June 28, 1955: Cardinals coach Lou Kahn earns ‘permanent record’ with ejection

A person who coaches in major-league baseball but never plays or manages at that level, is a shadowy figure in an otherwise statistic-rich sport. He or she1 compiles no wins, losses, runs, hits, errors, or any other numerical record that they ever reached the majors.

There’s only one tracked statistic that a coach in this position can achieve – an ejection. Consider the story of Lou Kahn, who spent four months as a St. Louis Cardinals coach in 1955. Kahn never played in or officially managed a major-league game.2 Instead, he became one of a group of coaches who have earned a place in big-league baseball’s statistical record via an umpire’s thumb.

A stocky catcher and outfielder, Kahn played 17 seasons in the minors, including parts of six seasons at the highest level.3 He concluded his playing career as a player-coach with the Rochester Red Wings of the Triple-A International League in 1952 and 1953.4

After retiring, Kahn stayed in Rochester as a coach and right-hand man to manager Harry “The Hat” Walker. Walker, a former outfielder with the parent Cardinals, had driven in the game-winning run in Game Seven of the 1946 World Series, the Cardinals’ most recent championship at that time.5 Walker’s 1954 Red Wings finished in third place with a solid 86-68 record.6

On May 28, 1955, the Cardinals – in sixth place with a 17-20 record – fired manager Eddie Stanky and replaced him with Harry Walker.7 Dixie Walker, Harry’s brother and a coach on Stanky’s staff, became Rochester’s manager. Harry Walker brought the 39-year-old Kahn with him to join the Cardinals’ staff.

In the second game of a doubleheader on May 30, Kahn – a St. Louis native and Cardinals fan in childhood – finally donned a major-league uniform as first-base coach, wearing number 27.8 “You’ll never know the kick I got out of it, walking out there to coach,” he said.9

Less than a month later, the Cincinnati Reds came to St. Louis for games on June 28 and 29. The Cardinals were coming off three straight wins over the New York Giants but hadn’t figured out how to win consistently under Walker’s tutelage. They remained in sixth place with a 30-36 record, 19 games behind the eventual World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers. Birdie Tebbetts’ Reds had a 31-34 record, placing them fifth, 17½ games back. Only 9,836 fans turned out at Busch Stadium for the Tuesday night game on June 28.10

The pitching matchup pitted a well-known veteran against a little-known rookie. Cincinnati gave the start to lefty Joe Nuxhall, 26 years old. Nuxhall became the youngest player in American, National, or Federal League history as a high-school student in the wartime season of 1944, when he made a single, ineffective pitching appearance for the Reds at age 15 against the Cardinals. Sent to the minors for seasoning, he returned to Cincinnati in 1952 and established himself as a legitimate big-leaguer.

In 1955 Nuxhall posted a 17-12 record and made the first of two All-Star teams. As of the June 28 game, he had a 7-4 record and a 3.39 ERA, and was coming off consecutive shutouts of the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates. He’d made four prior appearances against the Cardinals, including three starts, and was 1-1 against them.

Opposing him was 26-year-old righty Floyd Wooldridge, whose big-league career started on May 1 and ended, 18 appearances later, on August 15. The game against Cincinnati was his fifth major-league appearance and fourth start. He entered with a 1-1 record and a 3.38 ERA and was coming off a complete-game win over Philadelphia; he had never faced St. Louis.

Two other one-season-only players joined Wooldridge in the Cardinals’ lineup. One was his catcher, 33-year-old Nelson Burbrink, a Cincinnati native whose pro career began in 1941.11 The other was shortstop Bob Stephenson.

Double plays snuffed out baserunners for each team in the first inning, but the Reds stepped out in front in the second. Gus Bell hit a one-out single and, after the second out, Ray Jablonski hit his eighth home run of the year, off the scoreboard in left field.12 Wooldridge hit Roy McMillan with a pitch, then gave up singles to Nuxhall and Johnny Temple to make the score 3-0.

After a few quiet frames, the Reds put the game away in the fourth inning. Smoky Burgess singled and Jablonski reached when the Cardinals’ rookie third baseman, Ken Boyer, bobbled his grounder.13 After a force play for the first out, Wooldridge walked Nuxhall to load the bases – and end his day of work.

Temple greeted righty reliever Gordon Jones with a low line drive to center field. Wally Moon went for a shoestring catch and missed; the ball rolled past him and Temple ended up with a bases-clearing triple.14 Two batters later, Wally Post singled Temple home with an infield squib for a 7-0 Cincinnati lead.15 In the fifth, Jablonski and McMillan singled. Bill Virdon threw wildly after fielding McMillan’s ball, allowing Jablonski to score and McMillan to advance.16 Temple later singled McMillan home to bring the Reds’ lead to 9-0.

The home team showed some fight in the fifth, as Red Schoendienst and Virdon led off with singles. But Boyer took some of the steam out of the rally by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play.

Kahn, coaching at first base, argued the call aggressively enough to be thrown out by umpire Frank Dascoli. It was the second of Dascoli’s four ejections in 1955. Coincidentally, Dascoli’s first ejection of the season had been Dixie Walker, Kahn’s predecessor on the Cardinals’ staff, who was run for protesting a call at first base on May 4.17 The double play advanced Schoendienst to third, but Burbrink grounded out to end the inning.

St. Louis worked Nuxhall for two walks in the sixth, but grounders by Stan Musial and Rip Repulski ended the inning. Repulski’s grounder was a “hot smash” to third on which Jablonski made a strong defensive play.18 The Cardinals finally scored their only run in the seventh, stringing together a Virdon single, a hit-by-pitch to Boyer, and a single by Burbrink. It was the third of 15 RBIs Burbrink collected in his only season.19 Nuxhall’s wayward pitch hit Boyer on the wrist and Solly Hemus replaced him at third the rest of the way.20

Brooks Lawrence and Frank Smith mopped up the final three innings for St. Louis. Lawrence was traded to Cincinnati in January 1956 and briefly starred there, winning 19 games in 1956 and 16 in 1957. Smith had pitched for the Reds from 1950 through 1954 and returned to Cincinnati for two career-closing games in 1956 after the Reds selected him off waivers from the Cardinals.

The Cardinals’ Hemus and Burbrink hit one-out singles in the ninth. Nuxhall got pinch-hitter Bill Sarni to fly out and Stephenson to ground into a force to end the game in 2 hours and 22 minutes. Nuxhall scattered nine hits, walked only two – both in the sixth inning – and did not strike anyone out. The loss went to Wooldridge.

The Reds pounded St. Louis pitching for 12 hits, with every starter except first baseman Ted Kluszewski collecting at least one. The nine runs surrendered by the Cardinals matched the total the team had given up in the previous five games combined.21

At season’s end, the Reds remained in fifth place at 75-79, but the Cardinals sagged all the way to seventh with a 68-86 record. St. Louis general manager Dick Meyer lost his job on October 7. Four days later, Meyer’s replacement, Frank “Trader” Lane, announced that Fred Hutchinson would replace Harry Walker as manager. Hutchinson fired two of Walker’s coaches, Kahn and John Riddle, while retaining one, Bill Posedel.22 Kahn’s career in a major-league uniform was over.

Kahn returned to the IL in 1956 as a coach under Toronto Maple Leafs manager Bruno Betzel.23 He held scouting and minor-league managing and coaching positions through the late 1980s, except for a two-year break in the mid-1960s when he took a job outside baseball.24

In 1970, managing a minor-league team in Eugene, Oregon, Kahn ordered free-spirited outfielder Hank McGraw to cut his long hair. McGraw, brother of Tug, refused and was suspended without pay.25 A few years later, Kahn helped the Phillies scout future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt26 and suggested that a young third baseman named Bob Boone switch to catching.27 In 1987, working for the Chicago Cubs, Kahn enthused about the potential of pitcher Jamie Moyer, who won 269 big-league games over 25 seasons.28

Kahn died at age 86 in 2002, leaving a rich baseball legacy – but only a slim record from his brief stint in the majors. It included a few news clippings from 1955; an entry in Retrosheet’s database of coaches; and a mention in Retrosheet’s box score and play-by-play of his ejection from the game of June 28, 1955.

Author’s Note

Lou Kahn is not the only person whose sole official big-league statistic or appearance in a box score resulted from an ejection while coaching. A partial list of others who shared that distinction as of May 2024, based on information in Retrosheet, included Maje McDonnell (two ejections in 10 seasons of coaching), Jim Skaalen (four ejections in four seasons), Glenn Ezell (one ejection in 12 seasons), Wendell Kim (one ejection in 15 seasons), John Fitzpatrick (two ejections in five seasons), and Steve Smith (14 ejections in 15 seasons).

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Lou Kahn, Trading Card Database.

Sources 

In addition to the specific sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for general player, team and season data and the box scores for this game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN195506280.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1955/B06280SLN1955.htm

Notes

1 Women joined the ranks of major-league coaches when Alyssa Nakken became an assistant coach with the San Francisco Giants in 2020. After coaching on the field during exhibition games, Nakken made her regular-season debut as an on-field coach for the Giants on April 12, 2022, replacing ejected first-base coach Antoan Richardson. Associated Press, “Giants’ Nakken 1st MLB Female Coach on Field, Giants Top Pads,” West Hawaii Today (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii), April 13, 2022: B1.

2 On at least one occasion, Kahn served as temporary manager of the 1955 Cardinals after Harry Walker was ejected. In an August 6 game against the Phillies, Kahn was deputized after Walker was ejected by umpire Frank Secory for arguing ball and strike calls in the first inning. As of May 2024, though, the game was credited to Walker as manager, and Kahn had no official major-league managing record. Bob Broeg, “Phils Hand Cards Eighth Loss in Nine Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 7, 1955: 1E. A column summarizing Kahn’s career in 1981 claimed that he managed the Cardinals for three days in 1955, without providing additional explanation. When a fill-in subs for an incumbent manager, the wins and losses are officially credited to the incumbent. When a fill-in subs for an incumbent manager, the wins and losses are officially credited to the incumbent. Bob Moskowitz, “It’s a Fun Sport,” Newport News (Virginia) Daily Press, April 2, 1981: 21

3 In 1944 and 1945, Double A was the highest level of the minor leagues; Kahn played at Double A during those years. Triple A became the highest level of the minors in 1946, and Kahn played Triple-A ball during the 1946, 1948, 1952, and 1953 seasons.

4 George Beahon, “Lou Kahn, Catcher, Appointed Player-Coach of Red Wings,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, April 24, 1952: 30.

5 Bob Broeg, “H. Walker Signed to a One-Year Contract,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1955: 1D.

6 The 1954 Red Wings finished 11 games behind the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs and qualified for the IL playoffs, where they lost in the first round to the Montreal Royals.

7 Bob Broeg, “Cardinals Fire Stanky; Harry Walker Takes Over,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 29, 1955: 1A; Broeg, “H. Walker Signed to a One-Year Contract.” Walker also rejoined the Cardinals’ active roster for a time, playing in 11 games and hitting .357 in 14 at-bats.

8 “Cardinal Notes,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 31, 1955: 2B; J.G. Taylor Spink, “20 Years in the Bushes – then Big Time,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1955: 6.

9 “Rates Top Thrill Reaching Big Time After 20 Years,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1955: 6.

10 This turnout was slightly below the Cardinals’ average per-game attendance of 11,028 for the full season, which placed them fifth in the eight-team NL.

11 After retiring as a player, Burbrink held scouting and player development positions with the Cardinals, New York Mets, and Milwaukee Brewers.

12 United Press, “Redlegs Win; Are Now Fourth,” Greenville (Ohio) Daily Advocate, June 29, 1955: 11.

13 “Reds Trim Cards, 9-1, Take Fourth Spot,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 29, 1955: 38. Boyer won five Gold Gloves at the hot corner later in his career.

14 “Reds Trim Cards, 9-1, Take Fourth Spot.” This story has Wooldridge giving up the triple to Temple. However, the box scores in Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference have Jones surrendering the triple and allowing all three inherited runners to score.

15 Jack Herman, “Wooldridge, Jones Slammed in 9-1 Redleg Romp,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 29, 1955: C1.

16 The Cincinnati Enquirer has McMillan doubling to right field, taking third on Virdon’s errant throw, and scoring on a “slick squeeze bunt” by Temple. As above, the box scores in Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference disagree: They have McMillan singling, moving to second on Virdon’s error, and scoring on a single by Temple.

17 Also coincidentally, the other two people Dascoli thumbed later in 1955 are also present in this game story. The umpire ejected Wally Post the next night and Birdie Tebbetts on August 25, both for arguing balls and strikes. Dascoli ejected 119 people in 14 major-league seasons, leading the NL in 1949 (with 10 ejections) and 1950 (23).

18 “Reds Trim Cards, 9-1, Take Fourth Spot.”

19 Burbrink picked up three more RBIs the following night in a 9-5 Cardinals win.

20 Bob Broeg, “Red Bird Notes,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 29, 1955: 4B.

21 Cardinals pitchers allowed one run to the Phillies on June 23, and one, three, two and two runs to the Giants in the four-game series of June 24 through 26.

22 Jack Rice, “Terry Moore and Johnny Hopp Hutchinson’s Choices as Coaches,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 12, 1955: 4D. Hutchinson named former Cardinals players Johnny Hopp and Terry Moore to replace Kahn and Riddle.

23 “Sidelights,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 29, 1955: 4B.

24 “Lou Kahn,” Baseball-Reference BR Bullpen, accessed September 16, 2022. In November 1982, Kahn was one of eight minor-league staffers let go by the Philadelphia Phillies as part of a streamlining effort. His title at the time was special advisor. Bill Conlin, “Quiet Departure for Phils’ Montanez,” Philadelphia Daily News, November 5, 1982: 130.

25 Ira Berkow (New York Times News Service), “McGraw Trades ‘Hippie’ Life for Managing Job,” St. Joseph (Missouri) Gazette, August 25, 1981: 1C.

26 Moskowitz, “It’s a Fun Sport.”

27 Paul Harvey III, “Ems’ Boone on Way to Majors, but Not in Father’s Footsteps,” The Sporting News, May 20, 1972: 33.

28 “Spring: A Time for New Hope,” Tucson (Arizona) Citizen, February 23, 1987: 3B. Only 29 of Moyer’s wins came with the Cubs. He began his lengthy career in Chicago from 1986 through 1988.