Warren Spahn

Warren Edward Spahn won 363 games, more than any left-handed pitcher in major league history, threw no-hitters at 39 and 40, won 20 or more games 13 times, and pitched until he was 44 years old. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge, earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, received a battlefield commission, and crossed the Rhine at Remagen under constant fire. "After what I went through overseas," he said, "I never thought of anything I was told to do in baseball as hard work." Casey Stengel had sent him to the minors in 1942 for refusing to throw at Pee Wee Reese in an exhibition game. Stengel later admitted, "I said 'no guts' to a kid who went on to become a war hero and one of the greatest lefthanded pitchers you ever saw."

Buffalo

Spahn was born on April 23, 1921, in Buffalo, New York, the fifth of six children and the first of two sons. His father, Edward, sold wallpaper for $27 a week and didn't own a car. He was also the person most responsible for Warren's baseball talent. Warren named it as one of the biggest thrills of his Hall of Fame induction, "seeing that look on his face," the look his father wore watching from the crowd.

He attended South Park High School and signed with the Boston Braves organization. A thrown ball broke his nose in the minor leagues, giving him the disfigured profile that earned him the nickname "Hooks" for the rest of his career. He debuted on April 19, 1942, at 20, pitched briefly, and enlisted in the Army that December.

The War

Spahn served in the 276th Engineer Combat Battalion of the 1159th Engineer Combat Group. He shipped to Europe in November 1944 and fought in the Battle of the Bulge through the frozen Ardennes winter. In March 1945, his combat engineer group helped maintain the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen as the Allies crossed the Rhine into Germany. The bridge was under constant Nazi counterattack with artillery, V-2 rockets, and Luftwaffe bombing runs. Spahn sustained shrapnel wounds to his left foot during the operation and took bullet nicks to his abdomen and the back of his head at other points during his service.

He received a battlefield commission from staff sergeant to second lieutenant on June 1, 1945, reportedly the only major league ballplayer to earn one in the war. He was also awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and a Presidential Citation. He missed three full seasons (1943, 1944, 1945) and was discharged in the spring of 1946.

"People say that my absence may have cost me a chance to win 400 games, but I don't know about that," he said. "I matured a lot in three years. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to pitch until I was 44 otherwise."

The Braves

He married LoRene Southard on August 10, 1946, and won his first major league game on July 14, going the distance against Pittsburgh. In 1947 he went 21-10 with a 2.33 ERA and led the National League in ERA, innings pitched, and shutouts. In 1948, he and Johnny Sain carried the Boston Braves to the pennant during a stretch so dominant it produced the phrase "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain."

The Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953. Spahn anchored the rotation alongside Lew Burdette, his closest friend on the team. The two were notorious practical jokers who set hats on fire, left mice in pockets, and whacked teammates on the head. The humor coexisted with ferocious competitiveness. Spahn led the NL in strikeouts four consecutive years from 1949 through 1952 and in complete games nine times. He won 20 or more games in all but one season from 1953 through 1961.

His best seasons arrived in bunches. In 1953 he went 23-7 with a 2.10 ERA. In 1957 he won the Cy Young Award (then given to one pitcher for both leagues) with a 21-11 record, 18 complete games, and a staff that propelled the Braves to the World Series against the Yankees. He lost Game 1 but won Game 4 in 10 innings, going the distance and inducing 21 groundball outs among his first 26 outs plus three double plays. Elston Howard tied the game with a ninth-inning home run, but Eddie Mathews hit a two-run homer in the 10th to win it. Spahn was too sick with the flu to pitch Game 7, so Burdette started on two days' rest and threw a shutout to clinch the championship.

The Braves returned to the Series in 1958 and lost to the Yankees in seven games. Spahn went 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA in that rematch, including a two-hit shutout in Game 4, but the Yankees took the last two games.

The No-Hitters

On September 16, 1960, at 39, Spahn no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 with 15 strikeouts. He violated the dugout code of silence by calling out the no-hitter from the bench.

On April 28, 1961, at 40, he no-hit the San Francisco Giants 1-0. He faced the minimum 27 batters, allowed two walks (both erased by double plays), and in the ninth inning made a backhanded flip play to squelch a bunt by Matty Alou.

The Duel

On the night of July 2, 1963, Spahn pitched against Juan Marichal at Candlestick Park. Spahn was 42. Marichal was 25. Neither team scored through nine innings, or 10, or 12, or 15. Spahn threw 201 pitches across 15 and one-third innings and allowed nine hits and one earned run. Marichal threw 227 pitches across 16 innings and allowed eight hits and no earned runs. Willie Mays ended it with a solo home run off a Spahn screwball in the bottom of the 16th, and the Giants won 1-0. Before the final inning, Marichal had told Mays, "Hit one now." The game lasted four hours and 10 minutes.

In 1963, at 42, Spahn went 23-7 with a 2.60 ERA and 22 complete games. He won 75 games after his 40th birthday.

After Milwaukee

The Braves sold Spahn to the Mets in November 1964, reuniting him with Stengel. "I'm probably the only guy who played for Casey Stengel before and after he was a genius," Spahn said. The Mets released him in July 1965, the Giants signed him, and he pitched his final major league game on October 1, 1965, at 44. Stan Musial once said, "I don't think Spahn will ever get into the Hall of Fame. He'll never stop pitching."

He managed the Tulsa Oilers of the Pacific Coast League from 1967 through 1971, won the 1968 league championship, and was voted Manager of the Year. He coached pitchers for the Giants and Indians, worked with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan during several summers through 1978, and operated a 2,000-acre cattle ranch near Hartshorne, Oklahoma.

"Hitting is timing," Spahn said in what became his most quoted line. "Pitching is upsetting timing."

The Numbers

In 21 seasons he accumulated 750 games, 363 wins, 245 losses, a 3.09 ERA, 382 complete games, 63 shutouts, and 2,583 strikeouts. He hit 35 home runs as a batter. The Braves retired his number 21 in 1965, and a nine-foot bronze statue was dedicated outside Turner Field in Atlanta in August 2003. Spahn attended the ceremony in a wheelchair.

The BBWAA elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1973 with 83.2 percent of the vote on the first ballot. His eligibility had been delayed because appearances in the Mexican League in 1966 and at Tulsa in 1967 prevented the writers from ruling him retired. He died on November 24, 2003, at his home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, at 82, and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Hartshorne, near the ranch.