 113 runs batted in.\n', '

On August 20, 1938, as part of a publicity stunt by the Come to Cleveland Committee, Indians\' catchers Frankie Pytlak and Hank Helf successfully caught baseballs dropped by Keltner from Cleveland\'s 708-foot-tall (216 m) Terminal Tower. The 708-foot (216 m) drop broke the 555-foot, 30-year-old record set by Washington Senator catcher Gabby Street at the Washington Monument.\n', '

In 1939, Keltner improved his hitting statistics with a career-high .325 batting average along with 13 home runs and 97 runs batted in. He also embellished his defensive reputation with a .974 fielding percentage, and leading American League third basemen with 40 double plays and 187 putouts, appearing in all 154 games. Keltner earned his first All-Star berth in 1940. In the 1941 All-Star Game, he spearheaded a ninth inning four-run rally as the American League fought back from a 5-3 deficit. Keltner beat the throw to first base for an infield single to start the rally. Three batters later, he scored on a groundout before Ted Williams followed with a two-out, game-ending, three-run home run.\n', '

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