Omaha. Well, you're going to take Ken Boyer, insisted Mathes. OK, you say take him, I'll take him, Kissell relented. 5

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1 1951 Omaha Ken joined players from five St. Louis Cardinals affiliates at the Class A and B levels at the team's minor-league camp at Albany, Georgia on March 19, After Ken's hitting performance at Hamilton, the organization was finally convinced it should abandon his conversion into a pitcher and made him a third baseman instead. He was assigned to At the end of the 1950 season, Ken's contract had been recalled on paper from the Hamilton club by the Pocatello (Idaho) Cardinals of the Class C Pioneer League. 2 The consensus among the minor-league personnel in spring training was that Boyer needed more experience in the lower minors. If he joined the Omaha club, he would be jumping three levels from Class D to Class A and adjusting to a new position at the same time. There was also concern about him being subject to the military draft. On April 26, he passed his physical and awaited word from the draft board when he would be required to report. It was inevitable perhaps during the season that he would be inducted into the Army. 3 In the spring exhibitions, Boyer shared time at third base with veterans Bob Rausch and Joe Aliperto. The left-hand hitting Rausch was twenty-seven years old and the incumbent, having spent the past two seasons at Omaha. Joe Aliperto, 23, was a right-handed batter who had played six seasons in the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Athletics' organizations from 1944 to Boyer had some standout spring performances in his favor, including two doubles and five RBIs in one game and a grand slam home run in another. Despite their misgivings, it was decided that Ken would be assigned to Omaha. According to George Kissell, minor-league director Joe Mathes told him, I want you to take that pitcher from Hamilton and make him a third baseman. While Kissell felt Boyer could run, field, throw, and hit, he already had a third baseman in camp batting.320. Well, you're going to take Ken Boyer, insisted Mathes. OK, you say take him, I'll take him, Kissell relented. 5 The manager of the Omaha Cardinals was George Kissell. The bespectacled thirty-year-old had played third base in the organization for eight seasons, and was entering his sixth season as a minor-league skipper and his first at the Class A level. Before he became the sage of the Cardinal Way, he was Kissell implemented an early version of the designated hitter when he and Boyer batted in the pitcher's spot in an exhibition game against the Winston-Salem Cardinals. 6 1 Card Kids Get Big Welcome at Albany, TSN, March 28, 1951, Salt Lake (UT) Tribune, September 12, Ogden (UT) Standard Examiner, September 12, Omaha Morning World-Herald, April 10, Omaha Evening World-Herald, April 11, Omaha Evening World-Herald, April 11, Robert Rausch player profile <baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi? id=rausch001rob> Joe Aliperto player profile <baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=aliper001jos> 5 Ken Boyer Remembered. Undated clipping from Fowl Ball: 19 6 Omaha Evening World-Herald, April 6, 1951

2 When the Omaha Cardinals began the season on April 18, the older and more experienced Joe Aliperto started at third base. Regardless, Ken took advantage of every opportunity he was in the starting lineup to show what he could do. He went two-for-four with a triple and drove in four of the Cardinals' runs in a 6-4 victory over the Des Moines Bruins on April 23. Five days later, with St. Louis Cardinals owner Fred Saigh watching from the stands, he tripled again and scored two runs against the Sioux City Soos. By month's end, Aliperto had been promoted to Triple-A Columbus, making Boyer the starting third baseman the remainder of the season. 7 After a 4-5 start in April, the sixth-place Omaha club began a steady climb out of the second division in May. Dropping two games to the Lincoln Athletics, a farm club of the Philadelphia American League team, the Cardinals embarked on a twelve-game road trip and broke even at Des Moines, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Witchita, including a three-game sweep against the sixth-place Colorado Springs Sky Sox May 6-8. They returned home to Municipal Stadium on May 15, where right-hander Willard Schmidt struck out nine batters and scattered nine hits against the fourth-place Denver Bears for a 3-1 victory to surpass the Boston Braves farm club in the standings. The Cardinals won two out of three games from Denver and the fourth tied 6-6 after ten innings was called in order for the Bears to catch a train back home. They took two of three from Witchita and moved into third place with their 2-1 victory on May 20. Boyer, who had only two hits in nineteen at-bats during the home stand, contributed a single and two doubles in the game. 8 Afterward, the Cardinals made a 600-mile trek to Pueblo, Colorado to start a ten-game circuit through the western cities of the league. Omaha divided the four-game series with Pueblo and helped knock the Brooklyn farm club from their first-place berth. They won both games of a doubleheader on May 22, in which Ken had three hits, including a two-run home run, as part of the team's thirteen hits in the first contest behind Willard Schmidt (5-2). Teammate Russell Rac blasted a grand slam in the second game for George Eyrich's seventh win against two losses during the season. 9 In the second game of a twin bill the next night, Boyer chased a pop up into foul territory in the sixth inning and slammed into the Dodgers dugout, momentarily knocking himself unconscious. 10 Ken showed no aftereffects from the collision when he returned to the lineup two days later at Colorado Springs on May 25. The Cardinals belted 18 hits off three Sky Sox hurlers and Boyer contributed a single and a triple and scored a run. Willard Schmidt gave up thirteen hits by himself, but his teammates' bats enabled him to hold on for the victory. After losing the first two games of the series at Denver by one run, Omaha hurlers Hal Coffman and Ray Pounds gave up seven runs in the first inning and dropped the third game 10-4 on May 28. The losses dropped the Cardinals back into fourth place behind the Bears. 11 Omaha split the Memorial Day doubleheader at home against the league-leading Pueblo Dodgers, with Willard Schmidt pitching a three-hit shutout in the first game. Heavy rain postponed the next three games and high water delayed their trip to Witchita. They divided a four-game series with the last-place Cleveland Indians farm club and George Eyrich and Hal Coffman pitched back-to-back shutouts. The Cardinals won seven of their next nine games and reclaimed third place on June 6. Schmidt overcame five errors by his catcher and infielders (including Boyer) and held Colorado Springs to the same 7 Omaha Morning World-Herald, April 24, Omaha Sunday World-Herald, April 29, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, May 16-20, Omaha Morning World-Herald, May 21, Omaha Morning World-Herald, May 23, Omaha Morning World-Herald, May 24, The Sporting News, June 6, Omaha Morning World-Herald, May 26, Council Bluffs Paralei, May 29, 1951

3 number of hits for the 6-5 victory. Ken made up for his error with a single and two runs batted in. 12 The Omaha club maintained its third-place position throughout the month of June. They even managed a momentary tie for second with the Sioux City Soos after an extra-inning victory against leagueleading Pueblo on June 11. Ken had two doubles and started at third base, but shifted to center field when manager George Kissell entered the game. Through the first week of the month, he was batting. 299 (second on the team) with 46 hits and 18 RBIs. In a heated three-hour contest at Denver on June 15 that almost saw George Eyrich who wasn't even pitching for Omaha that night come to blows with Bears right fielder Danny Holden, Ken doubled and homered and drove in two runs behind Willard Schmidt, who gave up five unearned runs to lose 6-5. A loss the next night dropped them into fourth place, but the Cardinals came back with 15 hits off two Denver hurlers led by left fielder Russell Rac, who fell short of the cycle by a triple, and Earl Weaver, who drove in four runs. Boyer had two singles and scored a run and Hal Coffman took the victory, 14-6, to reclaim third place. 13 The Cardinals returned home and split two-game series against Witchita and Sioux City and took two out of three from Des Moines. On the night of June 25, the third-place St. Louis Cardinals came to Omaha for an off-day exhibition game against its Class A affiliate. At the time, they were eight games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers with a record in the National League race. A record-breaking crowd of 17,083 packed Muny Stadium and overflowed onto the field for the contest, eager to see Cardinals stars such as Enos Slaughter, player-manager Marty Marion, and Stan Musial. The only player missing from the major-league lineup was second baseman Red Schoendienst, who had injured his leg two days earlier in a game against the Boston Braves. The main attraction was Musial, the reigning NL batting champion, who tried to make a good showing but managed only two pop flies and a fly ball to right field in three at-bats. With St. Louis leading 1-0 in the third inning, Stan attempted a shoestring catch in left field but instead booted the ball over the head of center fielder Harry Peanuts Lowrey, who was backing him up. The misplay allowed Omaha to score two runs and take the lead. St. Louis regained the momentum in the fifth with two of their own, but the kid Cardinals took it back with three runs in their half of the inning on three singles, a double, and two errors. Despite giving up 10 hits to the big-leaguers, Omaha right-hander Hal Coffman held them to three runs for the 5-3 victory. Cloyd Boyer pitched for St. Louis and held his younger brother Ken hitless in three at-bats. Although he lost the game on the mound, Cloyd did much better at the plate with a leadoff double and scored a run. 14 Ken later admitted that he hated the idea of playing third base. But as the season progressed, he became more comfortable and exhibited the defensive qualities that would later make him exceptional in the major leagues. Robert Phipps of the Omaha World-Herald, watching him play every day, marveled at his wonderful gracefulness in the field for a man of his size. The strong arm that led the St. Louis minor-league personnel to think him better suited to be a pitcher was put to good use throwing runners out across the diamond. Ken has one of those million-dollar arms, wrote Phipps. I can't recall anything in the Western League in the last few years to compare with a Boyer bullet throw to first base to catch a fast runner. Years later, George Kissell recalled, That year, I had Boyer at third and Earl Weaver at second. What a combination that was. Boyer turned out to be an excellent third baseman Council Bluffs Nonpareil, May 31, Ibid June 4, 5, 7, Omaha Morning World-Herald, June 10, 12, 16, 18, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, June 18, Omaha Morning World-Herald, June 26, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, June 26, Bruce Jacobs, Hot Corner Hustler: Ken Boyer, Baseball Stars of 1957, 138. Omaha Evening World-Herald, August 18, Omaha Morning World-Herald, August 31, Kissell has 49 Years of Card Memories. Springfield (IL) State Journal-Register, September 11, 1988.

4 Following the exhibition victory against St. Louis, the Omaha Cardinals traveled fifty miles southwest to Lincoln and swept a June 27 doubleheader against the Athletics. Ken homered and Willard Schmidt tossed a two-hitter with eight strikeouts to win the first game, 3-1, then Boyer doubled, hit another home run, and drove in four runs in the nightcap, 5-2. The next night at Sioux City, Omaha righthander Joe Chuka and Soos right-hander David Sayers dueled for five innings until Boyer homered in his third straight game in the sixth to give Omaha a 2-0 lead. But the New York Giants farm club came back and scored a run in the seventh and four in the eight to take the second game, 5-2. After being shut out on three hits by Sioux City right-hander Sam Brewer, the Cardinals won the next game 10-6, then drove back to Omaha and a hometown crowd of 4,647 saw them win both games of a July 1 doubleheader against the Soos. The victories enabled Omaha to take second place, while the Denver Bears displaced the Pueblo Dodgers once again from the league lead and sent them into third place. 16 The climb to second place was short-lived, however, as the Cardinals dropped a doubleheader to Sioux City and split a Fourth of July twin bill against Lincoln to fall back to third. Four victories against the seventh-place Athletics and two rainouts at Des Moines returned them to second place momentarily, only to fall back to third after splitting a four-game series against the Bruins. After losing the first game of the July 9 doubleheader to Des Moines 2-1 and leaving seventeen runners on base in the second, Ken belted a two-run home run in the top of the twelfth inning to secure the 9-4 win. Two subsequent rainouts at Lincoln played havoc with the Western League standings on July 12, when second-division clubs Witchita and Colorado Springs beat the top two teams Denver and Pueblo and enabled the idle Cardinals to inch into the league lead by five percentage points. 17 Prior to the team's doubleheader against sixth-place Des Moines the next day, the players were honored with a parade through downtown Omaha and recognized at City Hall by councilman Johnny Rosenblatt, who organized the event. The Cardinals won both games and another against the Bruins to strengthen their first-place lead by a game-and-a-half over the Denver Bears. They traveled to Colorado Springs and took two out of three from the last-place Sky Sox, highlighted by a 20-hit barrage for the Cards in the second game of a July 15 doubleheader. Ken hit two doubles, drove in three runs, and scored three in the 15-8 victory. After splitting two games with the Bears at Denver and returning home to drop a three-game series against second-place Witchita, the Omaha club enjoyed its longest winning streak of the season July that resulted in a four-and-a-half lead over Denver and Witchita. 18 At the end of July, Ken was batting.288 and had scored 45 runs and driven in 50, almost half of which came in the month. But writer Robert Phipps believed the 20-year-old had unrealized potential at the plate, describing him as someone who will be a whale of a ball player as soon as he finds out how good he actually is. During a 15-0 route over Pueblo at Muny Stadium on July 24, Ken drove a pitch into the far right-field corner known as Dickey's Corner, an impressive feat according to Phipps. Right-handed hitters rarely reach this area and it's an unusual direction for Boyer, he wrote about the bases-loaded, opposite-field triple. But the big, loose infielder, it is freely predicted, will be breaking down the fences in almost any competition as soon as he gains confidence Omaha Morning World-Herald, June 28, 29; July 2, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, June 28, 29, 30, Waterloo Daily Courier, July 2, Omaha Morning World-Herald, July 13, Omaha Evening World-Herald, July 26, Omaha Morning World-Herald, July 23, 25, Boyer's bases-loaded triple contributed to Omaha's 15-0 victory over the Pueblo Dodgers on July 24. Dickey's Corner may refer to James Shelton Dickey, a left-handed batter for Omaha who hit four triples in 1949, presumably into the right-field corner of Municipal Stadium. Kevin Johnson to the author, February 4, James Shelton Dickey player page < id=dickey002jam> Accessed February 6, 2013.

5 The Cardinals started the month of August winning nine of 15 games on the road against Pueblo and Colorado Springs and their closest rivals, first-division clubs Denver and Wichita. When either the flu or food poisoning kept some of his teammates out of a doubleheader at Colorado Springs on August 6, Ken shift over to shortstop. He had two hits with two runs scored in the 8-3 victory in the first game and three hits, including a home run, and three RBIs in an 18-0 route in the second. The next night, his three-run homer off future St. Louis teammate Barney Schultz proved the difference in the Cardinals' 7-4 win at Denver. After winning two of three from the second-place Bears, Omaha held a five-and-a-half game lead over them. 20 The story was different two weeks later when Denver came to Muny Stadium for an important fivegame series. After the Cards dropped the first game of the August 22 doubleheader, Willard Schmidt won his 18 th victory of the season in the nightcap. Ken helped turn three double plays at third base and contributed three hits, including a double and a home run, in the 6-0 shutout. Two more losses, however, and a 3-3 tie with two outs going into the bottom of the ninth left the Cardinals in danger of being tied for the league lead. Instead Ken, who had driven in two runs to tie the game in the seventh, stroked a pitch to left field that scored pinch-hitter George Kissell from second base to win the fifth game of the series and give the Cardinals a two-game lead in the standings. 21 In July, the team had announced an exhibition game for August 20 with the Kansas City Blues of the American Association, the Triple-A club of the World champion New York Yankees. The Blues' roster included outfielder and prize prospect Mickey Mantle, whom Boyer hadn't faced since both played shortstop in the Ban Johnson League two years earlier. But the contest never materialized and the Cards instead beat the Wichita Indians that night, Omaha went in the month of August, which included a five-game win streak sparked by Ken's two-out, game-winning 365-foot home run at Sioux City on August 27. In fact, his batting proficiency was evident throughout the month and had raised his average to.298, seven points behind teammate Russ Rac for the club lead. He led the Cards with 150 hits and was second behind Rac with 86 runs batted in. On August 30, Ken's 400-foot solo homer broke up a scoreless contest in the sixth inning and gave Omaha right-hander Hal Coffman the lead in his four-hit, 2-0 shutout over the Lincoln Athletics. The ball cleared the fence between the scoreboard and a light tower in left-center, wrote Robert Phillips of the World-Herald, and it was still good for plenty of roll when last seen. The victory gave the Cards a three-game lead over Denver with less than two weeks left in the season. 23 But the temperatures and many of Omaha's bats got colder the first week of September, making the pennant race a bit more tense than loyal Cardinal fans wanted. Their lead was cut down to a single game over the Denver Bears as the Western League season drew into its final week. Having lost six of their last 10 games, the Cards took both games of a doubleheader from the last-place Lincoln Athletics on September 8, 18-2 and 8-0. Ken went 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored in the first game and scored two runs in the second. The next day, a crowd of 2,224 Cardinal fans welcomed the team as it hosted another doubleheader against Lincoln. Left-hander Victor Gohl, who lost 18 games for the Athletics, pitched a four-hit gem against Omaha to win 2-1. In the second game, the Cardinals were behind 4-1 but had the bases loaded in the seventh inning with Boyer at the plate. He hit a line drive to the outfield fence, but umpire John 20 Omaha Evening World-Herald, August 7, 8, 13, Omaha Evening World-Herald, August 23, 25, Omaha Evening World-Herald, July 26, Beatrice (NE) Daily Sun, August 28, Omaha Evening World-Herald, September 1, 1951.

6 Rice ruled that he had passed the runner ahead of him and called him out. With Omaha's 4-3 loss and Denver's victory over Colorado Springs, there was a tie for first place and only two games left. 24 The Cardinals hosted the fourth-place Des Moines Bruins on September 10 and 11. Hal Coffman, 11- game winner for Omaha, pitched well the first four innings and held a 5-1 lead. But in the fifth, he gave up four straight hits that scored three runs and reduced Omaha's lead to one run. Jack Shirley relieved him and held the Bruins to three hits the rest of the game. The Cards scored another run in the eighth and won, 6-4. Ken had two hits, including a double, and scored two runs. Meanwhile Andy Skurski of Colorado Springs played the role of spoiler as his tenth-inning, two-out home run muzzled the Denver Bears Omaha's win coupled with Denver's loss once again gave the Cardinals a one-game lead. 25 Sensing a pennant-clincher, 5,327 fans packed Muny Stadium to overflowing capacity on the last day of the regular season to watch the Cardinals capture the Western League title. Des Moines took a 5-3 lead in the first four innings off two Omaha hurlers and Willard Schmidt before the right-hander held them scoreless the rest of the game. The Cards tied the contest in the seventh with a two-run home run by Russell Rac and clinched it an inning later with an inside-the-park homer by Harvey Zernia (which should have been held to a single but was missed on an attempted shoestring catch) that made it 8-5. Ken had only a single in four at-bats but scored two runs. The victory gave the Omaha Cardinals their second consecutive pennant and Ken his first championship as a professional ballplayer. 26 The first round of the Western League playoffs against the Sioux City Soos proved to be anticlimactic for the Cardinals. They dropped the first two games at home, 5-3 and 3-2. Before the second game, the players presented manager George Kissell with a movie projector as a gift. Despite a 45 degree nighttime temperature, Omaha took advantage of six errors to win the third game at Sioux City, 9-4. Ken contributed two hits and scored twice in the contest. But the Soos clinched the best-of-five series the next night with a commanding 10-3 victory. Ken made a poor showing in the series, batting.200 with a double and RBI, though he scored four runs in five games. 27 Ken was selected by the Omaha media as the team's rookie of the year. He came in second to Earl Weaver for most popular player but still received a new suit of clothes from a local clothing manufacturer. George Freese, batting champion of the Western League, was chosen over Boyer as third baseman on the postseason All-Star Team. Ken tied with Weaver and Des Moines second baseman Vern Morgan at two votes each for utility player honors. 28 At his highest level of competition in three seasons of pro ball, Ken met the challenge. He led his club with a.306 average (fourth-best in the Western League) in 151 games, playing in all but four during the season, and hit 14 home runs with 90 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. He's the best two-strike hitter on the club and a good long ball hitter, said Kissell. Almost 40 years later, the manager remembered, The first month he hit everything to right field, the second month he hit it to right center, the third month he hit it to left center, and the fourth month he hit it in the bleachers. 29 Reflecting on the 1951 season at its conclusion, Robert Phipps of the Omaha World-Herald wrote, 24 Omaha Morning World-Herald, September 6, Omaha Sunday World-Herald, September 9, Omaha Evening World-Herald, September 11, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, September 11, Omaha Evening World-Herald, September 12, Omaha Evening World-Herald, September 14, Omaha Morning World-Herald, September 15, Omaha Sunday World-Herald, September 16, Omaha Morning World-Herald, September 17, Omaha Morning World-Herald, September 10, 11, Council Bluffs (IA) Nonpareil, September 9, Jack Gallagher, Boyer Boomed as Birds' New Golden Boy, TSN, January 19, 1955: 5. Kissell Has 49 Years of Card Memories, Springfield (IL) State Journal-Register, September 11, 1988.

7 Kissell made a brave decision early in the year. He picked a rookie, Ken Boyer, over two experienced third basemen. It was a dangerous gamble in that a bad guess would have hurt George's standing badly in the organization. Boyer came through like a champion, although he was jumping a long way up the ladder. One scout (not in the St. Louis chain) termed the lad one of the two best prospects in the Western League at season's end. 30 While their teammates prepared to return home, Ken and Willard Schmidt drove 550 miles to St. Louis to join the Cardinals for the last week-and-a-half of the major-league season. Team officials wanted them to work out with the club and manager Marty Marion's coaching staff of Terry Moore, Ray Blades, Mike Ryba, and Clyde Buzy Wares to determine where they would be assigned the next year. No doubt Ken had the opportunity to talk with players he had idolized as a kid like Marion, Enos Slaughter, Red Schoendienst, and Stan Musial. He was also reunited with his older brother Cloyd, who had recently been sidelined with a sore arm. As Ken and Willard watched from the bench, the Cardinals finished in third place in the National League race behind the second-place Brooklyn Dodgers and the league-leading New York Giants Omaha Evening World-Herald, February 1, Omaha Morning World-Herald, September 18, Omaha Evening World-Herald, October 6, 9, TSN November 7, 1951, 6.