Finessing Life

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DOUGHBOYS
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Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Finessing Life

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:44 am

On this same day in 1952, Carl Erskine threw a no-hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Erskine was a run-of-the-mill type pitcher.
His lifetime ERA was 4.00
He won 20 games once.
Never struck out 200 batters.
Never walked more than 100.
Erskine was a finesse pitcher. That's what we call right handed pitchers who didn't throw aspirins.
'Finesse' because only lefties can be called, 'crafty'.

Finesse pitchers can have great days.
Erskine struck out 14 hitters in a 1953 World Series game. Setting the record for most K's ever in a World Series game.
A record that would be broken the next decade by fellow Dodger Sandy Koufax.
There were seven no-hitters in the 1950's.
Erskine had two of them.
And on this day, when he had his no-hitter in 1952, 68 years ago, Erskine struck out just one batter.
That's the life of a finesse pitcher.
Erskine's largest brush with infamy came when he DIDN'T pitch.
He was warming up with Ralph Branca before Branca was called upon and gave up "The Shot Heard Round the World".
Erskine said the most important pitch he ever threw in his career was a curveball in the dirt while warming up with Branca :)

As in baseball, Erskine has finessed life.
He has outlived his Dodger teammates and will turn 94 this year.
There is a rehab center named after Erskine, the Carl D. Erskine Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Center.
An Elementary School in his hometown of Anderson, Indiana is named for him.
And a street in Brooklyn is also named for him.
Way to go, Mr. Erskine!
It's nice to know that one of the Boys of Summer is kicking....
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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