Warren E Spahn
Warren E Spahn
“I saw some of the great in my early years…I grew up idolizing those players, and I never got over the thrill of being in the same game they played…We felt an obligation – a duty to each other, and we loved the game. That was my kind of baseball.”
Biography
Warren Edward Spahn was born in New York and was stationed in Muskogee during World War II when he met and married his wife and decided to call Oklahoma home. He served in the U.S. Army and, after the Battle of the Bulge, received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He played his first professional baseball game with the Boston Braves (1942, 1946-1952), then with the Milwaukee Braves (1953-1964), New York Mets (1965), and the San Francisco Giants (1965). Throughout his amazing career in major league baseball, Spahn hit more home runs than any pitcher in his class and was named to the National League All-Stars fourteen times. In 1957, when the Braves defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series, he received the Cy Young Award as best pitcher in all of baseball. He came home to Oklahoma to manage the Tulsa Oilers (1967-1971) and later retired to his 2800 acre ranch near Hartshorne “as a successful cattle baron.”
Fun fact
Warren Spahn’s record as a left-handed pitcher includes most games won in the majors (363); most consecutive years leading a complete game; most lifetime games won; and most strike-outs (2,583). He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Oklahoma connections
Spahn met his wife Lorraine, a native of Hartshorne, Oklahoma, while he was stationed at Camp Gruber in Muskogee.