Nov 11 2008
Remembering Spahn on Veterans Day
By Bud L. Ellis
Braves.today.com
ATLANTA — On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent. And all across Europe, the combatants who waged brutal warfare for four years collected their belongings and began heading home.
Ninety years ago today, World War I ended. It was to be the war to end all wars. Oh, if that only were the case, if our world could look back over the past nine decades and not see the scars of aggression, the ravages of armed conflict.
Our world would be such a better place.
Unfortunately, wars have waged since the First World War ended on Nov. 11, 1918. Men and women have answered their country’s call in the years since, saying goodbye to their families and putting their careers on hold to take up arms and serve in the military.
It’s interesting to look back and wonder what would have been had World War I indeed ended armed conflict. From a Braves perspective, anytime the conversation turns to military service, Warren Spahn comes to mind.
You already know Spahn is the winningest left-hander in baseball history, having won 363 games during a career that started in Boston in 1942 and ended in 1965. In that span, Spahn carved out a Hall of Fame career that featured a 3.09 ERA, 2,583 strikeouts and 17 All-Star appearances.
But from 1943-1945, Spahn did as so many millions of his Americans. He served in the armed forces during World War II. On a day where we contemplate the world without war, the sports fan looks at Spahn’s numbers – already gaudy by any measure – and wonder just how much more grand those stats would be if Spahn had been toeing the slab for the Braves in those five years he served his nation.
Would we talk about Spahn as the third member of the 400-win club, joining Cy Young and Walter Johnson? How many more strikeouts would the left-hander had compiled? When you factor in Spahn was 22 in 1943 and 24 in 1945, it’s easy to buy into the notion that those five seasons missed would’ve elevated Spahn’s historical standing even higher.
Often, when we talk about the greatest pitchers to ever life, Spahn’s name doesn’t immediately come to mind. I’m not sure why. Maybe just the one World Series title and one Cy Young award won (both coming in 1957) has something to do with it.
Whatever the reason, there is no denying Spahn was one of the best ever. His numbers would’ve been even more robust were it not for the three years he missed.
And yet, I don’t think it diminishes at all what he accomplished on the playing field. Spahn merely did what his country needed him to do in one of our darkest hours: he left his family and his baseball behind, and served his nation with honor and valor.
On this day, we remember all those who did the same. God bless our veterans, and God bless our nation.
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