SUMMARY Career WAR 100.1 W 363 L 245 ERA 3.09 G 750 GS 665 SV 28 IP "If anybody asks me who my favorite pitcher of all-time is, I say Warren Spahn ." - Whitey Ford in An Indian Summer: The 1957 Milwaukee Braves Champions of Baseball (Thad Mumau, 2007) "I don't know if we're the oldest battery, but we're certainly the ugliest." - Yogi Berra in 1965. Look, I made 10 or 12 mistakes in the game, he added. The winningest left-hander in big league history waited seven years to enter the Hall of Fame, two more than any other first-year candidate. April 23, 1921 His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Warren Spahn baseball stats page. Facing the San Francisco Giants, the 42-year-old Spahn became locked into a storied pitchers' duel with 25-year-old Juan Marichal. A left-handed pitcher, Spahn played in 1942 and then from 1946 until 1965, most notably for the Boston Braves, who became the Milwaukee Braves after the team moved west before the 1953 season. Warren Spahn 2nd No Hitter (Box Score) | The Daily Republic | April 19, 1961 The outcome may have not been what hed preferred, but if anything, it drove the future Hall of Famer to set his bar even higher. Baseball is a game of fractions of a second. "[20] Marichal ended up throwing 227 pitches in the complete game 10 win, while Spahn threw 201 in the loss, allowing nine hits and one walk. It gave me a weapon against the lefthanders., That wasnt all. Harvey Kuenn was the next batter, and he bounced a Spahn screwball back to the mound, which the pitcher converted into a 1-6-3 double play. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. Pitching is upsetting timing."[6]. "A pitcher needs two pitches - one they're looking for and one to cross them up," Spahn was fond of saying. With 363 career wins, Spahn holds the major league record for a left-handed pitcher, and has the most by a pitcher who played his entire career in the post-1920 live-ball era. He also coached for the Mexico City Tigers, and also pitched a handful of games there. Yes, in the World Series Spahn lost his only start, in game two, and won game five with 5 innings of one-hit, seven-strikeout relief. copyright=new Date(); ", "I'm probably the only guy who worked for Stengel before and after he was a genius." He said, I know you pitch every fourth day, but try to take an extra day. I only got one. For his part, Marichal had lost a 17-inning game while pitching for Springfield, MA, in 1959. The San Francisco Chronicle carried a front-page headline JUAN BEATS SPAHN. A true war hero, he was awarded a Purple Heart for shrapnel wound and a battlefield commission. Spahn also made his acting debut with a cameo appearance as a German soldier in a 1963 episode (S2E8 "Glow Against the Sky")[30] of the television series Combat! Spahn, who returned to the Braves soon after his discharge in 1946, would go 21-10 in 1947. The perfect game was ruined in the fourth when Spahn issued a two-out walk to Walters. Under the curfew in effect, no inning could start after 12:50. As his fastball waned, Spahn adapted, and relied more on location, changing speeds and a good screwball. 1) (Box Score: 09-16-1960). Baseball Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. The same situation occurred in the fifth inning when Spahn walked leadoff batter McCovey with four straight balls. Milwaukee manager Bobby Bragan insists he never even went to the mound. In 1970, when Hoyt Wilhelm was 47, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for first baseman Hal Breeden. As of this writing, only one player in the last quarter century Seattles Jamie (The Ancient Mariner) Moyer in 2003 has had a 20-win season past the age of 40. Warren Spahn tossed a no-hitter at the age of 39 against the Philadelphia Phillies. He just didn't play in an environment that exploited his skills like Johnson did. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Despite a poor won-loss record (for him) of 18-14 in 1962, Spahn still led the NL in complete games and had a 3.04 ERA, and in 1963, at the age of 42, he tied his career-best record with a 23-7 mark. Spahn won four and lost 12 at which point the Mets put Spahn on waivers. "The fastball was hopping out there," he told reporters. We present them here for purely educational purposes. But the grip he used for the pitch is the same as that used for the modern circle change. But the lefty was up to the task this time. I made a bad pitch to [Bill] Serena in the ninth, he said to the Boston Globe. Extending his career with, yes, a screwball he used effectively against left-handed hitters, he went 243-142, with a sterling .631 winning percent age and equally an eye-catching 2.89 ERA. According to these results, the theory on Young seems to ring true-on average he threw these five fastballs with a perceived velocity of 6.7 mph greater than what the PITCHf/x measured at 50 feet, a figure that correlates strongly to radar gun reports. Hed throw five fastballs, five screwballs, five curves, five changeups, Greg continues, and see what was working If he had trouble, it wasusually in the first or second inning. Spahn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in 1973 in his first year of eligibility (His eligibility had been delayed, under the rules of the day, by 2 seasons of brief minor league service.) [5] Regarded as a "thinking man's" pitcher who liked to outwit batters, Spahn once described his approach on the mound: "Hitting is timing. 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. With one out, Frank Bolling singled. [11] Spahn was unsure of the war's impact on his career: People say that my absence from the big leagues may have cost me a chance to win 400 games. [9], In 1947, Spahn led the National League in ERA (2.33), shutouts (7), and innings pitched (289+23) while posting a 2110 record. -Warren Spahn . Contact SABR, https://sabr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/research-collection4_350x300.jpg, /wp-content/uploads/2020/02/sabr_logo.png, The Best-Pitched Game in Baseball History: Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal. Crandall would bat only .201 in 1963. He retired from baseball as a player in 1965. ", Spahn threw his first no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 16, 1960, when he was 39. But it did not change his effectiveness. After the 1965 season, no one bid on his services. Hell never stop pitching.. He is second all time amongst pitchers in sacrifice flies with 14. Spahn was also a good hitter, hitting at least one home run in 17 straight seasons, and finishing with an NL career record for pitchers, with 35 home runs. ), According to former Cardinals player Solly Hemus, Spahn, along with teammate Lew Burdette, periodically used anti-Semitic slurs while on the mound. He had been limited to two outfield flies, two infield grounders, a strikeout, and an intentional walk. Hitting Physics . He finished the season with a 54 record and 2.73 ERA. Did players turn to teammates and say, Im going to tell my grandchildren about this one? In truth, they were just trying to get through the night, says Frank Bolling, who played all 16 innings at second for the Braves, going 2-for-7 at the plate and handling seven chances without an error. Then, on August 11, he beat the Cubs in a packed Milwaukee County Stadium for his 300th career victory. Braves' mainstay Warren Spahn was sold to the Mets on Nov. 23, 1964. Born: Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! The trio, who were Milwaukee-area natives, included Spahn in the closing credits once, with the disclaimer, "He's not in the film, but he's still our all-time favorite left-hand pitcher.". Found 1 colleague at Sparkling Clean Car Wash Inc. Spahn issued his second walk in the fifth when he passed Neeman on a 3-1 pitch with one out. Privacy Statement/Your California Privacy Rights. Five days lateryes, he got an extra day off, toohe strained a tendon in his arm throwing a slider to John Bateman but finished the game and beat Houston, 5-0, on five singles. And the game began with Spahn and Marichal, two of the hottest pitchers in baseball. "He has wonderful physical qualities. Spahn was one of the greatest lefthanded pitchers of all-time. Sain won the next day. After Spahn, making his third start of the season for the first place Braves and carrying a 1-1 record, retired the Giants in order in the top of the first, his teammates got him a lead in the bottom half that would stand up for the rest of the game. vs. NYG 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 ER, Last Game: He also began throwing a slider in 1958, a palm ball and a knuckle ball in 1963. Marichal and Spahn sailed through the first three innings, Marichal yielding one hit, Spahn one, Marichal getting the most mileage out of his fastball, Spahn learning quickly that his screwball was getting right-handed hitters while his curve curbed lefties. As Mays stood in the on-deck circle, Marichal called to him Hit one now. His teammates chuckled, Mays stepped in. He won a career low 6 games with a career high 5.29 ERA in 1964 and was demoted to the bullpen. Spahn patiently remained on the field for a broadcast interview. Spahn threw behind him, and Bowman was retired in the ensuing rundown: pitcher to first to shortstop. It was a night not fit for man nor beast, let alone a 40-year-old pitcher who was nearing the end of what would be a Hall of Fame career. I blame myself for Willie. But the old man appeared to be weakening. Looking back over the years from his South Carolina retirement, Dark remembers a different conversation. Rookie Status: Marichal was throwing plenty of fastballs now. Coming into the top of the ninth inning, in a game that was barely two hours old, Spahn had only allowed two base runners - both of whom reached on walks. Yogi later told reporters, "I don't think we're the oldest battery, but we're certainly the ugliest.". Well, yes and no. I said, Willie, this is going to be the last inning for me. [15], In honor of the pitching duo, Boston Post sports editor Gerald V. Hern wrote this poem which the popular media eventually condensed to "Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain":[16]. 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