Warren Spahn, baseball player, 1942-1965

Warren Spahn

⭐ Hall of Fame 1973

Born: 4/23/1921 in Buffalo, NY, USA

Died: 11/24/2003 in Broken Arrow, OK, USA

MLB Debut: 1942-04-19 | Final Game: 1965-10-01

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 6'0" | Weight: 172 lbs

Full name: Warren Edward Spahn

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Biography

Warren Spahn was a legendary pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1942 until his retirement in 1965. His remarkable career spanned over two decades during which he established himself as one of the game's all-time greats. Spahn finished his career with a record of 363 wins and 245 losses, boasting a 3.09 ERA and accumulating 2,583 strikeouts. Known for his exceptional control and durability, he also recorded 29 saves, showcasing his versatility on the mound. Spahn was an integral part of the Milwaukee Braves' success in the 1950s and became a central figure in the National League. He earned the prestigious Cy Young Award and was selected as an All-Star 16 times, a testament to his dominance during his playing era. His induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 solidified his legacy, ensuring that future generations would remember him not only for his impressive statistics but also for his contributions to the game. Spahn's ability to pitch effectively in an era that included fierce competition and evolving strategies has made him a revered figure in baseball history.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
363 245 750 665 382 63 29 5243.7 4830 1798 434 1434 2583 3.09 0

Career ERA 3.09 vs. league average 3.86 across their career seasons — 20.0% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1942 BSN NL 0 0 4 2 1 0 0 15.7 25 10 11 7 5.74 3.57 (-61%) -87.0
1946 BSN NL 8 5 24 16 8 0 1 125.7 107 41 36 67 2.94 3.59 (+18%) 1829.3
1947 BSN NL 21 10 40 35 22 7 3 289.7 245 75 84 123 2.33 3.97 (+41%) 4396.9
1948 BSN NL 15 12 36 35 16 3 1 257.0 237 106 77 114 3.71 4.10 (+10%) 2341.7
1949 BSN NL 21 14 38 38 25 4 0 302.3 283 103 86 151 3.07 4.12 (+26%) 4523.3
1950 BSN NL 21 17 41 39 25 1 1 293.0 248 103 111 191 3.16 4.36 (+27%) 7443.6
1951 BSN NL 22 14 39 36 26 7 0 310.7 278 103 109 164 2.98 4.04 (+26%) 5945.1
1952 BSN NL 14 19 40 35 19 5 3 290.0 263 96 73 183 2.98 3.70 (+20%) 6974.1
1953 ATL NL 23 7 35 32 24 5 3 265.7 211 62 70 148 2.10 4.14 (+49%) -
1954 ATL NL 21 12 39 34 23 1 3 283.3 262 99 86 136 3.14 3.90 (+19%) -
1955 ATL NL 17 14 39 32 16 1 1 245.7 249 89 65 110 3.26 4.00 (+18%) -
1956 ATL NL 20 11 39 35 20 3 3 281.3 249 87 52 128 2.78 3.96 (+30%) -
1957 ATL NL 21 11 39 35 18 4 3 271.0 241 81 78 111 2.69 3.83 (+30%) -
1958 ATL NL 22 11 38 36 23 2 1 290.0 257 99 76 150 3.07 3.86 (+20%) -
1959 ATL NL 21 15 40 36 21 4 0 292.0 282 96 70 143 2.96 3.90 (+24%) -
1960 ATL NL 21 10 40 33 18 4 2 267.7 254 104 74 154 3.50 3.82 (+8%) -
1961 ATL NL 21 13 38 34 21 4 0 262.7 236 88 64 115 3.02 4.03 (+25%) -
1962 ATL NL 18 14 34 34 22 0 0 269.3 248 91 55 118 3.04 3.96 (+23%) -
1963 ATL NL 23 7 33 33 22 7 0 259.7 241 75 49 102 2.60 3.46 (+25%) -
1964 ATL NL 6 13 38 25 4 1 4 173.7 204 102 52 78 5.29 3.58 (-48%) -
1965 NYN NL 4 12 20 19 5 0 0 126.0 140 61 35 56 4.36 3.50 (-25%) -2803.8
1965 SFG NL 3 4 16 11 3 0 0 71.7 70 27 21 34 3.39 3.50 (+3%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
783 1872 141 363 57 6 35 189 4 94 487 0.194 0.234 0.287 0.520 -8489.3

Career AVG .194 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 24.6% below league average.

Career OBP .234 vs. league average .328 across their career seasons — 28.8% below league average.

Career SLG .287 vs. league average .383 across their career seasons — 25.1% below league average.

Career OPS 0.520 vs. league average 0.711 across their career seasons — 26.8% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1942 BSN NL 4 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.167 — — — — 0.0
1946 BSN NL 24 43 3 7 1 0 0 4 0 1 14 0.163 — — — — 0.0
1947 BSN NL 41 98 6 16 2 1 0 6 0 6 29 0.163 .262 (-38%) .336 (-37%) .376 (-46%) .712 (-42%) -712.8
1948 BSN NL 37 90 10 15 3 0 1 7 0 6 24 0.167 .263 (-37%) .340 (-36%) .379 (-38%) .719 (-37%) -586.9
1949 BSN NL 40 111 11 18 0 0 2 10 1 4 27 0.162 .262 (-38%) .343 (-44%) .384 (-44%) .727 (-44%) -866.3
1950 BSN NL 41 106 7 23 0 0 1 13 1 6 33 0.217 .265 (-18%) .346 (-23%) .401 (-39%) .747 (-32%) -592.0
1951 BSN NL 42 116 8 22 6 1 1 18 0 6 27 0.190 .260 (-27%) .336 (-32%) .385 (-26%) .721 (-29%) -616.4
1952 BSN NL 52 112 10 18 2 1 2 9 1 4 23 0.161 .252 (-36%) .326 (-42%) .369 (-32%) .696 (-37%) -738.0
1953 ATL NL 38 105 6 23 5 0 2 12 0 1 22 0.219 .264 (-17%) .335 (-33%) .397 (-18%) .733 (-25%) -487.9
1954 ATL NL 41 101 4 21 6 0 1 10 0 7 17 0.208 .261 (-20%) .333 (-20%) .390 (-24%) .723 (-22%) -391.2
1955 ATL NL 40 81 7 17 1 1 4 14 0 4 20 0.210 .258 (-19%) .332 (-26%) .393 (avg) .726 (-12%) -191.7
1956 ATL NL 39 105 8 22 3 0 3 10 1 4 32 0.210 .258 (-19%) .331 (-28%) .397 (-19%) .728 (-23%) -433.7
1957 ATL NL 39 94 3 13 2 1 2 8 0 4 25 0.138 .257 (-46%) .323 (-48%) .391 (-37%) .715 (-42%) -718.9
1958 ATL NL 41 108 10 36 6 1 2 15 0 7 24 0.333 .257 (+29%) .324 (+17%) .394 (+17%) .719 (+17%) 323.5
1959 ATL NL 40 104 11 24 1 0 2 8 0 3 28 0.231 .256 (-10%) .323 (-25%) .392 (-24%) .715 (-24%) -480.6
1960 ATL NL 40 95 10 14 2 0 3 7 0 5 26 0.147 .255 (-42%) .323 (-42%) .387 (-32%) .711 (-37%) -634.9
1961 ATL NL 39 94 13 21 7 0 4 15 0 7 33 0.223 .258 (-14%) .328 (-15%) .399 (+7%) .727 (-3%) -97.0
1962 ATL NL 36 98 3 18 3 0 2 9 0 5 30 0.184 .257 (-29%) .326 (-32%) .393 (-30%) .719 (-31%) -519.9
1963 ATL NL 33 90 7 16 4 0 2 6 0 5 24 0.178 .246 (-28%) .308 (-29%) .371 (-22%) .680 (-25%) -390.9
1964 ATL NL 39 59 2 11 2 0 1 5 0 0 10 0.186 .250 (-26%) .312 (-41%) .377 (-28%) .690 (-34%) -353.7
1965 NYN NL 21 35 0 4 1 0 0 2 0 7 12 0.114 — — — — 0.0
1965 SFG NL 16 21 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 0.143 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
8 20 0 4 0 0 0 4 1 9 0.200

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1958 WS ML1 3 12 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 6 0.333
1957 WS ML1 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.000
1948 WS BSN 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
4 3 8 6 0 56.0 47 19 13 32 3.05

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1958 WS ML1 2 1 3 3 0 28.7 19 7 8 18 2.20
1957 WS ML1 1 1 2 2 0 15.3 18 8 2 2 4.70
1948 WS BSN 1 1 3 1 0 12.0 10 4 3 12 3.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 750 397 222 999 58 82

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1942 BSN P 4 0 1 2 0 0
1946 BSN P 24 0 2 16 2 0
1947 BSN P 40 0 5 48 1 1
1948 BSN P 36 0 4 52 1 3
1949 BSN P 38 0 14 41 4 2
1950 BSN P 41 0 9 55 8 3
1951 BSN P 39 0 7 50 3 1
1952 BSN P 40 0 18 56 5 4
1953 ML1 P 35 0 12 53 4 7
1954 ML1 P 39 34 12 57 4 4
1955 ML1 P 39 32 13 44 3 4
1956 ML1 P 39 35 16 41 1 7
1957 ML1 P 39 35 18 47 0 4
1958 ML1 P 38 36 11 67 2 7
1959 ML1 P 40 36 14 45 3 4
1960 ML1 P 40 33 14 59 3 7
1961 ML1 P 38 34 16 63 2 7
1962 ML1 P 34 34 13 55 1 5
1963 ML1 P 33 33 11 71 3 8
1964 ML1 P 38 25 4 36 6 2
1965 NYN P 20 19 4 25 1 1
1965 SFN P 16 11 4 16 1 1

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 750

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1961 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
1961 TSN All-Star P
1961 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1960 TSN All-Star P
1958 TSN All-Star P
1958 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1957 Cy Young Award
1957 TSN All-Star P
1957 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1953 TSN All-Star P
1953 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1950 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1950 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1949 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1949 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1947 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3

Featured In Rankings

#16
Top 25 Starting Pitchers in History of MLB Baseball
Ranked 16 of 25
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Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1963 Most Valuable Player NL 12th 30.0 280 0
1961 Cy Young Award ML 2nd 6.0 18 6
1961 Most Valuable Player NL 10th 31.0 224 0
1960 Cy Young Award ML 2nd 4.0 16 4
1960 Most Valuable Player NL 14th 27.0 336 0
1959 Most Valuable Player NL 19th 3.0 336 0
1958 Cy Young Award ML 2nd 4.0 16 4
1958 Most Valuable Player NL 5th 108.0 336 1
1957 Cy Young Award ML 1st 15.0 16 15
1957 Most Valuable Player NL 5th 131.0 336 1
1956 Cy Young Award ML 3rd 1.0 16 1
1956 Most Valuable Player NL 4th 126.0 336 1
1954 Most Valuable Player NL 11th 38.0 336 0
1953 Most Valuable Player NL 5th 120.0 336 0
1952 Most Valuable Player NL 23th 8.0 336 0
1951 Most Valuable Player NL 11th 45.0 336 0
1950 Most Valuable Player NL 18th 14.0 336 0
1949 Most Valuable Player NL 7th 60.0 336 0
1948 Most Valuable Player NL 14th 31.0 336 0
1947 Most Valuable Player NL 15th 26.0 336 0