Ellis Kinder began his
professional baseball career on May 16, 1938 when he relieved
starting pitcher Porter Witt in the third inning against the
Mayfield Clothiers. The Jackson Generals were behind 3-0 and the
Arkansas right-hander gave up two more runs on four hits, a balk,
and a wild pitch before yielding to reliever Lester Gray in the
sixth. He didn't
pitch again for the Generals until the following season when he won
17 games and struck out 200 batters in 1939. He did even better a
year later, finishing with a 21-9 record and setting a new Kitty
League single-season strikeout record with 307 in 176 innings
pitched. The Generals took the first-half title and went on to
capture the postseason championship against the Bowling Green
Barons. Before
the end of the season, Kinder's contract was sold to the New
York Yankees organization reportedly for $3,500. Half the sale price
was given to Jackson at the end of the 1940 season with the
remainder due after the first month of the 1941 season. Kinder
pitched for their Binghampton farm club, but the Yankees claimed he
had a sore arm and asked for a 30-day extension on paying the
remainder of the sale price. The extension was granted, then a month
later they asked to renegotiate the sale price altogether. The
Generals declined and asked for Kinder's contract back. (The real
reason the Yankees changed their mind reportedly was his love of
liquor and their fear that he would negatively influence the younger
players.) The
return of the 27-year-old right-hander reinforced an already
dominant Jackson pitching staff. He contributed 11 wins down
the stretch as the Generals captured the pennant in
1941. His contract was sold to the Memphis Chicks at the end of the
season. Five
years later, Kinder was a major leaguer with the St. Louis Browns
and was traded to the Boston Red Sox before the 1949 season. There
he won 23 games and helped the Red Sox clinch a first-place tie in
the last game of the regular season. In that game, he held his old
organization, the New York Yankees, to one run through eight innings
before he was taken out for a pinch-hitter. Boston lost the game and
the American League pennant. Kinder
pitched for 12 seasons in the major leagues with the Browns, Red Soz,
St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago White Sox, closing his career at
the age of 42 in 1957. He won 102 games and as one of the first
relief closers saved 102 games.
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