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12/7/03 Apparently obscured by other seemingly more important stories, you didn’t hear much about the fact that Spahn, the winningest lefthander in the history of Major League Baseball, passed away last week. Why would I write about a guy that hasn’t been on the radar screen for 38 years, and even when he was he was overshadowed by other marquee names? I’ll tell you. First, he may have been the most intelligent athlete to ever don a uniform in any sport. Named after President Warren Harding, he played with his head as much as his heart and body. As a rookie, the legendary Casey Stengel, who also bought him a train ticket home to Hartford while cutting him, told him he had no guts. But that didn’t stop Warren Spahn from winning 363 games, pitching in 3 World Series, and getting elected to the Hall-of-Fame in 1973. I love it when people say you can’t do it, when all you really needed was a chance. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying that chronicled the Milwaukee Braves pitching woes; “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” Perhaps now you remember him a little bit more. As far as the “no guts” thing, he proved Stengel wrong there as well by becoming a war hero during the famous Battle of the Bulge epic in WW II. In fact, he was honored with a Bronze Star award. After the war he considered his job of playing baseball a breeze, but no one worked harder, or smarter. He studied hitters and knew all of their tendencies. He knew his own strengths and weaknesses like no other man, and he was always in the process of getting better, and getting smarter. And although he was an extreme competitor, he was a gracious sportsman as well, respecting his opponents at all times, and giving them credit when he got beat, which wasn’t very often. So why, in mid-December do I write about an old baseball pitcher that hasn’t even been in the game for 39 years? Because it doesn’t matter what sport you play or what level you play it on. And it doesn’t matter what era you played in, either. One can learn a lot from the late Warren Spahn. Old School is in session.
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