#78 Ellis Kinder

#78 Ellis Kinder
Progress: 1st of this card
227 of 55.8% complete
How acquired: $3.99 on eBay
Condition: Fair
This card isn't in the greatest shape but it's more than acceptable for my purposes.  It's a rather unique picture on the front, giving more detail in the background than most of these cards do.  I'm pretty sure that's Fenway in the background, but I can't be sure.  It's possible that the angle in center field bleachers was more pronounced back then, or that the artist took some liberties in coloring in the photo.

Kinder appears to have been the original Dennis Eckersley, in that he went from being a very solid starter (as the card back mentions, he was a 23 game winner in '49) to arguably the best closer in baseball.  He led the AL in saves in '51 (16) and '53 (27) and games finished in '53 (51) and '55 (38).  He finished in the top 11 of MVP voting three times, and the top 10 in saves seven times, but never made an All-Star team.  

I'd like to know if anyone knows if there is a way to research defunct stats (if that's even the term).  I want to know where Kinder stood on the all-time saves list when he retired after the '57 season.  If there's an easy to use reference page or search tool, please fill me in, I'd like to make use of it going forward.

*UPDATE*
Thanks to input from CommishBob, who pointed out in 1957 the All-Time Leader was Johnny Murphy with 107 career saves, leaving Kinder 3 short at 104.  Also of interest, Kinder's 27 saves in 1953 tied the single season mark set by Joe Page in 1949.  Page and Kinder would be joined by Lindy McDaniel who would also post 27 saves in 1960, before seeing the record broken in 1961 by Luis Arroyo with a 29 saves.  Current saves records as of the end of the 2016 season are Mariano Rivera with 652 career saves, and Francisco Rodriguez with 62 in '08.

Stats: 12 seasons, 102 wins, 71 losses, 255 games finished, 104 saves.

Best Hall of Fame Showing: 1.5% 1964

Inducted into The Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2006