[3] Koenig had two brothers and a sister, and, during his childhood, he first met and played baseball with fellow San Franciscan and future teammate Tony Lazzeri.

[2] He attended Lowell High School in his hometown, but dropped out at the age of 16 in order to pursue a career in baseball.

[4] Koenig first started playing organized baseball on the Moose Jaw Millers team in the Western Canada League.

He spent nearly the next four seasons with the team; during this time, he had brief sojourns with the Jamestown Jinkotans and the Des Moines Boosters in order to garner more playing experience.

[3] However, he stayed with the Saints for the first part of the 1925 season before he was traded on May 29 to the New York Yankees in exchange for Fred Hofmann, Oscar Roettger, $50,000 ($868,691 in current dollar terms) and a player to be named later (Ernie Johnson).

[1][8] Koenig made his major league debut for the Yankees on September 8, 1925, at the age of 21,[1] entering the game as a defensive substitute for shortstop Pee-Wee Wanninger in a 5–4 win against the Boston Red Sox.

[10] In the crucial Game 7, Koenig made an error attempting to field a double play opportunity in the fourth inning.

Koenig performed impressively throughout the series, leading the team with a .500 batting average while committing no errors in 24 total chances.

[16] On May 30, 1930, the Yankees traded Koenig and Waite Hoyt to the Detroit Tigers for Ownie Carroll, Harry Rice, and Yats Wuestling.

[21] After his baseball career ended, he settled back in his hometown and took up several jobs, namely owning gas stations and working as a brewer.

In addition to the lung cancer which had developed as a three-pack-a-day smoker,[7][20] he also suffered from gout, poor eyesight and back pain necessitating the use of a cane.

At the time of his death, he was the last surviving member of the 1927 New York Yankees starting lineup, nicknamed "Murderers' Row".