page_title: Warren Spahn
section_title: Milwaukee Braves
hierarchical_section_title: Warren Spahn / Baseball career / Milwaukee Braves
caption_attribution_description: English: Milwaukee Braves pitcher en:Warren Spahn in a 1958 issue of Baseball Digest.
context_page_description: Warren Edward Spahn was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher in 1942 and then from 1946 until 1965, most notably for the Boston Braves who became the Milwaukee Braves after the team moved west before the 1953 season. His baseball career was interrupted by his military service in the United States Army during the Second World War.
  Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Spahn attended South Park High School.
  With 363 victories over the span of his 21-year baseball playing career, Spahn holds the major league record for most career wins by a left-handed pitcher and, the most by a pitcher who played his entire career in the post-1920 live-ball era. He was a 17-time All-Star player who won 20 games or more in 13 seasons, including a 23–7 record when he was age 42. Spahn won the 1957 Cy Young Award and was a three-time runner-up during the period when only one award was given for both leagues. At the time of his retirement in 1965, Spahn held the Major League Baseball record for career strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher.
context_section_description: In 1957, Spahn was the ace of the champion Milwaukee Braves. Spahn pitched on two other Braves pennant winners, in 1948 and 1958. Spahn led the NL in strikeouts for four consecutive seasons, from 1949 to 1952 (tied with Don Newcombe in 1951), which includes a single game high of 18 strike outs (then the NL record) in a 15-inning appearance on June 14, 1952.
  During the 1957 World Series, Sal Maglie of the Yankees, ineligible to pitch in the series because he was acquired too late in the season, watched the games with Robert Creamer of Sports Illustrated and made assessments of the players. When Spahn was pitching, Maglie observed that batters had to try to hit balls to the opposite field against Spahn, as he was more likely to get them out if they tried to pull the ball. 
  Spahn maintained that "A pitcher needs two pitches — one they're looking for, and one to cross 'em up." He was thus able to maintain his position as one of the game's top pitchers until his 19th season in the sport. This was exemplified by his start on July 2, 1963. Facing the San Francisco Giants, the 42-year-old Spahn became locked into a storied pitchers' duel with 25-year-old Juan Marichal. The score was still 0–0 after more than four hours when Willie Mays hit a game-winning solo home run off Spahn with one out in the bottom of the 16th inning. Marichal's manager, Alvin Dark, visited the mound in the 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 14th innings, and was talked out of removing Marichal each time. During the 14th-inning visit, Marichal told Dark, "Do you see that man pitching for the other side? Do you know that man is 42 years old? I'm only 25. If that man is on the mound, nobody is going to take me out of here." Marichal ended up throwing 227 pitches in the complete game 1–0 win, while Spahn threw 201 in the loss, allowing nine hits and one walk. Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell, who was in attendance that night, said of Spahn, "He ought to will his body to medical science."
  Spahn threw his first no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 16, 1960, when he was 39. He pitched his second no-hitter the following year on April 28, 1961, against the Giants. By the last two seasons of his career, Spahn was the oldest active player in baseball. He lost this distinction for a single day: September 25, 1965, when 58-year-old Satchel Paige pitched three innings.
  Spahn's seemingly ageless ability caused Stan Musial to quip, "[Spahn] will never get into the Hall of Fame. He won't stop pitching."
caption: Spahn in 1958.
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