August 22, 1951: Red Sox, Browns combine to leave 36 runners on base in 13-inning Boston win

Neither team had much of a problem getting runners on base during this Wednesday Ladies Night game between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis in August 1951. It was scoring that presented the problem.

Manager Zack Taylor’s eighth-place Browns were already well out of the pennant race entering play on August 22, 37½ games behind the American League-leading Cleveland Indians, but they had beaten third-place Boston, 6-4, in the series opener a night earlier. Jim McDonald – traded from the Red Sox in May – had overcome nine walks in a three-hit complete game. Under Steve O’Neill, in his first full season as Red Sox skipper, Boston was in third place behind the Indians and New York Yankees, five games back.

With 7,254 in attendance, including 3,077 ladies who got in for free, the starters on August 22 were two left-handers – Tommy Byrne (4-6) for St. Louis and rookie Leo “Black Cat” Kiely (3-1) for Boston.1 Twelve innings later, both Byrne and Kiely were still on the mound. Twenty-two Red Sox had reached base, via 10 hits and 12 walks. Sixteen Browns had gotten on, thanks to 9 hits and 7 walks. But over the course of those dozen innings, the Red Sox had left 19 runners on base while the Browns had left 13, and each team had scored just one run.

Boston had already left the bases loaded three times – in the fourth, fifth, and eighth innings. The Browns had done so only once, but it was in the bottom of the ninth when any number of possibilities – from a passed ball to a grand slam – would have ended the game.

The only inning in which either team had scored through those first 12 was the fifth. The Red Sox had two on in the third and the bases loaded in the fourth, but Byrne worked his way out of each inning without allowing any runs.

In the top of the fifth, he walked center fielder Dom DiMaggio; it was one of four bases on balls DiMaggio waited out. Then shortstop Johnny Pesky walked. That was a recipe for bad news with .321-hitting Ted Williams coming to the plate, but Williams grounded into a 4-6 force play. DiMaggio took third base. First baseman Walt Dropo – the AL Rookie of the Year in 1950 but struggling with a .250 average entering this game – dropped a single into left field, driving in the game’s first run.

The Red Sox had a shot at more runs with .303-hitting second baseman Billy Goodman up, but Goodman grounded to second baseman Bobby Young for a force play at second. Clyde Vollmer, the right fielder, walked, loading the bases. But third baseman Fred Hatfield grounded out to first base, Byrne covering, for the third out. It was 1-0, Red Sox.

The Browns matched that run in their half of the fifth. After Kiely got two outs, he walked two rookies, .231-hitting first baseman Ben Taylor and .170-hitting shortstop Bill Jennings. Byrne took matters into his own hands and doubled to left-center, driving in one run with Jennings holding at third. With the chance to put the Browns ahead, Young hit one back to Kiely, who threw to first base for the third out.

Neither team scored another run through the first nine. The Browns loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth on a single and two walks, but Kiely struck out Young to send the game to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Byrne retired the Red Sox in order for only the second time in the game. After his one-two-three second inning, he had walked at least one batter in every inning since then. Kiely was generous with walks, too, walking two more in the bottom of the 10th, but escaping unscathed. 

Going to the 13th, the game was still tied. There had already been a total of 32 men left on base.

Finally, the tie was broken. It started with Ted Williams’s single to right field. Dropo grounded to short, forcing Williams at second base. Goodman made the second out, popping up to third base.

Then Byrne couldn’t find the plate. Vollmer came to bat, hitless in his last 19 at-bats. Byrne walked him. Vern Stephens pinch-hit for Hatfield. Byrne walked him. Catcher Buddy Rosar came to bat; he was 0-for-6 to this point. Byrne walked him, forcing in a run, and the Red Sox took a 2-1 lead.

Manager O’Neill let Kiely bat for himself, and Kiely walked, too, forcing in a second run. Four walks in a row were enough for the Browns.2 With the first pitching change of the game, rookie Bob Mahoney relieved Byrne. He struck out DiMaggio. Boston had left the bases loaded for the fourth time, but the Red Sox had a 3-1 lead.

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat said the Red Sox had “sat back and waited until southpaw Tommy Byrne tired, then took advantage.”3

The Browns came to bat in the bottom of the 13th. First up was right fielder Cliff Mapes. He was 0-for-4. Kiely walked him. Ben Taylor struck out, but Kiely surrendered a single to pinch-hitter Ned Garver, batting for Jennings.4 There were runners on first and second with one out, and Sherm Lollar hit for Mahoney. Boston summoned a reliever, Ellis Kinder. Lollar hit into a 6-4-3 double play on Kinder’s second pitch, ending the game, 3 hours and 52 minutes after the first pitch.

At game’s end, in large part thanks to Byrne’s generous 16 bases on balls (Hy Hurwitz of the Boston Globe dubbed him “the master of the pass”), the Red Sox had left 22 runners on base.5 The second and 10th innings were the only ones in which Boston’s third out had been recorded with no one on base. The Browns left 14 men on base, for a total of 36. As of 2025, 16 walks equaled the major-league record for a game of any length, matched since 1900 only by Bruno Haas of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1915.6

The Red Sox left an extraordinary 22 men on base, while the Browns left 14. As of 2025, the record for most total runners left on base in a game was 45, set by the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets in a 25-inning game in September 1974.

The only offensive star had been Johnny Pesky, who had three doubles and a single but still couldn’t get himself either a run scored or a run batted in. Byrne’s double had driven in the only run for the Browns. Boston’s go-ahead and insurance runs in the 13th had both been walked in.

St. Louis finished 52-102, a full 46 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. The Red Sox finished third, 11 games behind.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Johnny Pesky, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheeet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLA/SLA195108220.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1951/B08220SLA1951.htm

Notes

1 It was Kiely’s ninth pitching appearance. Byrne often struggled with control, walking 179 in 1949, 160 in 1950, and ultimately 150 in 1951, leading the AL each time. (He also led the league in hit batsmen for four straight years, 1948 through 1951.)

2 Manager Zack Taylor, however, was no longer in the game. It had been a hard-fought one and plate umpire Bill Grieve had ejected Taylor and coaches John Berardino (Browns) and Eddie Mayo (Red Sox). Harry Mitauer, “Browns Lose to Red Sox in 13th, 3-1; Bums Find Extras Easy to Take,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 23, 1951: 3C.

3 Mitauer.

4 SABR member Kurt Blumenau pointed out to the author that Garver was an “excellent pitcher – this was the season he won 20 with a last-place team and led the league in complete games – who was also a very good hitter, batting .305 in 109 plate appearances in 1951. He was used as a pinch-hitter 13 times that season and 27 times over the course of his career.” Kurt Blumenau email to author on August 11, 2025.

5 Hy Hurwitz, “Sox Victors in 13th, 3-1; Indians Win; Yanks Lose,” Boston Globe, August 23, 1951: 1.

6 Haas walked 16 in nine innings in his major-league debut on June 23, 1915, losing to the New York Yankees, 15-7. “MLB Bases on Balls Records,” Baseball-Almanac.com, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/walks_by_pitchers_records.shtml. Accessed August 2025.