Word: spahn
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Milwaukee Braves Pitcher Warren Spahn, slipping a fast ball past Los Angeles Relief Pitcher Bob Miller, got his 2,382nd strikeout, setting a new major-league record for a lefthander. The old record, held by Rube Waddell, had stood since 1910. Spahn went on to post his 14th win of the season, against only five losses. "You always think about records being set with a big, dramatic act," he said afterward. "Instead, I get the pitcher on a called strike. But I'll take it." Other records he has taken: more wins (341), more shutouts (56), more 20-game...
...victory last week was Spahn's 332nd, more than any lefthander in the history of baseball,* and his fifth of the young 1963 season. Better still, four of them were in April. "I've never started so well," he crowed. "I always try to pace myself. I figure to win four games in May, four more in June, and so on through September. That adds up to an even 20. Anything I win in April is gravy...
Easy to Hit? With or without gravy, Warren Spahn has been a 20-game winner in twelve of his 17 seasons in the majors. How does he do it? "For years, I've sat on the bench, waiting to bat, watching Spahn pitch," says the New York Mets' Gil Hodges. " 'He hasn't got a thing on the ball,' I tell myself. 'I can hit him easy.' Then I get up there and-well, you know the rest...
Actually, as pitchers' repertories go, Spahn's is fairly extensive. He has four basic pitches: a fast ball that sails upward as it nears the plate; a curve that breaks to his right; a screwball that breaks left; and a slider-a modified fast ball that veers slightly inside to a right-handed batter. Every pitch starts with precisely the same motion: a long, slow rock-back, a high fluid kick, and a flurry of arms and legs that "makes the ball look as though it is coming right out of my uniform." And then there...
...Forever? Considering his $75,000-a-year salary, Spahn's left arm is the most costly appendage in baseball, but he treats it as if he had found it at a fire sale. Some sculptor is undoubtedly already carving a bust of him for the Hall of Fame, but Spahn does not think he is ready for the museum yet. "I'd like to win 400 games," he says. Only two pitchers-Walter Johnson and Cy Young-ever managed that. To win his 400, Spahn would need four more 20-game seasons. By then he would...