Braves coulda used ya this year.
BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- Warren Spahn, the Hall of Fame pitcher who won more games than any other left-hander in history, died Monday. He was 82.
Spahn died at his home, family friend Gary Caruso said.
Spahn was the mainstay of the Braves' pitching staff for two decades, first in Boston and then in Milwaukee. He pitched for 21 seasons, winning 363 games and posting 20 or more victories 13 times.
The remarkable part was that he was 25 years old before he posted his first victory.
"Warren Spahn was a fighter and a winner," said New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, a former teammate. "He made catching in the big leagues a lot easier for me because he took me under his wing along with Lew Burdette. One of my biggest thrills to this day was catching his 300th victory in 1961."
Spahn started his baseball career in his hometown of Buffalo, playing first base while his father played third for the Buffalo Lake City Athletic Club. He wanted to play first in high school but his team already had an all-city player at that position. So Spahn switched to pitching.
He signed with the Braves in 1940 for $80 a month and injured his arm twice in his first season of D-level ball. But he won 19 games the next season and was invited to spring training with the Braves.
He started the 1942 season with the Braves but was sent down by manager Casey Stengel, who was angry because the left-hander refused to brush back Pee Wee Reese in an exhibition game. Spahn went 17-12 with a 1.96 ERA average at Hartford that season while the Braves finished in seventh place. Stengel called farming Spahn out the worst mistake he ever made.
In 1943, Spahn went into the Army. He served in Europe, where he was wounded, decorated for bravery with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart and was awarded a battlefield commission. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge and in the battle for the bridge at Remagen, Germany, where many men in his company were lost.
― Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 24 November 2003 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)