Posing for a photo, Fred Kipp, Emporia State alumni and author, stands in his Dodgers uniform in the 1950s. Kipp played Major League Baseball for 10 years.
This Saturday, Fred Kipp, Emporia State alumni and author, will be visiting ESU for a book signing for “The Last Yankee Dodger.” The signing will be from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in front of the Memorial Union bookstore.
Fred Kipp attended ESU from 1950 to 1953 to play basketball and baseball. After college, Fred Kipp started playing Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Los Angeles Dodgers.
He spent seven years with the team until he was traded to the New York Yankees in 1960, where he played two years.
“I could talk about baseball pretty easy. I know quite a bit about it,” Fred Kipp said. “I’ve (got), in professional baseball, about 10 years and all through college. That’s how I made my way through college is playing baseball.”
Scott Kipp, co-author and Fred Kipp’s son, said in an article that in Fred Kipp’s time at ESU, he really made an impact in the last game of the 1950 baseball season. “He really made his name when he threw a no-hitter and
struck out fourteen batters in the last game of the season against the Washburn Ichabods,” Scott Kipp said.
After college, Fred Kipp was picked up by the Brooklyn Dodgers, who owned 17 minor league teams, and was shifted around the minor league until 1956 when he officially joined the Dodgers. “My father walked smack dab in the middle of the best rivalry from the golden era of baseball,” Scott Kipp said.
“He saw Jackie Robinson go up against Don Larsen in his perfect game. He saw Don Drysdale pitching against Mickey Mantle and Yogi Bera and Roy Campanella catching and hitting in their prime. Kipp was ineligible for the World Series, but pitched batting practice for the Dodgers with the likes of Sandy Koufax.”
For the last few years, Fred Kipp said has visited ESU during Homecoming week. This year is no different, according to Fred Kipp. “I’ve probably been to more (Homecomings) than anybody,” Fred Kipp said. “Cause I’m old.”
According to Fred Kipp, he plans to mostly discuss his life and time at ESU. “Well, pretty much (I plan to talk about) my life and probably some of it, Emporia State would be more important than anything I would think,” Fred Kipp said. According to a poster from Scott Kipp.
Fred Kipp will be selling signed copies for $20 and copies are available online at Amazon for $22.95.