April 22, 1950: Late-game heroics as Paul Lehner homers in 15th for A’s

The 1950 season was Connie Mack’s 50th year as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, and before the game against the Boston Red Sox at Shibe Park on Saturday April 22, Mack was honored during a ceremony at home plate.

Much later – 3 hours and 44 minutes later, to be exact – pinch-hitter Paul Lehner ended a long afternoon at the ballpark when he homered off Boston’s Ellis Kinder in the 15th inning to give Philadelphia a 6-5 win over Boston before what was left of the 6,977 spectators who had braved the chill of the late April afternoon.

The Red Sox had staked starting pitcher Chuck Stobbs to an early lead. A two-run double by Vern Stephens highlighted a three-run first inning. Philadelphia starter Alex Kellner, in his first start of the young season, didn’t help his cause by walking the first two batters he faced – Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky. The bases were loaded when Billy Goodman beat out a bunt. DiMaggio and Pesky came home on Stephens’ double to right field. Kellner’s wild pitch allowed Goodman to come home with Boston’s third run. Two innings later, Stephens singled and scored on Al Zarilla’s double off the right-field wall. Manager Mack was not tempted to remove Kellner, who had won 20 games the season before, and in time (much time), Mack would be rewarded for keeping Kellner on the mound.

Stobbs weakened in the fourth inning and the A’s got back in the game, scoring three runs. A walk to Sam Chapman was followed by a double by Bob Dillinger. On Dillinger’s double, Boston’s right fielder, Zarilla, attempting a shoestring catch, injured his shoulder. He was tended to by the team trainer and stayed in the game. Elmer Valo’s grounder to second baseman Bobby Doerr scored Chapman; a single by Pete Suder scored Dillinger; and singles by Kellner and Eddie Joost moved Suder around the bases to score the third run of the inning.

Ferris Fain of the Athletics tied the game at 4-4 with a fifth-inning solo homer, his first of the season. The Red Sox recaptured the lead in the seventh inning, scoring a run on a single by Tommy O’Brien after two-out walks to Stephens and Doerr.

Stobbs pitched into the eighth inning. After retiring the first two batters, he gave up a single to Mike Guerra. Mack did not opt to pinch hit for Kellner, and Alex singled to left field (his second single of the day), knocking Stobbs out of the game. Walt Masterson took over on the mound and the first batter he faced, Joost, hit his third single of the afternoon to tie the game. Masterson averted further damage when Barney McCosky grounded out to end the inning.

There was no scoring in the ninth inning and the game went into extra innings. Ellis Kinder came into pitch for Boston in the 10th and retired the Athletics in order. He was coming off a 1949 season during which he went a career best 23-6 with six shutouts. The appearance was his second of the season. Three days earlier, he had been hit hard by the Yankees, surrendering eight runs before leaving in the sixth inning. Kellner and Kinder hurled zeros at each other through the 14th inning. Kellner’s zeros were with an exclamation point. After walking Tommy O’Brien in the 10th, he retired the next 12 batters. He had strong support in the field from first baseman Ferris Fain, who grabbed a hard liner off the bat of Johnny Pesky in the 11th and ran toward the stands along the right-field line to haul in a foul ball hit by Matt Batts in the 13th. DiMaggio reached on a bad-hop single past shortstop Joost to start the 14th inning but went no farther as Kellner retired Pesky, Goodman, and Stephens.

The home team had chances to win the game in innings 12 through 14, but they were lost opportunities. Fain walked to open the 12th, but was thrown out trying to steal second base. In the 13th, the A’s wasted a one-out double by Mike Guerra. And in the 14th, after Kinder walked three batters to load the bases, Guerra’s fly ball to center field frustrated the A’s chances.

Kellner was ultimately rewarded for his shutout efforts over the last eight innings. As the southpaw returned to the dugout after the 10th and each subsequent inning, manager Mack would say, “How do you feel?” After completing the top of the 14th, Kellner admitted, “I feel a little tired, but I’d like to try it some more.” Mack responded, “This will have to be your last inning.”1 In the top of the 15th inning, the Red Sox had runners on the corners after singles by Tommy O’Brien and Matt Batts, but Kellner retired Kinder on a grounder when Boston manager Joe McCarthy elected not to use a pinch-hitter.

In the bottom of the 15th inning, with not much daylight remaining, manager Connie Mack felt that his pitcher had pitched long enough. Kellner was scheduled to lead off the inning and Mack sent up the lefty-swinging Paul Lehner to bat for the pitcher. Lehner had been acquired along with Bob Dillinger by the A’s in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Browns, and his appearance on April 22 was his first at-bat of the season. Kinder began his sixth inning of relief for the Red Sox. Lehner swung wildly and missed Kinder’s first offering. He then took a ball before putting a stop to the festivities with a home run over the 50-foot wall in right field.

Kellner, who allowed 12 hits, struck out eight and walked an equal number, was credited with a complete-game win, the first complete game hurled against the Red Sox in 1950. It was his first win of the season and would rank as one of his best efforts in a season in which he went a disappointing 8-20.

The 35-year-old Kinder, with the loss, went to 0-2. He started 23 times and was brought in to relieve on 25 occasions. He went 14-12 with 9 saves.

Red Sox starter Chuck Stobbs had been a football and baseball star in Norfolk, Virginia, before signing with Boston for a bonus in 1947. The bonus rule at the time mandated that he be moved up to the majors after one minor-league season. After spending 1948 on the bench, he went 11-6 in 1949. He would go on to a 12-7 record in 1950.

Lehner’s game-winner launched what was to be his best major-league season. He played in 114 games for the Athletics, batting .309 with 9 homers and 52 RBIs.

On this day, part of the story was about someone who didn’t play. The Red Sox played the game without Ted Williams. Williams, after playing the first three games of the season, was missing his second straight game. He had taken ill with a severe cold during the Patriots Day double-header on April 19 and missed five games before returning to the lineup on April 26. During the first three games of his absence, Tommy O’Brien, who had two hits on April 22, filled in in left field. The hits on April 22 were O’Brien’s last as a member of the Red Sox. On May 8 he was traded to Washington, where his career ended less than a week later.

Both managers were in the last year of their Hall of Fame careers. Boston manager Joe McCarthy was replaced by Steve O’Neill after starting the season 31-28. The Red Sox had been in contention until the final weekend of the 1949 season and, at the time of McCarthy’s dismissal in 1950, had lost five games in a row, seen their record slip to 31-28, and dropped to fourth place, 9½ games behind the league-leading Tigers. It would be a frustrating season for Boston. They were without Williams for almost two months after he injured himself running into a wall at the All-Star Game. Nevertheless, the Red Sox mounted a late-season rally and finished in third place, four games behind the Yankees, who repeated as American League champions.

After the April 22 game, the 87-year-old Mack was honored at a formal dinner in Philadelphia. Unfortunately for Mack and the A’s, the season would be a year of disappointment: the team finished in the cellar with a 52-102 record. It was 19 years since their last trip to the World Series, and the season was Mack’s last as the manager of the team. Jimmy Dykes succeeded him in 1951. Mack stayed on as owner through the 1954 season, after which the team was sold and moved to Kansas City.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Associated Press. “A’s Pinch Home Run Beats Red Sox, 6-5,” Palm Beach Post, April 23, 1950: 19.

Costello, Ed. “A’s Triumph 6-5 in 15th; Lehner Hits Pinch Homer to Top Hose,” Boston Sunday Herald, April 23, 1950: 53-54.

Hurwitz, Hy. “A’s Beat Red Sox , 6-5, on Lehner’s Pinch Homer in 15th,” Boston Globe, April 23, 1950: 47.

Morrow, Art. “A’s Top Bosox, 6-5, on Lehner’s Pinch Homer in 15th,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 23, 1950: 1S-2S.

NOTES

1 Roger Birtwell, “Kellner Protected by Connie’s Memory,” Boston Globe, April 23, 1950: 47.