WARREN SPAHN
Born: April 23, 1921 in Buffalo, New York
Died: November 24, 2003 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Full name Warren Edward Spahn
Born April 23, 1921, Buffalo, New
York
Died November 24, 2003, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Buried at Elmwood
Cemetery, Hartshorne, Oklahoma
First Game: April 19, 1942; Final Game:
October 1, 1965
Bat: Left Throw: Left Height: 6' 0" Weight: 172
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1973
Named Major League Cy Young Award
Winner by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1957)
Named NL Pitcher of
the Year by The Sporting News (1953, 1957 to 1958 and 1961)
Named pitcher on
The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1953, 1957 to 1958 and
1960)
Named pitcher on The
Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1961)
WARREN
SPAHN
This article was written by Jim Kaplan and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research
The fifth-winningest pitcher of all time, Warren Spahn
went 363-245 over parts of 21 years from 1942 to 1965. Only by remaining in the
game two seasons too long did he fail to finish with an ERA under 3.00 (3.09)
and a winning percentage over .600 (.597), and his totals are all the more
impressive considering that he didn't record his first big-league victory until
he was 25. Spahn should make everyone's list of the 10 best pitchers in baseball
history, and was the one "sure thing" Braves fans had to cheer for through the
team's final five years in Boston -- and far beyond.
Named after both President Warren G. Harding and his own
father, Warren Edward Spahn was born in Buffalo, New York, on April 23, 1921,
the fifth of six children and the first of two sons to Ed and Mabel Spahn.
Supporting his family in the city's blue-collar East End, Ed was a $27-a-week
wallpaper salesman who didn't own a car. His family ate meat maybe once a week,
and his children stuffed their shoes with newspapers. A good bowler and semipro
baseball player but too small at 5 feet 7 and 130 pounds to dream of a
big-league career, Ed sublimated his disappointment by teaching the game to
left-handed Warren, the most promising athlete in the family. Ed knew there were
only so many positions open for a lefty; so just in case Warren couldn't hit
well enough to play first base (his favorite position), Ed taught him
exhaustively how to throw fastballs and curves from a mound he built in the
backyard. "You've got to have control," Ed said over and over. "Without control
you're nothing!" Warren nodded and kept dreaming of playing first in the big
leagues.
"He insisted that I throw with a fluid motion, and the high leg kick was part
of the deception to the hitter," Warren told Oklahoma City's Daily Oklahoman in
1998. "Hitters said the ball seemed to come out of my uniform."
To read this article in its entirety, please click here
Interested in Baseball? If so, we strongly recommend that you visit and join the Society for American Baseball Research
Film Credits
2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2009-2011 Prime 9 (in person), 2006 DHL Presents Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes (Other), 2002 The Tim McCarver Show (in person), 2002 2002 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1992 The 50 Greatest Home Runs in Baseball History (Other), 1981 1981 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1976 The Way It Was (in person), 1965 I've Got a Secret (in person), 1963 Combat! (Performer), 1958 1958 World Series (in person), 1958 1958 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1957 1957 World Series (in person), 1956 1956 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1955-1958 Toast of the Town (in person), 1954 1954 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1953 1953 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1949 The Kid from Cleveland (Other), 1949 1949 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1948 1948 World Series (in person), 1947 Style of the Stars (in person)
JOHNNY SAIN
Born: September 25, 1917 in Havana, Arkansas
Died: November 7, 2006 in Downers Grove, Illinois
Baseball Career:
First Game: April 24, 1942; Final
Game: July 15, 1955
Bat: Right Throw: Right Height: 6' 2" Weight: 185
Awards and Achievements:
Named NL Pitcher of the Year
by The Sporting News (1948)
Named pitcher on The Sporting News Major League
All-Star Team (1948)
Johnny Sain
This article was written by Jan Finkel and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research
Nobody would mistake Post sportswriter Hern's famous
lines for "Casey at the Bat" or even poetry except in the broadest sense, but it
sums up most of what many people today know about Johnny Sain. That's
unfortunate, because Sain was so much more than someone whose name, fortuitously
for Hern, rhymes with "rain" -- trainer of fighter pilots, ace pitcher, one of
the great pitching coaches, and holder of a little-known but remarkable record
attesting to his genius as a contact hitter.
He was born John Franklin Sain in the tiny town of
Havana, Arkansas (population 392 in the 2000 Census), on September 25, 1917, to
Eva and John Sain. An automobile mechanic and a good left-handed pitcher at the
amateur level, the elder Sain would profoundly affect his son's career,
encouraging him early on and teaching him to throw a curve while varying his
motions and speed.
No one showed much interest in young Johnny as a
pitching prospect, and his journey to the majors became a six-year odyssey.
According to author Al Hirshberg, Bill Dickey declined the elder Sain's request
to talk to his son after watching him pitch in a high-school game because he
didn't want to tell the boy he didn't have it. To make matters worse, Bill Terry
tried soon after to talk him out of pursuing a baseball career.
To read this article in its entirety, please click here
Interested in Baseball? If so, we strongly recommend that you visit and join the Society for American Baseball Research
Film Credits
1976 The Way It Was (in person), 1953 1953 World Series (in person), 1952 1952 World Series (in person), 1951 1951 World Series (in person), 1948 1948 World Series (in person), 1947 Style of the Stars (in person)
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