Batter's Box pays tribute to one of the game's great lefthanded pitchers, Warren Spahn. The amazingly durable ace passed away in his home in Broken Arrow, OK.
Known as half of the subjects of the "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" rhyme discussing the Braves' staff of the '50s, Spahn was far more durable and dominant than his righthanded teammate. Consider:
* He led the league in innings pitched three times. Over a seventeen-year stretch (1947-63), he averaged 278 1/3 innings per season, with a low of "only" 245 2/3 IP in 1955.
* He threw 382 complete games, despite pitching well beyond the birth of the meaningful bullpen. As closers began to dot the landscape, he continued to be a durable anachronism, leading the NL in complete games at age 36, 37, 38, 39, 41 and 42.
* Thirteen times, he won at least 20 games; he had but one season with a losing record (14-19 with the woeful 1952 Boston Braves) before age 43.
* He won three strikeout titles, two ERA crowns and the 1957 Cy Young Award, back when the award didn't feature separate AL and NL winners.
* In fact, the Cy wasn't even established until 1956, when Spahn was 35. Had the award existed previously, he would have certainly won the 1947 and 1953 Cys, and would have contended in 1951.
* He hit 35 home runs in his career, still the NL record.
* His numbers might have been even better, but for the terrible designs of the Axis Powers. After earning a cup of coffee with the Braves in 1942, he spent three years away from baseball, performing military duty that included combat in the Battle of the Bulge. Wounded in battle, Spahn earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Warren Spahn, you'll be missed.
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