Warren Spahn

[andyfox]

Warren Spahn died today. You didn't hear much about Spahnie after he retired, but he was a great, great pitcher.
I've always been surprised that his name rarely comes up when the all-time great pitchers are mentioned.

The top five winners in baseball history were Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Christy Mathewson and Warren Spahn. Spahn was sixth in career shutouts, behind those five and Eddie Plank. Spahn won twenty games more times than Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver combined; more times than fellow lefties Sandy Koufax, Jim Kaat, Tommy John and Billy Pierce combined. His career won-lost record is about the same as Don Drysdale's and Sandy Koufax's--added together.

He was twenty-five years old before he won his first major league game, having had to fight a war before he got started. His win totals from 1947 through 1963 were 21, 15, 21, 21, 22, 14, 23, 21, 17, 20, 21, 22, 21, 21, 21, 18 and 23. That last number, 23 wins, came at age 42, when he led the league with twenty-two complete games and tossed seven shut-outs.

He pitched long enough to be caught by Ernie Lombardi and by Joe Torre.

A truly great name in baseball history.

[M2d]

The fact that he threw in Milwaukee and not New York or LA worked against him. The fact that he won a workhorse like 20 games year in and year out (and not shooting star 25+ games a year for a shorter period of time) worked against him. The fact that he wasn't a Yankee and often not in the World Series worked against him. The fact that he was a "nice guy" and not a carouser (like Ford) a reluctant superhero (like Koufax) or a hardass (like Drysdale) worked against him.

none of that detracts from the fact that he's the winningest southpaw the game has ever (and probably will ever) seen. Amazing longevity, and amazing display of excellence over a whole career.

[Ray Zee]

spahn was baseball when baseball was baseball.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

The fact that he was a "nice guy"

I remember Spahn from when I was kid watching the Mets. I've read a lot about his accomplishments. I've read many articles about him. This is the first time I've ever heard "nice guy" used to describe him. I have, however, heard the word "racist" used to describe him more times than I can count.

I don't know which is true.

[daryn]

i think both could be true... not about spahn in particular but about anyone. a guy could be a racist, but if you weren't a member of the race he hated, he could appear to be a perfectly nice guy to you, yet he could indeed be a racist.

[andyfox]

I hadn't heard this about Spahn. I did find this in a google search, from a 1992 Sports Illustrated article about Hank Aaron:

"What is black and catches flies?" the Hall of Fame southpaw liked to joke. "The Braves outfield."
Once, Spahn saw a cockroach fall on its back in the clubhouse and joked to the trainer, " Hey, Doc, come turn Hank over." Aaron suffered silently for days and finally rebuked the pitcher. Spahn apologized, saying he hadn't made fun of Henry for being black, just for being slow.