Warren Spahn Passes

[TGwynn19]

The pitcher that my Grandfather loved passed away today.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/6863100

[sweaver]

363 wins...and the common man's sense of humor.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Spahnie led his league in Wins and Complete Games more times than any other pitcher in ML history.

[TimmyB]

All that... and somehow underappreciated. Great ballplayer. :(

[Wolf Hopper]

This is going to sound strange; but, I thought he was older. All of a sudden, 82 sounds too young to go. He was such a credit to the baseball community that his passing leaves a big void.

[Firpo Marberry]

This is going to sound strange; but, I thought he was older. All of a sudden, 82 sounds too young to go. He was such a credit to the baseball community that his passing leaves a big void.

His health was so bad I thought he'd die after the '01 Hall of Fame ceremony. Either I don't know much about health, he was a tough old bird or both.

I had a long breakfast with him once. Just a straight shooter who had no trouble ripping into Nolan Ryan for being too in love with strikeouts at the expense of pitching smart and winning games, and who told a great story about nailing a fan in the chest with a baseball a la Albert Belle, but back in those days you could get away with a little fun.

[Wolf Hopper]

No one said it better than WS when he said "Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing."

Ironically, yesterday, I was thinking of a post that I wanted to make around that statement (in another thread), and then when I got to the PC, I saw he passed and forgot about that - - I have to get to that now.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Here's a nice article about Spahn, regarding Roger Clemens:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FCI/9_62/106226458/p1/article.jhtml

Didn't win a game until he was 25, after serving in WWII, and they practically had to tear the uniform off of him. Went 23-7 at the age of 42.

Last year I opined that he was perhaps greater than Cy Young, considering the conditions under which the two pitched. I stand by that statement.

[KCBOOMER]

Spah was one of the true greats of the game. No pitcher accumulated more wins after 1911 than Spahn. It is very trendy to dismiss wins as a serious statistical category. Generally I agree with this, but once we start talking about careers, wins mean something (not everything but something).

Like Lefty Grove his career didn't really begin until age 25. He had seventeen straight seasons of 32 or more starts. He completed over half his starts as well as winning over half his starts. A genuine first tier HoFer. :rip:

[huskerdru]

Spah was one of the true greats of the game. No pitcher accumulated more wins after 1911 than Spahn. It is very trendy to dismiss wins as a serious statistical category. Generally I agree with this, but once we start talking about careers, wins mean something (not everything but something).

Like Lefty Grove his career didn't really begin until age 25. He had seventeen straight seasons of 32 or more starts. He completed over half his starts as well as winning over half his starts. A genuine first tier HoFer. :rip:

Well said Boomer! Spahn has always been my favorite lefty hurler. Too bad they weren't awarding the Cy Young by 1953!! He averaged almost 280 IP from 47 through 63 :eek:

[Rajah]

:(

*sniff*sniff*