Early Wynn
Encyclopedia
Early Wynn Jr. nicknamed "Gus", was a Major League Baseball
right-handed pitcher
. During a 25-year baseball career, he pitched for the Washington Senators
, Cleveland Indians
and Chicago White Sox
. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
Armed with a blazing fastball
and a hard-nosed attitude, during his career he was identified as one of the most intimidating pitchers in the game. Wynn once averred that if he was in a tight situation, with men in scoring position and the game in the balance, he would deck his own mother if she was the batter.
Early Wynn was born in Hartford, Alabama
, the son of Early Sr. and Blanche Wynn. His durability helped him lead the American League
in innings
three times (1951, 1954, 1959) and propelled him to an AL record for most years pitched (23). Wynn won an even 300 games, highlighted by five 20-win seasons, 2,334 strikeout
s, 290 complete games, 49 shutout
s, and 4,556 innings pitched in 691 games.
In a book titled "Spirit of St. Louis" a former St. Louis Browns
player named Ellis Clary
was recapping his career and mentioned that he was playing for the Birmingham Barons
, an independent team in the Southern League, a 17-year old Early Wynn showed up for a tryout in Florida in a T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a Coca-Cola cap. He said he could play; they said, "We'll find out."
Wynn signed with the Senators at age 17, and after only three appearances in 1939 he blossomed in 1941, winning 72 games before being dealt to Cleveland in December 1948. The Indians' pitching coach and former star pitcher Mel Harder
, taught him how to throw a curveball
, slider
, changeup
and knuckleball
. Wynn assimilated Harder's lessons easily, and after his '49 season adjustment, the next year he won 18 games and led the AL with a 3.20 ERA
. In 1950 he had his first 20-win season. By this time he had become part of a strong pitching staff, forming – with Bob Feller
, Bob Lemon
and Mike Garcia – one of the greatest pitching rotations in baseball history. Wynn was traded to the White Sox after the '57 season. In 1954, he posted a 2.73 ERA, won 23 games and struck out 155 batters.
In 1958 Wynn became the first major league
pitcher to lead his league in strikeouts in consecutive years with different teams (184 with Cleveland, 189 with Chicago), and he won the Cy Young Award
in 1959 at the age of 39, posting a record of 22–10, with 179 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA to lead the Sox to the pennant.
In this decade Wynn had more strikeouts (1,544) than any other pitcher in the majors, and he was capable with the bat as well. A switch hitter
, Wynn batted .214 (365 for 1704), with 17 home run
s and 173 RBI
, with 90 pinch-hit appearances including a grand slam
, making him one of five MLB pitchers to clear the bases as a pinch-hitter.
Widely known as a pitcher with a mean disposition (or at least as a pitcher who cultivated that image), Wynn threw at batters frequently enough to be labeled a "headhunter." When asked if he would throw at his own grandmother, he said, "I'd have to. My grandma could really hit the curveball." According to Rod Carew
, he learned when Wynn came to Minnesota as a coach, his competitiveness didn't end when his career did. "Early would knock you down in batting practice. If you hit a ball good off of him, he'd knock you down and then challenge you. He told you to expect it when you stepped in the cage against him.
Early Wynn returned to Cleveland in 1963 for a last run. In that season, he won his 300th game, after failing to collect the milestone win in seven starts over nine months in 1962–63. Both the timeframe and the number of attempts are the longest between any pitcher's 299th and 300th wins in history. At the end of his career, Wynn had simply lost his stuff. Opposing Kansas City batter Ed Charles
recalled Wynn's 300th win: "His fastball, if it reached 80, that was stretching it. He was laboring, throwing nothing but bloopers and junk." Nonetheless, Wynn left the game after five innings, and the bullpen preserved the victory, Wynn's last. Said Wynn, "I was exhausted."
Upon his retirement in 1963, Wynn was the last major leaguer to have played in the 1930s to still be playing. He became one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League games in four decades.
Wynn became the pitching coach for the Indians in 1964, where he coached Sam McDowell
, Sonny Siebert
, Luis Tiant
, Steve Hargan
, and others, who were to set the American League team record for strikeouts in a season in 1967.
Wynn was the pitcher who allowed the most home runs in Mickey Mantle
's career (13). From 1977 to 1980, he provided the color commentary for radio broadcasts of Toronto Blue Jays
games, working alongside Tom Cheek
. He also provided color commentary for Chicago White Sox
radio broadcasts for a while.
In 1999, Wynn ranked Number 100 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and he was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball
All-Century Team.
According to the Baseball Reference website (www.baseball-reference.com), Wynn is the "most linkable" player in baseball history. (This means that, if a value of 1 is assigned to any player Wynn played on the same team with, and a value of 2 assigned to any player who played on the same team with a player with a value of 1, and so on, and the mean value is found by considering each player in baseball history, Wynn's value is lower than any other player's.)
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
right-handed pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
. During a 25-year baseball career, he pitched for the Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
, Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
and Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
Armed with a blazing fastball
Fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...
and a hard-nosed attitude, during his career he was identified as one of the most intimidating pitchers in the game. Wynn once averred that if he was in a tight situation, with men in scoring position and the game in the balance, he would deck his own mother if she was the batter.
Early Wynn was born in Hartford, Alabama
Hartford, Alabama
Hartford is a city in Geneva County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2000 census the population was 2,369.-Geography:Hartford is located at .According to the U.S...
, the son of Early Sr. and Blanche Wynn. His durability helped him lead the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
in innings
Innings pitched
In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two...
three times (1951, 1954, 1959) and propelled him to an AL record for most years pitched (23). Wynn won an even 300 games, highlighted by five 20-win seasons, 2,334 strikeout
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....
s, 290 complete games, 49 shutout
Shutout
In team sports, a shutout refers to a game in which one team prevents the opposing team from scoring. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball....
s, and 4,556 innings pitched in 691 games.
In a book titled "Spirit of St. Louis" a former St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
player named Ellis Clary
Ellis Clary
Ellis Clary , nicknamed "Cat," was an American professional baseball player. Born in Valdosta, Georgia, he threw and batted right-handed, stood 5'8" tall, and weighed 160 pounds...
was recapping his career and mentioned that he was playing for the Birmingham Barons
Birmingham Barons
The Birmingham Barons are a minor league baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox major-league club....
, an independent team in the Southern League, a 17-year old Early Wynn showed up for a tryout in Florida in a T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a Coca-Cola cap. He said he could play; they said, "We'll find out."
Wynn signed with the Senators at age 17, and after only three appearances in 1939 he blossomed in 1941, winning 72 games before being dealt to Cleveland in December 1948. The Indians' pitching coach and former star pitcher Mel Harder
Mel Harder
Melvin Leroy Harder , nicknamed "Chief", was an American, right-handed, starting pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who played his entire career with the Cleveland Indians. He spent 36 seasons overall with the Indians, as a player from 1928 to 1947 and as one of the game's most highly...
, taught him how to throw a curveball
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
, slider
Slider
In baseball, a slider is a pitch that breaks laterally and down, with a speed between that of a curveball and that of a fastball....
, changeup
Changeup
A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball. Other names include change-of-pace, Bugs Bunny change-up, the dreaded equalizer, and simply change. The changeup is sometimes called an off-speed pitch, although that term can also be used simply to mean any pitch that is slower than a fastball...
and knuckleball
Knuckleball
A knuckleball is a baseball pitch with an erratic, unpredictable motion. The pitch is thrown so as to minimize the spin of the ball in flight. This causes vortices over the stitched seams of the baseball during its trajectory, which in turn can cause the pitch to change direction—and even...
. Wynn assimilated Harder's lessons easily, and after his '49 season adjustment, the next year he won 18 games and led the AL with a 3.20 ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
. In 1950 he had his first 20-win season. By this time he had become part of a strong pitching staff, forming – with Bob Feller
Bob Feller
On December 8, 1941, Feller enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service...
, Bob Lemon
Bob Lemon
Robert Granville Lemon was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976....
and Mike Garcia – one of the greatest pitching rotations in baseball history. Wynn was traded to the White Sox after the '57 season. In 1954, he posted a 2.73 ERA, won 23 games and struck out 155 batters.
In 1958 Wynn became the first major league
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
pitcher to lead his league in strikeouts in consecutive years with different teams (184 with Cleveland, 189 with Chicago), and he won the Cy Young Award
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
in 1959 at the age of 39, posting a record of 22–10, with 179 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA to lead the Sox to the pennant.
In this decade Wynn had more strikeouts (1,544) than any other pitcher in the majors, and he was capable with the bat as well. A switch hitter
Switch hitter
In baseball, a switch-hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed.-Baseball:Usually, right-handed batters hit better against left-handed pitchers and vice-versa. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher. Such pitches are often...
, Wynn batted .214 (365 for 1704), with 17 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s and 173 RBI
Run batted in
Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...
, with 90 pinch-hit appearances including a grand slam
Grand slam (baseball)
In the sport of baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with all three bases occupied by baserunners , thereby scoring four runs—the most possible in one play. According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term originated in the card game of contract bridge, in which a grand slam involves...
, making him one of five MLB pitchers to clear the bases as a pinch-hitter.
Widely known as a pitcher with a mean disposition (or at least as a pitcher who cultivated that image), Wynn threw at batters frequently enough to be labeled a "headhunter." When asked if he would throw at his own grandmother, he said, "I'd have to. My grandma could really hit the curveball." According to Rod Carew
Rod Carew
Rodney Cline "Rod" Carew is a former Major League Baseball first baseman, second baseman and coach. He played from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels and was elected to the All-Star game every season except his last. In 1991, Carew was inducted into the National...
, he learned when Wynn came to Minnesota as a coach, his competitiveness didn't end when his career did. "Early would knock you down in batting practice. If you hit a ball good off of him, he'd knock you down and then challenge you. He told you to expect it when you stepped in the cage against him.
Early Wynn returned to Cleveland in 1963 for a last run. In that season, he won his 300th game, after failing to collect the milestone win in seven starts over nine months in 1962–63. Both the timeframe and the number of attempts are the longest between any pitcher's 299th and 300th wins in history. At the end of his career, Wynn had simply lost his stuff. Opposing Kansas City batter Ed Charles
Ed Charles
Edwin Douglas Charles is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball. A right-handed hitter, Charles played for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Mets .-Minor league career:...
recalled Wynn's 300th win: "His fastball, if it reached 80, that was stretching it. He was laboring, throwing nothing but bloopers and junk." Nonetheless, Wynn left the game after five innings, and the bullpen preserved the victory, Wynn's last. Said Wynn, "I was exhausted."
Upon his retirement in 1963, Wynn was the last major leaguer to have played in the 1930s to still be playing. He became one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League games in four decades.
Wynn became the pitching coach for the Indians in 1964, where he coached Sam McDowell
Sam McDowell
Samuel Edward Thomas McDowell , is a former professional baseball pitcher. He played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball, with the first 11 coming for the Cleveland Indians before a 1971 trade to the San Francisco Giants, followed by stints with the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates...
, Sonny Siebert
Sonny Siebert
Wilfred Charles Siebert is a former Major League Baseball pitcher from 1964 to 1975. He finished with a record of 140-114 and a 3.21 ERA. He threw a no-hitter on June 10, 1966 against the Washington Senators. He was originally drafted simultaneously by the Cleveland Indians and the St...
, Luis Tiant
Luis Tiant
Luis Clemente Tiant Vega , born November 23, 1940 in Marianao, Cuba, , is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians , Minnesota Twins , Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees , Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels...
, Steve Hargan
Steve Hargan
Steven Lowell Hargan , is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1965–1972 and 1974-1977.-External links:...
, and others, who were to set the American League team record for strikeouts in a season in 1967.
Wynn was the pitcher who allowed the most home runs in Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
's career (13). From 1977 to 1980, he provided the color commentary for radio broadcasts of Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
games, working alongside Tom Cheek
Tom Cheek
Thomas F. Cheek was an American sportscaster.Best known as the "Voice of the Blue Jays", Tom announced Major League Baseball games for the Toronto Blue Jays on radio from the team's establishment in 1977 until his retirement in 2004, in which he had a 27-year consecutive game streak of 4,306...
. He also provided color commentary for Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
radio broadcasts for a while.
In 1999, Wynn ranked Number 100 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and he was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
All-Century Team.
According to the Baseball Reference website (www.baseball-reference.com), Wynn is the "most linkable" player in baseball history. (This means that, if a value of 1 is assigned to any player Wynn played on the same team with, and a value of 2 assigned to any player who played on the same team with a player with a value of 1, and so on, and the mean value is found by considering each player in baseball history, Wynn's value is lower than any other player's.)
See also
- 300 win club300 win clubIn Major League Baseball, the 300 win club refers to the group of pitchers—24 as of 2011—who have won 300 or more games. While the "300 club" is an informal group, becoming a member is among the highest accomplishments a starting pitcher can achieve. Several members retired soon after winning their...
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball strikeout champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all timeTop 100 strikeout pitchers of all timeIn baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. Strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher and failure on the part of the batter....