Remembering SpahnieThe Winningest Lefthander - 1921-20031947, Territory of Hawaii Among the many blessings of living in the Islands is that one can know every score of every Mainland game before going to bed. In the long-ago years when many Major League contests were played during the day, results would be published in the afternoon paper, which would arrive around four o'clock. Under the heading "Today's Baseball," summaries brief by today's standards, but high-speed information for fans then, would read: Boston 7 Cincinnati 2 Warren Spahn scattered 7 hits today as the Braves defeated the Reds.
Spahn and Masi; Walters, Gumbert (6), and Lamanno W- Spahn L- Walters HR - Torgeson, Miller As "W- Spahn" kept showing up more and more in the summer of 1947, the older, Red Sox fan, squinting at the scores, asked, "Hey, Mr. Big Braves man, who is this guy Spahn?" The stat-saturated pre-teen responded, "He was 8-5 last year in only part of the season. He's gonna be better than Pollett or Brecheen, maybe even Newhouser. And he fought at The Bulge. They gave him a battlefield commission." The older fan raised his eyebrows and slowly nodded. He was impressed. 1953, Milwaukee For any Braves fan, it was a golden time and place. In the first franchise move in half-a-century, the club left the doldrums of 7th place in old Braves Field and rode the enthusiasm of Wisconsin fans to a 28-game improvement and second place in the National League. Many baseball executives were not surprised. The team made some changes, bringing in solid veterans like Andy Pafko and fresh younger players such as steals-leader Bill Bruton. It also added effective starting pitching, but there was a superior core of players. Poised young catcher Del Crandall had returned from military service, shortstop Johnny Logan was an agressive sparkplug, big Joe Adcock came with power from Cincinnati, and 21-year-old third baseman Eddie Mathews had his "breakout" season toward the Hall of Fame (.302, 47, 135, 110). But above all of that, there was Warren Spahn. At 32, the southpaw with the sweeping style had won 20 or more games four times and had led the league in strikeouts four times, in wins and shutouts twice, and in ERA once. He had been an All-Star five times and had logged 141 complete games, outstanding in that era and unbelievable today. In that first season in the new place, he gave his team and its fans a boffo performance --- a fifth 20-win campaign at 23-7 and tops in the league with those victories and in ERA. 1957, Milwaukee Spahn won 20 games for the eighth time to lead the Braves to the first pennant for Milwaukee and his second with the club. He picked up his second World Series victory on the way to a 4-3 record in three Fall Classics. At 36, he was no longer a strikeout pitcher, but prospered through his own famous maxim: "Hitting is timing and good pitching upsets timing." Like his earlier contemporary Bob Feller, and unlike his later contemporary Robin Roberts, Spahn would give you a walk, or even a hit, if doing so fit into his plan for a certain situation or segment in a given game. Teaming with Lew Burdette, a 200-game winner underrated to this day, Spahn saw the Braves cut back Yankee dominance of the period with triumph in the Series. Both pitchers were thankful for the offensive assistance of a guy named Aaron. 1963, Milwaukee On the 10th anniversary of the heady early days in the city, at 42, Spahn went 23-7 for his 13th and last 20-win season. He had started to put finishing touches on his remarkable resume with no-hitters in 1960 and 1961, but in those years the bloom of the rose that was Milwaukee baseball began to fade. By 1964, the team had not been in serious contention for five years and Spahn suffered a losing record. It was time to go, and he did shortly thereafter, pitching in spurts for the Mets and Giants, but still showing exceptional stamina with eight complete games at age 44. Those eight left him at 382, the most by anyone since Alexander retired in 1930. "I pitch because I like to pitch," he said, and his 5,243.2 innings on the mound remains a National League record, as do his 63 shutouts by a lefthander. 1973, Cooperstown Warren Edward Spahn was inducted into the Hall of Fame after receiving 83% of the vote in his first year of eligibility. His 363 wins, the most be any southpaw, along with the other benchmarks discussed above, make one wonder why the vote was not a good deal more than 83%. Go figure; this contributor can't. The lefty was once asked if he ever felt pressure when games tightened. "No," he said. "Pressure is being shot at by German tanks." 2003, Maui - Hawaii The "older" Red Sox fan of 1947, now much older, called on the telephone. "Did you hear about Spahn?" he asked. When the answer was affirmative, he went on, "Those were fun days, great players." "Yes," was the reply, "they were. Really miss 'em." Paul Wysard - November 2003 Leave feedback on our message board. |