September 23, 1956: Tigers’ Frank Lary two-hits Cleveland for his 20th win of season

A milestone for any starting pitcher is winning 20 games in a season. Frank Lary did it twice for the Detroit Tigers. The right-hander joined the 20-win club for the first time on September 23, 1956, when the fifth-place Tigers breezed past the second-place Cleveland Indians, 11-1.

Lary was an Alabama farm boy who followed in his older brothers’ footsteps by pitching for the University of Alabama. In 1950 he pitched the Tide into the College World Series, and after Alabama was eliminated, he signed a contract with the Tigers.1

Lary pitched successfully in two Class D leagues in 1950, going 9-2 with a 2.25 ERA between the two stops. With the Korean War raging, Lary was drafted, missing the 1951-52 seasons while he served stateside in the Army.

After discharge from military service, Lary spent 1953-54 with Buffalo of the International League, one step below the majors. In September 1954 he was promoted to Detroit and made three brief relief appearances. The next spring coaches liked his fastball, and his sound pitching performances earned 24-year-old Lary an Opening Day roster spot.2

Lary proved to be a reliable member of the pitching rotation. Commenting on Lary’s rookie season a year later, manager Bucky Harris recalled Lary as “a little bulldog” as he described him as someone who “pitches his way out of a lot of trouble.”3 In 31 starts and five relief appearances he threw 235 innings, finished 14-15 with a 3.10 ERA, and tossed 16 complete games, including two shutouts. Detroit had a winning record (79-75), but settled for fifth place, its fifth consecutive second-division finish.

Through June 1956 it was not certain Lary could reach 10 wins, much less 20. He lost his two decisions in April, was 3-3 in May and 1-4 in June. When he lost to the last-place Kansas City Athletics on July 1, he dropped to 4-10.4 One bright spot for Lary was his 3-1 record against the New York Yankees;5 against the rest of the league he was 1-9.

But things changed for the better. By August 15, when Lary outdueled Cleveland’s Bob Lemon, 1-0, he had evened his record at 12-12. Lary split his next two starts, then ran off six consecutive wins to enter the September 23 contest at 19-13.

Lary attributed his midseason turnaround to better luck.6 But if his luck had changed for the better, so had his run support and his repertoire of pitches. After diligent practice on the sidelines, Lary began using a knuckleball as an off-speed pitch.7 In his August 15 shutout of Cleveland, four of his six strikeouts came on the knuckler.8

With Lary seeking to become Detroit’s first 20-game winner since Hal Newhouser in 1948, he was again matched against Lemon (20-13), who had won his 20th game on September 19. For the 35-year-old Lemon, winning 20 games was nothing new. This was his seventh (and final) 20-win season; he previously accomplished the feat from 1948-50, and from ’52-54.9 Lemon had split four decisions against Detroit in 1956.

In front of 13,300 fans, Lary began the game by walking Al Smith. After Bobby Ávila flied out, Lary walked Vic Wertz to put runners at first and second with the heart of the Indians’ order coming up. But Al Rosen – the 1953 unanimous AL MVP – popped to the catcher, and powerful Rocky Colavito grounded out, keeping Cleveland off the scoreboard.

Detroit’s leadoff-hitter Harvey Kuenn was one of five Tigers10 in the lineup hitting over .300. He singled and advanced to second when Jack Phillips grounded out to first. After a second out, Al Kaline delivered a bloop single,11 scoring Kuenn and chalking-up RBI number 123. Kaline collected five more RBIs over the final week of the season to finish with a career-best 128, which trailed only Mickey Mantle’s 130.

Ahead 1-0, Lary retired the Indians in order in the second, and in the bottom of the frame he helped the Tigers extend their lead. Lemon surrendered singles to Bill Tuttle and Frank Bolling; Tuttle then raced home from second with Detroit’s second run on a single by Red Wilson, who faked a bunt to draw Rosen in at third, then swung away and hit past him into left.12 Lary bunted; Lemon fielded the ball but threw wildly past first, allowing Bolling to score, Wilson to reach third, and Lary to arrive safely at second.

With no outs and two runs already in, Kuenn slashed a double to right for his second hit, scoring Wilson and Lary. The four-run outburst put Detroit ahead, 5-0, after two.

Lary’s control deserted him as the third inning got underway. He walked Lemon, and, for the second time, walked Smith. With two runners aboard and no outs, Ávila and Wertz both flied out to Tuttle in center field, and Smith was forced at second by Rosen’s grounder to short. Cleveland’s best opportunity to make it a game was gone.

Tuttle grounded out to Lemon to begin the home-half of the third. Then Bolling crushed his seventh home run, a blast deep into the left-field stands, making it 6-0.

Lemon was done. Even though Lemon was a seven-time All-Star, the 1956 AL leader in complete games, and the lifetime winner of 201 games, he could not stop the potent Detroit offense, which was second only to the pennant-winning Yankees in runs scored. He faced 16 batters and nine reached base. Manager Al López called to the bullpen for Mike Garcia, who retired the next two Tigers. With the pennant race decided, Lemon sat out the final week of the season.

Neither team scored over the next three innings. Lary was superb, increasing his string of consecutive outs to 12. In contrast, Garcia put Cleveland in constant jeopardy by yielding six hits and a walk. Only because center fielder Dave Pope threw Kuenn out at home in the sixth did the Tigers fail to score. (Pope, part of Cleveland’s 1954 World Series team, played his final major-league game one week later.)

With two outs in the seventh, Indian’s catcher Jim Hegan drew Lary’s fifth walk, snipping a string of 14 outs. Pinch-hitter Gene Woodling grounded to shortstop Kuenn, who beat Hegan to second.

Detroit exploded for five runs in the bottom of the seventh. With Garcia still pitching, Tuttle, Bolling, and Wilson singled to load the bases with no outs. Lary grounded to veteran shortstop George Strickland, who forced Wilson at second, while Tuttle raced home to make it 7-0.

Kuenn’s fifth hit, a single to center, scored Bolling and advanced Lary to second. Now ahead 8-0, Detroit added three runs on Michigan-native Charlie Maxwell’s 26th home run. Maxwell debuted with the 1950 Boston Red Sox, but he never could stick in the majors for a full season until 1955, when he played in four games for Baltimore and 55 for Detroit as a reserve outfielder. Finally in 1956 the 29-year-old Maxwell became the everyday left fielder, and he rewarded the Tigers by batting over .300 and providing left-handed power.13

Leading 11-0, Lary’s bid for 20 wins seemed assured, but was a no-hitter in the offing? Briggs Stadium had not hosted a no-hitter since May 1952, when Detroit’s Virgil Trucks pitched the first of his two no-hitters that season.14 Lary was six outs away from joining Trucks in the no-hit ranks.

Pinch-hitter Joe Caffie, a September call-up with 19 at-bats under his belt, led off the eighth, and Lary hit him with a pitch. Smith flied out, then Ávila, batting .227 when the game began, hit a 2-and-0 slider15 sharply on the ground into center for Cleveland’s first hit. “The crowd let out a dull, painful groan,” wrote Joe Falls of the Detroit Times16

Wertz drew Lary’s sixth walk to load the bases. Rosen launched a fly ball to right field, deep enough for Caffie to tag and sprint home with the Tribe’s only run.

All-Star reliever Ray Narleski pitched the bottom of the eighth for Cleveland. He retired Tuttle, then served up a triple to Bolling before getting two more outs.

In the ninth Pope greeted Lary with Cleveland’s second hit, a single. Lary retired the next three batters to sew up the win, 11-1. He threw 124 pitches17 in recording his seventh straight win, and bringing his record to 20-13; 16-3 after July 1. In support of Lary the Tigers pounded 19 hits: Kaline 3-for-3, Bolling 4-for-5, and Kuenn 5-for-5 (raising his average to .332) led the way.

On September 29, in his final start of the season in an otherwise unimportant game, Lary again beat Cleveland for his eighth consecutive win, concluding his season at 21-13 to lead the AL in wins.18 Lary’s 294 innings pitched, 1269 batters faced, and 38 games started also topped the league. On the negative side, he surrendered 289 hits, and hit 12 batters, also league-leading figures.

Lary continued to pitch for Detroit until he was purchased by the New York Mets on May 30, 1964. He won 123 games for the Tigers, highlighted by a 23-9 season in 1961.19

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for play-by-play, and for pertinent statistical information. The author reviewed game coverage in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Detroit News, and Detroit Times, and reviewed SABR BioProject biographies for several players participating in the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET195609230.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1956/B09230DET1956.htm

Notes

1 Jim Sargent, “Frank Lary,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/frank-lary/. Accessed May 2026.

2 Watson Spoelstra, “Red Wilson Shows He’s House-mover With Power Display,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1955: 10.

3 Hal Middleworth, “Hot and Cold Lary and Aber Puzzle Bucky,” The Sporting News, June 27, 1956: 10.

4 Six of his 10 losses were by one run, including a 1-0 loss, so his offense should share some of the blame.

5 Lary’s final record against New York in 1956 was 7-1. From 1955-61 Lary went 27-10 (.730) against the Yankees but the other Tigers were 47-66 (.416)

6 Watson Spoelstra, “Knuckler Change-Up Helps Change Lary into Winner,” The Sporting News, August 29, 1956: 11.

7 Spoelstra.

8 Spoelstra.

9 By the end of the season two more Cleveland pitchers, Early Wynn and Herb Score, would notch his 20th win.

10 In addition to Kuenn, Phillips, Maxwell, Kaline and Ray Boone were over .300.

11 H.G. Salinger, “No. 20 for Lary a Near No-Hitter,” Detroit News, September 24,1956: 25.

12 Salinger.

13 Detroit obtained Maxwell from Baltimore in 1955. In 1956 he led Detroit in home runs (28), walks (79), on-base percentage (.414), slugging average (.534), and OPS (.948) while hitting .326, second to Kuenn’s .332. He became one of the Tigers fans’ favorite players, and later would be called “The Sunday Punch” for his habit of hitting so well in Sunday games.

14 Trucks also no-hit the New York Yankees on August 25, 1952 in New York.

15 Joe Falls, “’Old Pro’ Lary Wins 20th Game,” Detroit Times, September 24, 1956: 17.

16 Falls.

17 Falls.

18 Chicago’s Billy Pierce, Lemon, Wynn, Score, and Lary’s teammate Billy Hoeft all won 20 games.

19 Using twenty-first century metrics Lary may have had his best season in 1958, even though his record was 16-15. According to Baseball-Reference.com, his WAR was 6.7 on a team that finished 77-77.