My Dad's favorite pitcher, and one of the all-time under-rated stars passed away today. Will try and find an article on topic.
Monday, November 24, 2003 Hall of Famer, 82, won 363 games Associated Press http://msn.espn.go.com/classic/obit/s/2003/1124/1670072.html BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- Warren Spahn, the Hall of Fame pitcher who won more games than any other left-hander in history, died Monday. He was 82. Spahn died at his home, family friend Gary Caruso said. All-time wins leaders Pitcher Wins Cy Young 511 Walter Johnson 417 Grover Alexander 373 Christy Mathewson 373 Pud Galvin 364 Warren Spahn 363 Kid Nichols 361 Tim Keefe 342 Steve Carlton 329 John Clarkson 328 Spahn was the mainstay of the Braves' pitching staff for two decades, first in Boston and then in Milwaukee. He pitched for 21 seasons, winning 363 games and posting 20 or more victories 13 times. The remarkable part was that he was 25 before he got his first major league win. "Warren Spahn was a fighter and a winner," said New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, a former teammate. "He made catching in the big leagues a lot easier for me because he took me under his wing along with Lew Burdette. One of my biggest thrills to this day was catching his 300th victory in 1961." Spahn started his baseball career in his hometown of Buffalo, playing first base while his father played third for the Buffalo Lake City Athletic Club. He wanted to play first in high school but his team already had an all-city player at that position. So Spahn switched to pitching. He signed with the Braves in 1940 for $80 a month and injured his arm twice in his first season of D-level ball. But he won 19 games the next season and was invited to spring training with the Braves. He started the 1942 season with the Braves but was sent down by manager Casey Stengel, who was angry because the left-hander refused to brush back Pee Wee Reese in an exhibition game. Spahn went 17-12 with a 1.96 ERA average at Hartford that season while the Braves finished in seventh place. Stengel called farming Spahn out the worst mistake he ever made. In 1943, Spahn went into the Army. He served in Europe, where he was wounded, decorated for bravery with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart and was awarded a battlefield commission. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge and in the battle for the bridge at Remagen, Germany, where many men in his company were lost. Spahn returned to baseball in 1946, and had an 8-5 record for the Braves. The next season, he emerged as one of baseball's best pitchers with a 21-10 record. He led the NL with a 2.33 ERA and became part of a pitching partnership with Johnny Sain that took Boston to the NL pennant the next year. Because of the Braves' thin staff, Boston's pitching was described as "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." Starting in 1947, Spahn won 20 or more games in 13 of the next 17 seasons. Only Christy Mathewson had as many 20-win seasons in the NL. Strangely, one of the years he missed that plateau was 1948, when he was 15-12 as the Braves won their first pennant since 1914. Equipped with a high-kicking delivery that baffled batters, Spahn became a dominant pitcher after that season, a consistent 20-game winner. Only once between 1953 and 1961 did he fail to win 20 games. Spahn led the NL in victories eight times, including five in a row from 1957-61, and led the league in strikeouts from 1949-52. He once said, "When I'm pitching, I feel I'm down to the essentials -- two men with one challenge between them." He usually won that challenge. Spahn led the league in complete games nine times, including seven in a row from 1957-63. For his career, he completed 382 of 665 starts and had 2,583 strikeouts. He led the Braves to pennants with 21 wins in 1957 and 22 in 1958 -- their first two seasons in Milwaukee -- and then won 21 games in each of the next three seasons. He was 23-7 and led the league with a 2.10 ERA in 1953 at age 32 and then matched that a decade later when he was 42, going 23-7 again in 1963, this time with a 2.60 ERA. That was his last great season. A year later, he went 6-13 and then finished up in 1965, splitting the season between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants and winning seven games. He then pitched in Mexico and the minors before finally retiring in 1967 at the age of 46. When he was criticized for pitching that long, Spahn said, "I don't care what the public thinks. I'm pitching because I enjoy pitching." That left him with a career record of 363-245 and a 3.09 ERA. He won the 1957 Cy Young Award and was second three times. He made 14 All-Star teams, threw two no-hitters and holds the NL record for home runs by a pitcher with 35. Spahn was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973, his first year of eligibility. Arrangements were being handled by the Floral Haven funeral home in Broken Arrow.
Warren Spahn Born: April 23, 1921 Bats: Left Throws: Left Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1973 Batting statistics Search player by last name: Return to History Index CAREER STATISTICS YEAR TEAM LG G GS CG SH IP H ER BB SO W L SV ERA 1942 Bos N 4 2 1 0 15.2 25 10 11 7 0 0 0 5.75 1946 Bos N 24 16 8 0 125.2 107 41 36 67 8 5 1 2.94 1947 Bos N 40 35 22 7 289.2 245 75 84 123 21 10 3 2.33 1948 Bos N 36 35 16 3 257.0 237 106 77 114 15 12 1 3.71 1949 Bos N 38 38 25 4 302.1 283 103 86 151 21 14 0 3.07 1950 Bos N 41 39 25 1 293.0 248 103 111 191 21 17 1 3.16 1951 Bos N 39 36 26 7 310.2 278 103 109 164 22 14 0 2.98 1952 Bos N 40 35 19 5 290.0 263 96 73 183 14 19 3 2.98 1953 Mil N 35 32 24 5 265.2 211 62 70 148 23 7 3 2.10 1954 Mil N 39 34 23 1 283.1 262 99 86 136 21 12 3 3.15 1955 Mil N 39 32 16 1 245.2 249 89 65 110 17 14 1 3.26 1956 Mil N 39 35 20 3 281.1 249 87 52 128 20 11 3 2.78 1957 Mil N 39 35 18 4 271.0 241 81 78 111 21 11 3 2.69 1958 Mil N 38 36 23 2 290.0 257 99 76 150 22 11 1 3.07 1959 Mil N 40 36 21 4 292.0 282 96 70 143 21 15 0 2.96 1960 Mil N 40 33 18 4 267.2 254 104 74 154 21 10 2 3.50 1961 Mil N 38 34 21 4 262.2 236 88 64 115 21 13 0 3.02 1962 Mil N 34 34 22 0 269.1 248 91 55 118 18 14 0 3.04 1963 Mil N 33 33 22 7 259.2 241 75 49 102 23 7 0 2.60 1964 Mil N 38 25 4 1 173.2 204 102 52 78 6 13 4 5.29 1965 NY/SF - 36 30 8 0 197.2 210 88 56 90 7 16 0 4.01 G GS CG SH IP H ER BB SO W L SV ERA 21 Seasons 750 665 382 63 5243.2 4830 1798 1434 2583 363 245 29 3.09 Career Rankings 37 11 21 6 8 9 11 12 20 6 12 380 227 Awards: • 1957: Cy Young Award • 1999: Named to All-Century Team (P) No-Hitters: • 1960: Pitched no-hitter on 9/16 vs PHI • 1961: Pitched no-hitter on 4/28 vs SFO Notes: - All statistics through the 2003 season. - To sort by a category, click the column header - Season totals listed in red denote the player led the entire ML in that category.
Commissioner's statement Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig issued the following statement today upon learning of the passing of Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn: "I am terribly saddened to learn of the passing of Warren Spahn today. As a young Milwaukee Braves fan during the 1950s, I have many wonderful and vivid memories of the great Warren Spahn on the mound at County Stadium. He is a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game. More importantly, he was my friend. I will miss him. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends."
11/24/2003 4:50 PM ET Warren Spahn passes away BROKEN ARROW, OK -- Warren Spahn, the winningest left-handed pitcher in major league baseball history, passed away today at his home at the age of 82. Spahn, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, compiled a 363-245 record with a 3.09 ERA in 1942 and from 1946 through 1964 with the Boston and Milwaukee Braves and then one season with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants. His 363 wins are fifth on major league baseball's overall victory list. A 14-time National League All-Star, Spahn holds or shares nine Braves franchise records, including most games started (635), complete games (374), innings pitched (5,046) and shutouts (63). He won 20 or more games in a season 13 times, a N. L. record, and led the league in wins eight times, in ERA three times and in complete games nine times. Spahn, the National League Cy Young Award winner in 1957, pitched two nohitters in his career, the last a 1-0 win over the Giants on April 28, 1961, when he was 40. The Braves inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1999 and dedicated a statue in his honor in front of Turner Field last summer. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Thanks Smeg. I must have spent hours over the years listening to my Pop make the case for Spahn being the best lefty ever. I always went with Koufax, myself, but SPahn does have an incredible record. Supposedly he was class all the way as a person, if I recall correctly.
the most impressive Warren Spahn fact is that he won 300+games after age 30; all that on 3-days rest. i remember this unbelievable feat from his autobiography. In 1965, at age 44, after a 3-days rest, he pitched all 16-innings in a 1-0 loss. after 3 days rest, he pitched a 9-inning shut out. when God invented rubber arms, he had Spahn in mind.
