Frank Kellert

Jackie Robinson’s theft of home plate in Game One of the 1955 Fall Classic is widely considered one of the most electrifying moments in World Series history. Standing in the batter’s box as Robinson broke for home was Brooklyn Dodgers pinch-hitter Frank Kellert, who saw up close New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra’s tag, one that home plate umpire Bill Summers ruled was late. Traded to the Chicago Cubs after the Dodgers won the Series, Kellert claimed Summers got the call wrong, drawing widespread backlash.

A two-sport athlete at Oklahoma A&M, Kellert left school to enlist in the Army during World War II, where he miraculously survived the sinking of a troop ship off the coast of Africa. A top-flight collegiate pitcher who could hit with power, Kellert suffered a shoulder injury during a college All-Star game at Fenway Park that turned him into a first baseman. A right-handed “dead-pull hitter,” he was originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals.1 The 1954 Texas League Player of the Year as a Baltimore Orioles farmhand, Kellert was a throw-in in a deal with Brooklyn before the 1955 season. His performance coming off the bench that year greatly impressed manager Walter Alston. A decade later, Alston said that Kellert “probably pinch-hit as good as anyone I ever had.”2

Unable to reproduce in Chicago the success he’d enjoyed with Brooklyn, Kellert bounced between a half-dozen far-flung Triple-A clubs from 1957 to 1959 before retiring to run a credit union at the Oklahoma City meat packing company that his father long had managed.

Frank William Kellert was born on July 6, 1924, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the third of five children born to Albert and Catherine (née Theimer) Kellert, a couple of German descent.3 A machinist at a local meat packing plant, Albert played first base in local amateur leagues and introduced young Frank to baseball “before [he] could toddle.”4 At the age of 11, Frank served as a mascot for his father’s company softball team along with his older brother Paul.5 By that time, the industrious Albert had risen to the position of plant superintendent, a job he held for 25 years. A generous supporter of local youth baseball, Albert in later years was called the father of Oklahoma City sandlot ball.6

As a 14-year-old, Kellert pitched for an American Legion team that took the state championship, playing alongside future major-leaguer Cot Deal and future minor-league home run king Joe Bauman.7 At Oklahoma City’s Classen High School, Kellert excelled at football, basketball, and baseball. On the gridiron he was “a zig-zag hoofer and accurate passer,” who could throw a football up to 60 yards.”8 Standing 6-foot-3 (or slightly less), he played center on the basketball team, with “the finest game of his [hoops] career” coming in a regional playoff game that earned Classen a trip to the state championship match.9 He pitched and played the outfield for Classen during the school year, then in summers played both softball and baseball. In 1942, Kellert and brother Paul formed the star battery for Oklahoma’s sandlot baseball champions, the Wilson & Company Packers, once again representing the business that their father worked for.10

Offered an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Oklahoma A&M, Kellert was set to play for legendary head coach Hank Iba in the fall of 1942, but duty called.11 On the first anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kellert joined the Army Air Corps.12 Stationed stateside through the summer of 1943, he had the opportunity to play baseball for a Tennessee airfield team and softball for an Oklahoma City industrial league team while on leave.13

By mid-November 1943, Kellert was aboard the British troop carrier Rohna, bound for India via the Suez Canal. The former commercial vessel carried close to 2,000 Americans on their way to support combat operations against Japanese forces in the China-Burma-India theatre. On the afternoon of November 26, the Rohna was attacked by Nazi fighter planes off the coast of Algeria. A massive explosion from a radio-guided bomb doomed the transport and forced survivors to abandon ship. Unable to swim and wearing a life belt designed for use in shallow water, Kellert treaded water for 9½ hours before he was rescued.14 More than 1,100 perished, most of them Americans, in the largest loss of U.S. military lives at sea from enemy attack in any war. The details of this tragedy were kept classified for decades.15 After his harrowing ordeal, Kellert continued on to Bangalore, where he worked as an airfield control tower operator, and then to Sikiang (now Xinjiang), China, where he was stationed until the end of World War II.16

Back on campus in the spring of 1946, Kellert was the starting pitcher for Oklahoma A&M’s first season-opener in three years.17 He finished the year with a 15-2 record, earning a berth on the Midwest squad for a June national collegiate all-star tilt at Fenway Park. Relieving in the fifth inning, he surrendered three runs and took the loss but doubled for his team’s only extra-base hit.18 Sliding into second base, Kellert tore a ligament in his pitching arm, effectively ending his days as a pitcher.19

With the help of head coach Toby Greene and Iba, doing double duty as an assistant baseball coach, Kellert transitioned to playing first base.20 Manning that position in 1947, he led all A&M hitters in home runs and doubles while hitting .425.21 Kellert’s  strong play drew the attention of Pittsburgh Pirates scout Lloyd Waner, who wanted him to try out for the Pirates’ Tulsa affiliate. Kellert’s father ran off the future Hall of Famer because he wantedhis son to finish college first.22

As a junior, Kellert was the “big gun in the Stillwater hitting attack,” topping A&M hitters in batting average and RBIs.23 He led the Aggies to an NCAA playoff triumph over Nebraska in which both he and Cornhuskers outfielder Bob Cerv hit mammoth home runs to center field.24 Heading into his senior year, Kellert and his wife, the former Doris Lucille Fischer of Milwaukee, welcomed their first child, Frank Jr. Married in January 1948, the couple had a daughter, Diane, in 1951 and another son, Steve, in 1953.25 

The Aggies’ top home run hitter again in 1949, Kellert signed a contract with scout Fred Hawn of the St. Louis Cardinals for a $4,000 bonus the day after the college season ended.26 He left A&M with a degree in Animal Husbandry.

Assigned to Rochester of the International League, Kellert immediately was optioned to the Houston Buffaloes of the Double-A Texas League. After just five games, in which he went 2-for-7, Kellert was shipped to the Lynchburg (Virginia) Cardinals of the Class B Piedmont League.27 He scored the winning run in his Lynchburg debut and four weeks later, on July 28, went 4-for-5 with a grand slam off recently signed 18-year-old Dodgers prospect Ed Roebuck.28 An All-Piedmont honorable mention, Kellert led Lynchburg with 10 home runs and drew a key walk in a 13th-inning rally that earned the Cardinals a postseason crown.29

Promoted to Houston for the 1950 season, Kellert was back in Lynchburg by early May – at his request. “My wife was expecting a baby and we had friends there and like[d] the town,” he later explained.30 Devoted to his growing family, Kellert told a Daily Oklahoman reporter that if he didn’t reach the majors in another year or two, he’d go into business in Oklahoma.31 He finished the year with 17 homers for the third-place Cardinals, tied for tops on the team, with a .303 batting average and 73 walks against only 28 strikeouts. On May 21, he hit a grand slam in the first Piedmont League game ever televised in the Virginia Tidewater area.32

In October 1950, Kellert was part of a six-player trade between the Buffaloes (who still held his contract) and the Cardinals’ Class A affiliate in Omaha.33 Kellert balked at the prospect of playing Class A ball at age 27, so Houston bought his contract back and loaned him to the unaffiliated Oklahoma City Indians of the Double-A Texas League.34 Playing in his hometown, Kellert hit .295 in 1951, with a league-leading 42 doubles. 

During the 1951 season, Oklahoma City minority owner Bill Veeck purchased the St. Louis Browns and their holdings, which included a TL affiliate in San Antonio. To satisfy Organized Baseball’s prohibitions on ownership conflicts of interest, Veeck had to sell his stake in the Indians. As part of that transaction, Kellert’s contract was transferred to the Browns.35 He was invited to the Browns’ 1952 training camp but failed to impress manager Rogers Hornsby.36 Back with Oklahoma City, Kellert played in every Indians game and collected a league-leading 285 total bases with 22 home runs and 81 RBIs. He also put together a 26-game hitting streak.37 Kellert was called up to St. Louis after the TL playoffs but never appeared in a game.38

The Browns broke camp in the spring of 1953 with Kellert as a backup to former AL Rookie of the Year Roy Sievers. He made his major league debut on April 18 as a pinch-hitter, grounding out in an extra-inning win over the Detroit Tigers. A week later, Kellert made his first start and went 0-for-3 while doing “a fancy field job around the bag” in a loss to the Chicago White Sox.39 Idle the next few weeks, Kellert suggested that he be sent back to the minors, and so was returned to Oklahoma City.40 He registered solid offensive numbers with the Indians (23 homers, 90 RBIs, and a .289 batting average) and fashioned a 63-game errorless streak that cemented his reputation as a gloveman.41

After the 1953 season, Kellert was invited to join a group of Oklahoma major-leaguers in an exhibition game held in Tulsa to raise money for that city’s YMCA baseball program.  Playing for a team headlined by two New York Yankees – hurler Allie Reynolds and 21-year-old Mickey Mantle – Kellert hit a two-run homer off perennial NL All-Star Warren Spahn.42 Kellert had participated in a Reynolds-organized exhibition in 1950 and would continue to do so throughout his baseball career.

Committed to staying fit and avoiding the slow starts that had plagued him in previous springs, Kellert played three seasons of winter ball in the mid-1950s. He spent two months with the Mexico City Diablos of the Veracruz (Mexico) Winter League in 1953-54 after manning first base for the Almendares Blues in the Cuban Winter League a year earlier.43 During the winter of 1954-55, Kellert was with the San Juan Senadores in the Puerto Rican Winter League, where he finished in the top-10 in batting average and collected 31 RBIs.44

Relocated to Baltimore after 52 mostly losing years in St. Louis, the former Browns held their inaugural training camp newly named as the Orioles in the spring of 1954. Kellert was one of four battling for the first base job eventually won by Eddie Waitkus, the supposed inspiration for Bernard Malamud’s The Natural.45 Kellert’s contract was sold to San Antonio, where he was dubbed “the H-bomb in the Mission blitzkrieg.”46 He drove in three runs in the season-opener, hit the first home run of the year at Mission Stadium, and clubbed four home runs in six at-bats in a May doubleheader to tie a 29-year-old TL record.47 Kellert found particular success facing future Yankee standout Luis Arroyo, with a grand slam off the screwballer in one game and a pair of four-baggers in another in which Arroyo became the first Texas Leaguer since Dizzy Dean to fan 17 in a game.48 Kellert, who turned 30 in midseason, was also a steadying force for the team’s younger ballplayers and occasionally filled in for manager Don Heffner.49

Kellert finished the year with 41 home runs, 146 RBIs, and a .316 batting average for the fifth-place Missions, and was voted TL Player of the Year.50 His .995 fielding percentage also made him the first first baseman to lead the league in fielding for four straight years.51 Called up to Baltimore in mid-September, Kellert drilled a game-ending single in his first game, off southpaw Mickey McDermott of the Washington Senators. Over 10 games he hit only .206 (7-for-34 with two doubles) but was flawless on defense, with no errors in 76 chances.

Kellert expected to parlay his San Antonio success into a spot with the Orioles in 1955, but instead was traded in March to the Brooklyn Dodgers, along with an undisclosed amount of cash, for pitcher Erv Palica The transaction was made necessary when former Brooklyn hurler Preacher Roe elected to retire immediately after getting dealt to the Orioles a few months earlier. Owing the Orioles either $20,000 or a replacement for Roe, Brooklyn management offered up Palica, but insisted on receiving something in return, which turned out to be Kellert and cash.52

Kellert was put on the Triple-A St. Paul roster after the trade, but Dodgers manager Walt Alston wanted a hard-hitting righty on his bench. Prepared to retire if he was sent back to the minors, Kellert was “the happiest Dodger of them all” when he made the Opening Day roster as a pinch-hitter and backup to first baseman Gil Hodges.53 Kellert reached base in his first four plate appearances for Brooklyn (all as a pinch-hitter), with two singles, two walks, and an RBI. Given a start on May 18 when Hodges was moved to the outfield to protect an injured finger, Kellert went 2-for-4 off the Cardinals’ Harvey Haddix.54 Two days later, he suffered a broken nose on a grounder hit during batting practice by Jackie Robinson, but missed only one week of action.55

Winners of 22 of their first 24, Brooklyn ran off with the NL pennant in 1955, finishing 13½ games ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Braves. Alston rarely needed Kellert to play, but when given the chance he often delivered. Appearing in 39 games, Kellert hit .325, with 10 extra-base hits, 19 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 147, higher than every Dodgers regular other than Duke Snider and eventual NL MVP Roy Campanella.

Kellert’s ability to hit the long ball was evident on the few occasions when he was penciled into the starting lineup. He hit his first major-league home run playing first base for Hodges in early June – an Ebbets Field blast that helped Don Newcombe notch the ninth of ten straight wins he reeled off to open the season.56 In late August, Alston tried a “’more-punch’ lineup” that had Kellert at first base and Hodges in left field; Kellert hit a pair of homers in one game off Warren “Home Run” Hacker of the Chicago Cubs.57 The last of Kellert’s four home runs in 1955 came in a start against Robin Roberts on September 20, giving the All-Star Game starter the dubious honor of tying the major-league record for most homers allowed in a season (39).58

The 1955 World Series featured the Dodgers facing the Yankees for the fifth time in nine years, and sixth time overall, with New York having won every previous meeting. Down 6-4 in the eighth inning of Game One at Yankee Stadium, Kellert was sent up to hit for reliever Don Bessent against southpaw starter Whitey Ford with two out and Robinson on third.59

As Ford delivered his first pitch to Kellert, Robinson broke for home. With Kellert still in the batter’s box, Berra stepped forward to receive the ball. Kellert stepped away and Berra tagged Robinson as he reached the plate. Summers called Robinson safe, sending Berra into a rage. He charged the veteran arbiter60 and screamed, to no avail, that he’d made the tag in time. Once play resumed, Kellert singled to right center field, but Ford retired Jim Gilliam to end the inning. Kellert had two more pinch-hitting appearances in the Series: grounding into a double play in Game Two and popping out in Game Six.61 Johnny Podres’ eight-hit shutout in the deciding Game Seven gave Brooklyn its only World Series crown. A week later, Kellert was a former Dodger, traded to the Chicago Cubs for $25,000.62

Interviewed by the Daily Oklahoman, Kellert was upbeat about the deal when he said it “gives me a chance to play every day and that’s what I want above all else.”63 Then he dropped a bombshell, claiming that Berra had tagged Robinson before he touched the plate. Reaction to Kellert’s comment was swift. Robinson, who had thanked Kellert for hanging in the batter’s box so long on the play, called Summers’ decision “right.”64 Summers, reached while on vacation, said “I’m satisfied I made the right call,” and pointed out that if Kellert had swung, both he and Robinson would have been awarded bases on catcher’s interference.65 

Reporters charged Kellert with “speaking out of school,” “tattl[ing],” or expressing sour grapes over the trade.66 One unnamed veteran suggested that “Kellert better swing at everything within reach of him next year,” adding that “the umpires’ union isn’t going to like him.”67 The furor quickly died down, but in February an Associated Press story claimed that players, managers, and coaches across the U.S. were chuckling about Kellert’s “boner” – failing to swing.68 Not shy about burning Brooklyn bridges, in March Kellert declared “[t]here is more spirit on the Cubs this year than there was last spring on the Brooklyn team.”69

Kellert spent the 1956 season as a backup once again to a long-tenured fan favorite, in this case Chicago’s Dee Fondy. He started the year 1-for-13 (.067), was booed (predictably) when he returned to Ebbets Field in May, and finished the season hitting .186 (24-for-129) for the last-place Cubs, with four homers and 17 RBIs.70 Kellert flied out in his final at-bat, ending an inning in which Ernie Banks hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run at Wrigley Field. Kellert’s major-league career was over after 122 games in which he batted .231, hit eight homers, and made only five errors in nearly 500 chances.

As Kellert busily sold cars in the offseason for an Oklahoma City Ford dealer, the Cubs overhauled their front office, replacing manager Stan Hack, all of his coaches, and even the club’s business manager.71 Kellert was among the first players let go by the new leadership.72 One of the major leagues’ “[b]iggest disappointments, batting-wise,” he was assigned to the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Los Angeles.73 In January, Kellert was dealt to the San Francisco Seals, the Boston Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League, for pitcher Bill Henry.74

The PCL’s top hitter after the season’s first month, Kellert earned a starting nod in the league’s midseason All-Star game alongside teammate Ken Aspromonte and batted cleanup.75 He collected a career-high five hits in an 18-17 slugfest win over the Hollywood Stars on July 20 and clubbed the Seals’ 100th homer of the year, hit off 21-year-old Cleveland Indians prospect Jim “Mudcat” Grant.76 San Francisco won the PCL pennant, with Kellert hitting .308, fourth-best in the league, while leading the team in doubles (36), RBIs (107), and games played (164). He played first base in San Francisco’s final home game before they relinquished Seals Stadium to the former New York Giants, a farcical affair in which Seals manager Joe Gordon played the field for the first time in five years and home plate umpire Chris Pelekoudas briefly pitched.77

Heading into the 1958 season, Red Sox farm director Johnny Murphy sang Kellert’s praises. “Kellert hits with authority, … a long-ball right-handed batter who is a tough guy to fool,” he told The Sporting News, adding “Fenway Park is sort of tailor-made for Kellert.”78 Kellert’s batting stance, deep in the batter’s box and far off the plate, compared favorably to Hornsby, his former almost-manager, but recent acquisition Pete Runnels won the Sox’s first-base job.79 Visions of Kellert clanking balls off the Green Monster were replaced by the reality that he would be playing for Triple-A Minneapolis of the American Association.

The oldest position player on manager Gene Mauch’s Millers, Kellert recorded the team’s first RBI of the season by driving in Pumpsie Green a year before Green became the first Black ballplayer in Red Sox history.80 Helped little by the Millers’ accomplished but frequently inebriated hitting instructor, Jimmie Foxx, Kellert did manage three hits in a mid-June exhibition win over Boston, in front of over 18,000 Millers fans at Metropolitan Stadium.81 But his anemic .191/.302/.302 slash line earned him a trip back to the PCL. Loaned to the Cubs’ Portland club, Kellert hit .290 over 87 games, with 15 home runs, 50 RBIs, and a stellar .992 fielding percentage.82 One of those homers came at the end of a rare back-to-back-to-back.83

Kellert’s final year in professional baseball, 1959, was an odyssey that began when the Seattle Rainiers, a Cincinnati Reds farm team, purchased his contract from Minneapolis. Dubbed “Abe Lincoln” by teammate Bob DiPietro, Kellert lasted only 25 games before he was uprooted again.84 Along with pitcher Vito Valentinetti and first baseman Norm Zauchin, he was traded to the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in Miami, Florida. Needing to stop home before joining his new team, Kellert spent 29 hours driving from Seattle to Oklahoma City, then took a plane to Miami. He was given a police escort after he arrived at Miami Airport, making it to Miami Stadium just in time to debut in that night’s starting lineup.85

Unable to hit well enough to satisfy his manager – Pepper Martin, of Gashouse Gang fame – Kellert was back in the Pacific Northwest in August, traded to the Vancouver Mounties. He hit six home runs in 25 games but couldn’t help Vancouver overtake Salt Lake City for the PCL crown.86

In December, Kellert was traded, in a five-player deal, to yet another PCL team, the Spokane Indians.87 Offered a salary he considered unattractive, he retired to take a position managing the Wilson & Company credit union in Oklahoma City. “The time comes to everyone when the decision finally has to be made, and this is too good an opportunity to pass up,” he told the Daily Oklahoman. “I liked the game, it was good to me, but six months away from home is too much.”88

Over the next few years, Kellert kept involved with baseball in Oklahoma by participating in a hitting exhibition, helping out at clinics and ticket drives, and holding various leadership positions for Oklahoma City’s YMCA junior baseball organization.89 He also spent time coaching youngsters, including his eldest son, Frank Jr.90 Kellert’s namesake starred as a high school ballplayer and, beginning in 1968, played shortstop for his father’s alma mater, by then known as Oklahoma State University.91 Kellert played his last reported game of baseball in 1971 at the age of 47, in an old-timers game that included Dale Mitchell, Don Demeter, and a host of other former major leaguers from Oklahoma.92

After a lengthy battle with cancer, Frank Kellert died at his Oklahoma City home on November 19, 1976. Survived by his father, wife, and three children, he was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.93 “Frank had a lot of ability, talent and guts,” said his former Oklahoma City Indians manager,  Tommy Tatum. “He was a good man for any team he played for.”94

In 1988, the San Antonio Sunday Express-News named Kellert to its all-time San Antonio professional baseball team, based on his standout 1954 season in that city. Also on that dream team were Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson, Billy Williams, Joe Morgan, Ron Santo, and Dennis Eckersley.95 Fifteen years later, in early 2003, Oklahoma State University inducted Kellert into its Baseball Hall of Fame.96

As of June 2025, Kellert’s wife, Doris, resides in an Oklahoma City nursing home. Each day, she has lunch with one or more of her three children (Frank Jr., Diane, and Steve). Steve (now retired, as are his siblings) wonders – had his father not hurt his shoulder at Fenway Park – “What if he could have been a pitcher who contributed to the hitting lineup when his [turn in the] rotation … came around?”97 Considering he was an accomplished collegiate hurler before his injury, Kellert might have reached the majors as a pitcher, and enjoyed a longer stay than he did.  

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to Steven Kellert and Frank Kellert Jr. for sharing memories of their father as well as providing copies of several invaluable sources.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credit: Frank Kellert, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted FamilySearch.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, Statscrew.com and stathead.com.

Notes

1 “Beavers Get Ex-SF Star,” (Portland) Oregon Sunday Journal, June 22, 1958: B1.

2 Sid Ziff, “Could Be an Agony Fight on TV,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1966: III-3. Between Alston’s inaugural year as Dodgers manager (1954) and the year when he made the statement (1966), only two Dodgers with at least 10 pinch-hitting appearances had a higher pinch-hitting batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging average than Kellert’s .308/.412/.538 marks in 1955 – Lee Walls (.481/.500/.630 in 1962) and Frank Howard (.368/.478/.684 in 1961). Kellert’s ability to put the ball in play might have been why Alston favored him; he fanned only once in 17 plate appearances.

3 “Public Records,” (Oklahoma City) Daily Oklahoman, July 9, 1924: 14.

4 “Maywood and Lutheran Meet in Deciding Game Friday,” (Oklahoma City) Oklahoma News, August 5, 1925: 10; Charles Dexter, “The Luckiest Dodger,” Baseball Digest, September 1955: 31.

5 “Bob Schnaufer is Not So Soft So Wilson Defeats Another City Team for Oklahoma Softball Title,” Oklahoma City Times, September 3, 1935: 12.

6 “The Luckiest Dodger.”; “Wilson’s Oklahoma Pioneer Executives,” Tulsa World, October 1, 1961: 81.

7 “Capitol Hill ‘Kids’ Battle in Legion’s Regional Ball Tourney,” Oklahoma City Weekly Beacon, August 11, 1939: 1. Playing for the Roswell Rockets of the Class-C Longhorn League, Bauman in 1954 became the first professional ballplayer to hit 70 home runs in a season.

8 “Redskins Run into Comets,” Daily Oklahoman, September 26, 1940: 16; “The Luckiest Dodger.”

9 “The Luckiest Dodger.”; “Comets Nose to Cup,” Daily Oklahoman, March 8, 1942: 39. Listed at 6-foot-2 by Baseball-Reference, Kellert claimed he was 6-foot-3 in an interview with Baseball Digest in 1955, but one-half inch shorter on the American League questionnaire he completed in 1951. Retrosheet.com lists Kellert as 6-foot-2½. American League Questionnaire, November 23, 1951, Frank Kellert Hall of Fame file.

10 Daily Oklahoman, August 25, 1942: 12; “Packers Win, 11-3, Behind Kellert,” Daily Oklahoman, August 24, 1942: 17.

11 “The Luckiest Dodger”; “Cage Hopefuls Get Ready for Coming Season,” Stillwater (Oklahoma) O’Collegian, November 4, 1942: 3.

12 “Interviews Slated by Seabees Officer,” Enid (Oklahoma) Morning News, December 8, 1942: 8.

13 “Army Nine is Guest of the Grays,” Evansville (Indiana) Sunday Courier and Press, August 8, 1943: 19; “Kellert No-Hitter Drops Milkman From B Playoff,” Daily Oklahoman, August 16, 1943: 17; “Aircraft in Spin as Packers Win,” Daily Oklahoman, August 21, 1943: 10.

14 “Kellert Came Up the Hard Way,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 14, 1955: 31.

15 Martin J. Bollinger, “The Rohna Disaster,” December 2024, U.S. Naval Institute, https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history/2024/december/rohna-disaster#:~:text=The%20Rohna%2C%20stuffed%20with%20almost,collected%20over%20the%20postwar%20years. Details were classified at first owing to the novelty of the glide bomb used to sink the ship and remained classified long after the war to save the U.S. and British Navies from embarrassment. Chaos that unfolded in attempting to deploy the ship’s lifeboats is eerily similar to what took place in the last moments of the HMS Titanic.

16 Jack Murphy, “So They Tell Me,” Oklahoma City Times, April 20, 1951: 33; “The Luckiest Dodger.”

17 Otis Wile, “Even Coaches Need Scorecard as Aggies Clip Central, 12-5,” Daily Oklahoman, April 2, 1946: 30.

18 “East College Nine Victor,” Detroit Free Press, June 15, 1946: 12.

19 “The Luckiest Dodger.”; John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, May 3, 1957: 38. Kellert did pitch a few games for the Wilson Packers the following summer but never pitched again in college or as a professional. See, for example “Packers Poison Spiders, 17 to 3,” Daily Oklahoman, August 6, 1946: 37.

20 John Ferguson, “OSU Diamond Fete Says Goodbye to Toby Greene,” Tulsa World, July 11, 1964: 9.

21 “Nim Free Skyrockets to .464 Bat Average as Aggies Hit .299,” Stillwater O’Collegian, May 10, 1947: 3.

22 George Durham, “Ramblings in the Sports World,” Bartlesville (Oklahoma) Morning Examiner, June 18, 1947: 4.

23 “W.U. Baseball’s Contest Tonight,” Wichita (Kansas) Eagle, May 4, 1948: 7; Jimmie Kirkman, “Dots … and Dashes –,” North Platte (Nebraska) Telegraph-Bulletin, June 5, 1948: 12.

24 “Oklahoma Aggies Win 8-5 in Last District Playoff,” (Lincoln, Nebraska) Summer Nebraskan, June 11, 1948: 3. Cerv, like Kellert, had also survived an enemy air attack at sea during World War II. He was a radar operator on a Navy destroyer that withstood multiple kamikaze attacks by Japanese pilots during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in November 1944.

25 “Doris L. Fischer, Frank W. Kellert Exchange Vows,” Daily Oklahoman, January 25, 1948: 56; “Hospital Notes,” Stillwater News-Press, April 6, 1949: 2; “So They Tell Me.”

26 “Houston Gets ‘Pokes Kellert, First Baseman,” Fort Worth Star Telegram, June 18, 1949: 10; “The Luckiest Dodger.” The day before he signed, Kellert homered off University of Texas hurler Murray Wall in a losing cause as A&M fell to the Longhorns in an NCAA regional playoff game. “Texas Wins in Ninth,” Kansas City Times, June 17, 1949: 22.

27 Based on game log compiled by the author from box scores published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Galveston News, Dallas Morning News and Shreveport Times. See, for example “Shippers Help Cats Gain Tie for Lead,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 20, 1949: 16.

28 “Single in 9th Enables Cards to Edge Colts,” Newport News (Virginia) Press, July 1, 1949: 8: “Higgins Hurls Superb Relief Ball; Wins 9th,” Roanoke (Virginia) World-News, July 29, 1949: 13.

29 “Portsmouth Cubs Dominate 1949 All-Piedmont Team,” Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, August 20, 1949: 11; “13th-Inning Squeeze Bunt Brings Cardinals Crown in Piedmont League Playoffs,” Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, September 26, 1949: 21.

30 “The Luckiest Dodger.”

31 John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, May 12, 1950: 30.

32 Tom Fergusson, “Time Out …,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, May 22, 1950: 22.

33 “Four to Houston,” Omaha Evening World-Herald, October 13, 1950: 35. One of the players Houston received in the deal was 20-year-old infielder Earl Weaver.

34 “17 Buffs Answer Sunshine,” Houston Chronicle, February 24, 1951: 6; “Frank Kellert Bought by Oklahoma City,” Woodward (Oklahoma) Press, April 5, 1951: 4.

35 “Trautman Rules Veeck Must Sell One TL Club,” Springfield (Missouri) News, July 7, 1951: 5; Pete Rice, “Humphries Swings Deal for Ball Club,” Daily Oklahoman, July 22, 1951: 1.

36 “Injun Grads,” Daily Oklahoman, March 12, 1952: 18; “Kellert Deal Explained by O.C.,” San Antonio Light, April 30, 1952: 12-C.

37 “Dallas Eagles Lose Ground in Loss to Oklahoma City,” Austin American-Statesman, August 4, 1952: 11.

38 “Browns Recall Seven Players from Farms,” Joplin (Missouri) Globe, August 30, 1952: 6.

39 Lowell Reidenbaugh, “Brownies’ Pitching Better Than Billing, But Not the Batting,” The Sporting News, May 6, 1953: 16.

40 John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, May 10, 1953: 19.

41 John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, July 30, 1953: 20.

42 “Reynolds’ All-Stars Beat Spahn Twice,” The Sporting News, October 28, 1953: 18. Two years earlier Kellert singled off Spahn, a resident of Hartshorne, Oklahoma, in a YMCA-sponsored “major league All-Star game” played in Oklahoma City. Wayne Mason, “Spahn Stars Triumph, 2-1; Reynolds’ Arm Stands Test,” Daily Oklahoman, October 22, 1951: 24.

43 John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, February 21, 1954: 95; Dent McSkimming, “Baseball on the Upswing in Mexico; Shortage of Parks Chief Handicap,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 24, 1954: 4D; Rene Molina, “Desplegando un Fuerte ataque, los Alacranes le ganaron al Marianao con Erickson en la lomita,” Havana Diaro de la Marina, November 1, 1952: 18; Pedro Galiana, “Klein and Rand Go on Homer Sprees for Havana Reds,” The Sporting News, January 7, 1953: 23; Jorge S. Figueredo, Who’s Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2003), 296. Kellert hit only .219 for Almendares over 40 games, batting in the middle of a lineup that included major leaguers Guillermo “Willy” Miranda and Hector Rodriguez plus future Brooklyn Dodgers All-Star Gino Cimoli, He was let go before the end of the winter season.

44 “Puerto Rican Front-Runners,” The Sporting News, February 9, 1955: 28.

45 C. Paul Rogers III, “Eddie Waitkus,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Eddie-Waitkus/; “The Big Stretch,” Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1954: 19; Dick Peebles, “Thanks Orioles – Welcome Kellert,” San Antonio Express, March 30, 1954: 6B.Though he didn’t make the Orioles roster for the regular season, Kellert did played in the relocated club’s very first exhibition game. Al Kermisch, “Orioles were winners in ’54 – briefly,” Washington Times, March 17, 1987: 4C.

46 John Trowbridge, “Kellert Bell-Wether of Heffner’s Wonders,” San Antonio Light, June 26, 1954: 4.

47 John Cronley, “Padres Rip Tribe, 9-2, to Spoil Home Opener,” Daily Oklahoman, April 16, 1954: 48; San Antonio Express, May 9, 1954: 5D; “Kellert Equals Homerun Mark as Padres Split,” Daily Oklahoman, May 31, 1954: 25. Kellert won a wristwatch from a local jeweler for collecting the first home run of the season at home.

48 Clark Nealon, “Houston Tops Missions, 7-6,” Houston Post, August 22, 1954: 1-4.; “Arroyo Fans 17 as Buffs Crush San Antonio, 8-4,” Daily Oklahoman, September 6, 1954: 25.

49 See, for example “Sports Crumble, 9-2,” Lubbock (Texas) Morning Avalanche, August 21, 1954: 6.

50 “Padre, Sport Stars Get No. 1 Rating,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 26, 1954: 40. Future NL MVP Ken Boyer was a distant second in the voting. A modest Kellert later claimed that he was favored during the year by prevailing southerly winds, as home plate lies at the southern end of most ballparks. “The Luckiest Dodger.”

51 “Kellert Set Texas Field Mark,” The Sporting News, November 10, 1954: 26.

52 Dick Young, “Dodgers Repay Orioles; Swap Pleek for Kellert,” New York Daily News, March 19, 1955: 16; “Dodgers Send Palica to Orioles,” The Sporting News, March 23, 1955: 25. In a lengthy 1955 interview with a writer for Baseball Digest, Kellert asserted that he was let go by Baltimore because Orioles manager Paul Richards was committed to playing recent acquisition Gus Triandos at first base in order to prove the benefit of the blockbuster trade that brought Triandos and others to Baltimore from the Yankees in exchange for All-Star and fan-favorite Bob Turley. “The Luckiest Dodger.”

53 Chicago Cubs 1956 Yearbook, 19; Harold Scherwitz, “Sportlights,” San Antonio Light, April 20, 1955: 16.

54 “Dodgers’ Errors Aid Cards, Haddix to Post 3-2 Victory,” Orlando Sentinel, May 19, 1955: 14.

55 “Frank Kellert’s Nose Broken by Ground Ball,” Hartford Courant, May 21, 1955: 14.

56 John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, July 13, 1955: 19. For that game and the next five, Hodges was in right field, filling in for an injured Carl Furillo.

57 Dick Young, “Homerless Brooks Zero Redlegs, 4-0,” New York Daily News, June 8, 1955: 20; Dick Young, “4 Dodgers HR, Drub Cubs, 9-5,” New York Daily News, August 25, 1955: 21. Hacker was arguably the Dodgers’ favorite punching bag in 1955. Brooklyn batters touched him up for 13 home runs that year, tying a franchise record for an opposing pitcher set by Les Sweetland of the 1930 Philadelphia Phillies.

58 “Brooks Help Roberts to Gopher Ball Title,” Asbury Park (New Jersey) Evening Press, September 21, 1955: 25. Later in the game, Roberts broke the record when Dodgers left fielder George Shuba took him deep. Roberts established a new mark the following year, when he allowed 46 home runs.

59 Unfamiliar with the lanky Oklahoman, Yankee public address announcer Bob Sheppard introduced him as “Don” Kellert. “Mantle May Play at Ebbets Field,” Staten Island (New York) Advance, September 29, 1955: 35.

60 Finishing his 23rd year as an American League umpire, Summers was working his seventh World Series.

61 Doubled up after hitting a slow roller to shortstop with two runners on base and the Dodgers trailing, 8-4, the slow-footed Kellert “looked like a man carrying a bass viol on his back as he trudged to first base,” according to sportswriter Joe Trimble. Joe Trimble, “Byrne Cuffs Brooks With 5 Hits, 4-2,” New York Daily News, September 30, 1955: C20.

62 Baseball-Reference lists Kellert as having been selected off waivers by Chicago. Initials reports claimed the Cubs agreed to send the Dodgers a player to be named later, but none was. Asked about the decision to part with Kellert, a Dodgers representative said simply “He doesn’t fit into our plans for ’56.” “Frank Kellert Proving Great Buy for Cubs,” Mt. Vernon (Illinois) Register-News, March 13, 1956: 8; McCullery, “Kellert Sold,” New York Daily News, October 11, 1955: 24.

63 “Switch to Cubs is Okay with City’s Kellert,” Daily Oklahoman, October 12, 1955: 24.

64 “Rhubarb Developing Between Robinson and Kellert,” Salisbury (North Carolina) Evening Post, October 14, 1955: 6.

65 Gerry Hern, “Summers Tabs Kellert Not Smart – Should Have Swung at Pitch,” The Sporting News, October 26, 1955: 16.

66 John Cronley, “Once Over Lightly,” Daily Oklahoman, October 27, 1955: 24.

67 Ira Seebacher, “Kellert Blast at Ump Likely to Boomerang,” The Sporting News, October 26, 1955: 12.

68 Frank Eck, “Boner Chalked Up to Kellert,” Enid Morning News, February 14, 1956: 6.

69 “Kellert Picks Cubs as N.L. Dark Horse,” Chicago Sun Times, March 30, 1956: 57.

70 “Diamond Dust,” New York Daily News, May 21, 1956: 52; Edgar Munzel, “Bums Give Cubs Two 5-3 Pastings,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 21, 1956: 58.

71 “Frank Kellert,” Daily Oklahoman, October 28, 1956: B16; Steve Dunn, “John Holland,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/john-holland-2/. Kellert continued selling cars every off-season up until he retired. Daily Oklahoman, February 5, 1959: 27.

72 Edward Prell, “Cubs Call Up 4 Farm Hands, White Sox 2,” Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1956: 51.

73 George Girsch, “Mays, Campy, Richie Dropped in Hitting,” The Sporting News, January 9, 1957: 15. Kellert had some prestigious company on The Sporting News list, which also named 1956 All-Stars Willie Mays, Ted Kluszewski, George Kell, Roy Sievers, Roy Campanella, and Duke Snider.

74 Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet show that San Francisco’s parent club, the Red Sox, also received cash in the deal, but several contemporary accounts claim that the cash went in the other direction – from the Seals to the Los Angeles Angels. See, for example “Seals Acquire Frank Kellert,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Union, January 10, 1957: 35. The Portland Oregonian later reported that San Francisco handed over $10,000 to $15,000 to get Kellert. L.H. Gregory, “Greg’s Gossip,” (Portland) Oregonian, September 16, 1957: 1-S.

75 Seals’ Kellert Tops With .359,” Oakland Tribune, May 21, 1957: 39; “North All-Star Club Wins, 3-1,” San Francisco Examiner, July 3, 1957: 28.

76 “Record Set as Stars Nip Seals, 18-17,” Oxnard (California) Press Courier, July 15, 1957: 11; Walter judge, “Ward’s 3-Run Homer Shades Seals, 6 to 4,” San Francisco Examiner, September 1, 1957: 17.

77 Walter Judge, “Sassy Seals End Stadium Stay – Lose Pair,” San Francisco Examiner, September 16, 1957: 30.

78 Hy Hurwitz, “Baumann Rated Top Prospect in Red Sox Hopper,” The Sporting News, November 13, 1957: 15.

79 Chris Magee, “Frank Kellert One of Three Bosox’ First Base Candidates,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, March 2, 1958: 2-11; Joe Cashman, “Kellert Uses Hornsby Stance at Bat,” Boston Record, March 7, 1958: 64. Kellert was given few chances to impress manager Pinky Higgins, playing first base in only two of Boston’s first 15 pre-season games. Norman S. Thomas, “Ye Sport Sandwich,” Lewiston (Maine) Evening Journal, April 3, 1958: 20.

80 Tom Briere, “Millers’ 7-Run Third Whips Louisville 9-5,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, April 16, 1958: 19.

81 John Bennett, “Jimmie Foxx,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jimmie-foxx/; Tom Briere, “Millers Beat Boston 14-10 as Ted Thrills 18,638,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 17, 1958: 12.

82 “Beavers Get Ex-SF Star.”; George Pasero, “Bevos End Tie with Chicago Cubs,” (Portland) Oregon Journal, August 31, 1958: 11. Kellert traded places with Chicago Cubs prospect Paul Smith, who was loaned to Minneapolis at the same time.

83 “Beavers’ Three HRs in Row Tie Mark, but Phoenix Wins,” The Sporting News, August 6, 1958: 32. Only three times before had a team hit three consecutive home runs in a PCL regular season game.

84 Emmett Watson, “The Great Emancipator,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 27, 1959: 24. DiPietro jokingly said that Kellert was “as old as” the former US president “and look[ed] like him” too.  Kellert went 13-for-80 with Seattle (.163), with one HR and 7 RBIs. Baseball-Reference does not report statistics for Kellert’s time in Seattle beyond number of games played. “PCL Batting,” Sacramento Union, May 13, 1959: 6.

85 Eddie Storin, “Fisher Puts Marlins in High Gear Again,” Miami Herald, May 16, 1959: D1. A Miami Herald writer suggested that Kellert was able to make it before gametime thanks to the grounds crew dragging their feet in removing a tarp that covered the infield.

86 Kellert’s Vancouver statistics are based on the author’s comparison of year-end totals reported in the Sacramento Bee, which included his numbers while with Seattle, with statistics reported by the Sacramento Union shortly before he was traded from Seattle to Miami. Baseball-Reference does not identify Kellert’s Vancouver statistics other than games played. “Final PCL Batting Averages Show Solons Need for More Power Hitters,” Sacramento Bee, October 13, 1959: D4; “PCL Batting.”

87 Danny May, “Indians Get Kellert, Frazier for Merritt, Paine, Hatfield,” (Spokane, Washington) Spokesman Review, December 4, 1959: 20.

88 John Cronley, “Kellert is Retiring After Eleven Years,” Daily Oklahoman, March 23, 1960: 14.

89 “Just Like Old Times – Almost, At Meet in OC,” Okmulgee (Oklahoma) Times, September 2, 1961: 6; “Baseball Stars Join Jamboree,” Oklahoma City Times, August 21, 1961: 14; “Clinic Stresses Basics,” Oklahoma City Times, January 15, 1963: 15; “89er Ticket Drive Nears,” Daily Oklahoman, March 4, 1966: 22; “Sport Quickies,” Daily Oklahoman, May 9, 1969: 22; “Services Tuesday for Frank Kellert,” Daily Oklahoman, November 22, 1976: 13..

90 “The Oklahoma City 89ers Baseball Club,” Daily Oklahoman, March 27, 1967: 37.

91 “New Seal Power Hitter,” Lodi (California) News-Sentinel, March 19, 1957: 8; “Collegiate Conference Oks Spring Grid Drills,” Daily Oklahoman, June 16, 1967: 23; “Nelson Shares Batting Lead,” Lawrence (Kansas) Journal–World, April 10, 1969: 18.

92 John Ferguson, “Revenge Over Oilers,” Tulsa World, August 29, 1971: S5.

93 “Services Tuesday for Frank Kellert.”

94 “Services Tuesday for Frank Kellert.”

95 “A Century of Baseball Legends,” San Antonio Sunday Express-News, June 19, 1988: 14-D.

96 “FYI: Sports,” Tulsa World, December 21, 2002: 30.

97 E-mail correspondence from Steve Kellert, June 2025.