Warren Spahn
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- This article is about the Hall of Fame pitcher. For the annual award given out for the top left-handed pitcher in the majors, see Warren Spahn Award.
Warren Edward Spahn (April 23, 1921 – November 24, 2003) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for 21 seasons, all in the National League. Although never quite as dominating as some, he was both astonishingly consistent and durable. He won 20 games in 13 different seasons, and compiled a 23-7 record when he was aged 42. He won more games than any other left-handed pitcher, or any other pitcher who played his entire career in the post-1920 live-ball era, and is acknowledged as one of the best left-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball history.
Spahn was born in Buffalo, New York. In 1940 he signed with the Braves organization. His major league career began in 1942 with the Braves and he spent all but one year with that franchise, first in Boston and then in Milwaukee. He finished his career in 1965 with the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants. Spahn won more games than any other lefty (363) and is the fifth-winningest pitcher in MLB, trailing only Cy Young (511), Walter Johnson (417), Grover Cleveland Alexander (373), and Christy Mathewson (373) on the all-time list.[1]
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| Warren Spahn is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame |
Spahn also threw two no-hitters, won 3 ERA titles, appeared in 14 All-Star games, and holds the National League record for career home runs by a pitcher with 35. Spahn led the National League in wins eight times, including five seasons in a row (1949, 1950, 1953, 1957-1961) and complete games nine seasons, seven consecutively (1949, 1951, 1957-63); these numbers are major league records. He won the NL Cy Young Award in 1957.
On June 14, 1952 Spahn struck out 18 Cubs in a 3-1, 15 inning loss to Chicago.
Spahn pitched in the World Series for the Braves in 1948, 1957, and 1958. During the 1948 season, he combined with teammate Johnny Sain to anchor a pitching rotation that was generally considered to be exceptionally weak otherwise, resulting in the saying, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain."
Spahn served in the United States Army in World War II and was wounded in Europe. He was awarded Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star for bravery. He saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and at the Ludendorff Bridge (the famous bridge at Remagen) as a combat engineer, and was awarded a battlefield commission. He was the only one of major league baseball's military who earned a battlefield commission.
Spahn died at age 82, apparently of natural causes, at his home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is interred in the Elmwood Cemetery in Hartshorne.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, his first year of eligibility.
In 1999, he ranked Number 21 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Another honoree, Sandy Koufax, joked, "He should be on the All-Century Team, since he pitched most of the century."
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[edit] Quotations
"Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing."
"I'm probably the only guy who worked for Stengel before and after he was a genius." (on having played for manager Casey Stengel with the Braves and Mets, but not when Stengel was winning multiple World Series with the New York Yankees)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Baseball Hall of Fame
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- Baseball Library
- Boys of Tireball: Warren Spahn
- The Baseball Page
- Braves All-Time Team
[edit] Notes
- ^ Spahn is commonly ranked sixth after 19th-century pitcher Pud Galvin, who won 364 games. Galvin's first four wins came in 1875, in the National League predecessor National Association (NA). So whether Spahn or Galvin ranks fifth depends on whether we count the NA as a major league.
| Preceded by: Don Newcombe |
Cy Young Award 1957 |
Succeeded by: Bob Turley |
| Preceded by: Don Drysdale |
Major League Player of the Month August 1960 |
Succeeded by: Ken Boyer |
| Preceded by: Frank Robinson |
Major League Player of the Month August 1961 |
Succeeded by: Jim O'Toole |
| Preceded by: Dick Groat |
Lou Gehrig Memorial Award 1961 |
Succeeded by: Robin Roberts |
| Major League Baseball | MLB All-Century Team |
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Nolan Ryan | Sandy Koufax | Cy Young | Roger Clemens | Bob Gibson | Walter Johnson | Warren Spahn | Christy Mathewson | Lefty Grove |
Categories: 1921 births | 2003 deaths | Baseball Hall of Fame | Major league pitchers | Boston Braves players | Milwaukee Braves players | New York Mets players | San Francisco Giants players | National League All-Stars | Major league players from New York | 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Series Championship Team | Warren Spahn Award | Lou Gehrig Memorial Award | 300 win club | Major League Baseball pitchers who have pitched a no-hitter | American World War II veterans | United States Army officers | Recipients of the Purple Heart medal
