Now HERE is a fun one for me: the next "Hall of Fame Inductee" in
this thread is my all-time favorite pitcher (that I never saw pitch):
all-time great Warren Spahn.
Check out my card:
As a kid first getting into baseball history in the late-70's, I
was absolutely mesmerized by the numbers Spahn put up during his career.
I Remember when Baseball Digest used to list every 20-game winner
by year in one of their issues, and I couldn't believe how many times
"Spahn" was listed, year after year, without fail.
Just incredible.
His first 20-game season was 1947 (at the age of 26), and he kept right on rolling until his final 20-game season in 1963!
In between, he ended up posting 13 such campaigns, leading the
league eight times (with five of those coming consecutively from 1957 to
1961).
He'd also go and lead the league in ERA three times, shutouts four
times, strikeouts four times, and various other key stats 17 times!
He was named to fourteen all-star games, won the Cy Young Award in
it's second year of existence in 1957, and also managed to slam 35
career home runs as a batter before he retired after the 1965 season.
The man was just incredible, and I wish to high heck I could have seen him pitch in his prime!
So, even though the man missed 3 seasons early on due to the
war between 1943 and 1945, he STILL retired with 363 career wins, along
with 63 shutouts and 2583 strikeouts over 750 games.
There are so many awesome quips and quotes regarding Spahn, or
spoken by Spahn himself, that I just ask you read anything you can about
him, whether it's a book, an article, or even his Wikipedia entry!
An incredible baseball life to say the least!
One odd thing I noticed: for some reason Spahn received a Hall of
Fame vote in 1958 while still an active player (and WOULD be for another
seven years!).
Anyone know the story behind this?
Needless to say, he was elected to the Hall on his first eligible
year on the ballot, and went on to have an award named after him for the
Major League's best left-handed pitcher.
And I haven't EVEN gone into his stellar military career!
Man, what an amazing man.
