Baseball History Comes Alive Now Ranked #2 by Feedspot Among All Internet Baseball History Websites and Blogs!
Guest Submissions from Our Readers Always Welcome!
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive! for automatic updates (sign-up block found in right side-bar)
As a Free Bonus for subscribing, you’ll get instant access to my two Special Reports: Memorable World Series Moments and Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide!
Ken Lehman and the 1952 World Series Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
-
- Ken Lehman with the Dodgers
-
- Souvenir program from the 1952 World Series
-
- 1952 pennant-winning Dodgers
-
- 1952 pennant-winning Dodgers
-
- 1952 Dodgers
-
- Ken Lehman from collection of John Leichliter)
-
- Ken Lehman with Brooks Robinson (from Matt Lehman personal collection)
-
- Ken Lehman with Joe DiMaggio from 1951 Tour of Japan (from Matt Lehman personal collection)
-
- Ken Lehman baseball card
-
- Ken Lehman (from Matt Lehman personal collection)
-
- Ken Lehman baseball card
-
- Ken Lehman during his days with the Dodgers
-
- Ken Lehman later in life with Matt’s son, Lincoln
-
- Grandson Matt Lehman with his family
-
- Billy Martin’s desperate catch saves Game Seven of the 1952 World Series
-
- Yankee celebration, probably 1952 World Series
-
- Yankee World Series celebration, probably 1952 or ’53
-
- 1952 World Series souvenir program
-
- Scene from 1952 World Series
-
- Scene from 1952 World Series
-
- Scene from 1952 World Series
-
- Scene from 1952 World Series
We’re Contacted by Grandson of Former Major Leaguer, Ken Lehman!
As I’ve said many times, we always love it when we’re contacted by relatives of former major leaguers. It doesn’t matter to us if he was a star or a backup. If he made it to the majors, he’s special; and we’re always glad to shine the spotlight on him for a brief moment or two.
A while back, one of our readers, Matt Lehman, asked if we could mention his granddad, former major leaguer Ken Lehman, who pitched in the 1952 World Series. You bet, Matt…We’re always glad to oblige!
Some of our “senior” readers may remember Ken Lehman. Primarily a left-handed relief pitcher and spot starter, he spent 16 seasons in professional ball, five in the majors over the years 1952-’61 for the Dodgers, Orioles, and Phillies. Over his career, he went 14-10, with a 3.91 ERA, and seven saves.
Ken’s best season was 1957 with the Orioles, when he posted an 8-3 mark with a 2.78 ERA. Ken was also an outstanding minor league pitcher, going 141-101 with a 3.60 ERA over eleven seasons. As a rookie, Ken pitched in the 1952 World Series, facing nine batters over two innings. He gave up two hits and a walk but allowed no runs.
Ken Lehman during his time with the Orioles, 1967-’68
Matt relates that he comes from “a huge baseball fan family, as you would probably expect with my grandpa’s stories of playing in the majors.” Matt is justifiably proud of his granddad. He described Ken Lehman as “…a great man and a true patriarch of our family.”
And of course, having a former major leaguer in the family is not without its benefits. Matt shared how granddad Ken got him a baseball signed by Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax from a 1992 Dodger reunion, which was marking 35 years after the team left Brooklyn. Matt also got a Dodgers’ cap signed by Duke Snider. Not a bad haul!
Matt related one interesting memory from Ken’s career when he was playing for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League in 1951. During the off-season, Seals’ manager Lefty O’Doul put together an All-Star team that traveled to Japan to play exhibition games against Japanese All-Stars. Ken Lehman was asked to join the team. According to Matt: “The American team included Joe DiMaggio, who had also played for the Seals. He had actually just retired from the Yankees and made the trip over to Japan on his farewell tour with this team.” Matt sent me a neat picture of Ken with Joe DiMaggio from the Japan tour, which is the featured photo above.
Here are a few words about the career of Ken Lehman:
The 6’ 0” 170-lb. lefty signed with the Dodgers out of high school in 1946. He entered their minor league system in 1947, and reached the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1950 before enlisting in the Army during the Korean War. Following his discharge, Lehman made his major league debut with the pennant-winning Dodgers on September 5, 1952.
After three successful years with the Montreal Royals of the International League, Lehman returned to the Dodgers for the 1956 season. He then was purchased by the Baltimore Orioles during the 1957 season and pitched for them through 1958.
From 1959 to 1960 Lehman was a member of the Buffalo Bisons of the International League. He returned to the majors in 1961, appearing in 41 games for the Phillies. Lehman spent one more season in the minors before retiring after the1962 season.
Following his playing days, Lehman was the head coach at the University of Washington from 1964 to 1971. He later worked in the Mount Baker School District for 31 years.
Ken Lehman passed away in 2010 at age 82.
Shop MLB.com. The Official Online Shop of Major League Baseball.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
Information: Conversation with Matt Lehman, and excerpts edited from Ken Lehman Wikipedia page
Check out my latest book, recently nominated for the SABR 2020 Lawrence Ritter award: Reflections On the 1919 Black Sox: Time to Take Another Look now available on Amazon in e-book and paperback. All profits go to the Illinois Veterans Foundation
Vote In Our New Poll: How Do you Feel About the baseball Season Starting up?https://wp.me/p7a04E-7tr
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Click here to view Amazon’s privacy policy
Thanks, Gary (and Matt), for another interesting and informative entry. If Ken Lehman’s survivors learned from him any insider’s impressions of the Dodgers and Orioles of the 1950s — behind-the-scenes stuff, you know — I would definitely appreciate a revealing postscript of sorts. The insights of old ballplayers who made a contribution without becoming superstars can often be the most telling and intriguing of all.
You have certainly whetted my appetite here!
I plyed for Ken when he was head coach at the University of Washington. He was a real character and would have been an excellent pitching coach. He was the best I ever saw at hitting a fungo, and one day in practice just before the season started he drilled about 20 very hard hit grounders and one hop line drives at me. I scooped up 19 of them, then he said “OK – you’re my shortstop,” and that was it – I started every game. Hitting a baseball straight up is very difficult, but one time when we were in Santa Barbara Coach Lehman – on a bet – hit a ball over the 14 story Franciso Towers dormitory where we were staying. Had he not hit the ball perfectly, our head coach would surely have broken a window! He told us great stories about his experiences with the “L” pitchers: Ken Lehman, (Clem) Labine, (Billy) Loes, and (Tommy) LaSorda.
Thanks Larry, that’s great info. I notified his grandson, Matt Lehman, as I’m sure he’d enjoy reading your nice comments about his granddad.
Wow! Thank you Larry and Gary! It’s always great to hear old personal stories! And that’s a good one for sure! Thank you for sharing and I’ll pass it along to my family!
Matt
AI is here to change the world, and people are going crazy over it
So the question is, would you like a piece of that pie?
BrainBox – The World’s First AI App Let You Launch Your Own “ChatGPT-like” AI Chatbot with 50 stunning AI features
You can even customize this AI Chatbot with your own domain, branding and style and charge people for using it.
Forget paying huge fees for Content Writers, Programmers, Designers, Translators, Video Editors, SEO Experts, Customer Support, etc
BrainBox handles all of that for you 100%
>> Click Here To See The Live Demo & Get Full Access Before Price Increases
Use my coupon code: bit.ly/BrainBoxDiscount
To get access to BrainBox you need just 4 easy steps away
Step1: Login to BrainBox Cloud-Based App ( super-easy to navigate dashboard)
Step 2: Create- With Just One Click, Create Your Very Own ChatGPT-Like AI Chatbot( this takes just few minutes)
Step 3: Now Launch- You’re Ready To Charge Millions Of Hungry Customers For Using Your Very Own AI Chatbot.
Step 4: Start Getting Paid by your Customers and Clients
BrainBox comes with over 50 AI features that which includes ;
Write engaging, high quality content for videos, blogs, scripts, emails, newsletters, ebooks literally anything
Turn plain text into engaging, professional videos that attract thousands of free hits of traffic
Generate the best AI designs that put 99% of graphic designers to shame, in just seconds
Design salespages, sales funnels, fully functional blogs
Proofread your writing without paying anything
Translate your writing to over 50 different languages and profit
That’s just a tiny fraction of all the features that BrainBox has to offer…
Using BrainBox will give you full control and cut down your expenses on hiring freelancers that give you low service .
>> Get Unlimited Access to BrainBox AI Technology
bit.ly/BrainBoxDiscount
And to make this a no-brainer, the first 25 people will get full access to my 100 bonuses.
PS: If you act now, you will instantly receive [bonuses] worth over $14,659.44… This bonus is designed specifically to help you get 10x the results, in half the time required
>>Click here to secure your access to BrainBox today
bit.ly/BrainBoxDiscount
Sincerely,
James