Fred Kipp: The last Yankee Dodger

When I wrote the book The Last Yankee Dodger with my father Fred Kipp, I used many articles from the Iola Register to piece the story of my father’s baseball career together. My father grew up in Piqua and went to Iola High School before becoming a major league baseball pitcher. He’s the last Yankee Dodger because he is the last living player to play for the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.

My father often went to The Register to talk with Bud Roberts — the sportswriter of the time. Bud would write articles about my father from when he chose to go to K-State or when he pitched in Japan. People from around the world would send Bud clippings from other newspapers and Bud would pass the articles on to my father’s parents Chuck and Ida Kipp. I now have the treasure trove of thousands of articles.

Bud would comment on the articles in the Register and how Fred was doing. One of the interesting articles Bud wrote was on July 27, 1955. Bud titled the article “How Far Fred Kipp?” The article was written after my father won four games in the 1955 National Baseball Congress in Wichita. My father was pitching for the Goodland Tigers who were managed by Billy Martin, of New York Yankee fame, while Billy was in the army. The article says:

The chances that Fred Kipp of Piqua will some day get a trial in the major leagues are better than ever. If advancement to the top transpires, imagine the thrill it could be for the folks of Piqua. Putting a native son in the big leagues would be more reward than they ever expected.

There are really concrete reasons for thinking Fred can make it. The ex-Iola High basketball stalwart has never had anything but success since he started in Piqua baseball at 14. Progress has been steady.

Before going into army service he led a Class A league in pitching. He is a lefthander with exceptional control. He is big. His temperament is excellent. He is smart. He is young. He is athletic all the way.

Bud knew my father pretty well and had been reporting on him since before his baseball successes when Iola won the Southeast Kansas League in 1949. He continued to track my father’s career and noted when he got his first appearance in the majors when he pitched at Wrigley Field on September 10th, 1957:

Fred Kipp of Piqua Makes Major Debut

Piqua has its major league ball player officially today. Fred Kipp pitched four innings for the Brooklyn Dodgers yesterday in Chicago against the Cubs. Kipp coming in behind Sandy Koufax and Don Bessent.

That was the first and only game my father pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but that put him in an elite group that has dwindled to only 22 surviving members today. Less than a month later, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and Bud told my father about the move in this article:

Piqua’s Brooklyn Dodger Suddenly an L. A. Dodger

It was just the dutiful annual call suggested by The Register, but the visit Tuesday turned out somewhat memorable at that, for Fred Kipp of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Piqua.

“I really don’t know any more than anyone else – none of us do. Just what we read,” the tall, straight, and willowy pitcher now baptized in the major leagues was saying as he leaned on the counter.

He referred to whether the Dodgers would play in Brooklyn or Los Angeles next season, and in no more than a minute he knew-and for sure apparently. The bell tingled a “bulletin” signal on the Associated Press teletype, and this message followed:

“BULLETIN