Flugin, a sandlot third baseman, started his son at the same position. Blackwell was 19 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 21, 1942, with the Cincinnati Reds. Announcing his retirement at 31, he said, “I have a pain all the way up from my elbow to my shoulder.”19. “He is the only pitcher I know who hides the ball four times and shows the ball to you four times,” a fellow pitcher, Hal Newhouser, said. He reported to spring training at 170 pounds, 20 pounds below his usual playing weight. But he IS fast, he has an exceptional sidearm sinker and, most of all, he has a contortionist motion that baffles the best hitters." Over the next two months he won 16 straight decisions, a record for a NL right-hander. Fear. He won a scholarship to LaVerne Teachers College in Los Angeles County, but stayed only one semester. He posted a 17-15 record for the sixth-place Reds, even though his season ended early because of an appendectomy. 11 New York World-Telegram, July 10, 1947. He died in Hendersonville on October 29, 1996, of cancer.

Blackwell insisted his arm was fine, but his performance was not. A few minutes later the pitcher who had replaced him, Bud Byerly, sat down beside him. Blackwell got his nickname because of his unorthodox style, which made him the most feared pitcher of his day. But it was awful tough to be so close and lose it that way.”9 He retired Al Gionfriddo on a fly ball for the second out. “I never got shot at, but I got scared plenty when those eighty-eights (German artillery shells) started going off over my head,” he remembered.6 He was with General George S. Patton’s Third Army when it linked up with Soviet Red Army in Austria. One doctor predicted his career was over, because the surgery cut through the heavy muscles of his right side and back, muscles that must stand up to the violent torque of a pitching motion. He played in old-timers’ games and was a regular at the springtime ballplayers’ golf tournament in Florida, which he helped organize. document.write(update);

In January 1949 surgeons removed Blackwell’s infected right kidney. The sportswriter Red Smith wrote that Blackwell was “built like a slouchy flyrod, being composed largely of arms and neck and ears.” Another writer, Joe Williams, thought his delivery looked like “a Picasso impression of an octopus in labor.”2, Hitters thought he was trouble.

In his rookie season he was everything McKechnie had hoped for: an overpowering pitcher with his fastball and a curve that he threw hard and soft. But he twisted a knee when the Dodgers’ Pete Reiser slid into him on a play at the plate and missed at least two starts. The war was almost over, but deadly combat continued. ''I was a mean pitcher. Most wonderful 2020 MLB playoffs moment? He tried to brush back Willard Marshall, but left the ball over the plate and Marshall smashed a homer to tie the score. Find out more. Blackwell’s sidewheeling delivery terrified right-handed hitters. At 25 Blackwell was charting a course to the Hall of Fame. Arriving in Tampa three weeks late, he worried about whether he was ready to face big league hitters. Bonita High School’s coach, noticing that Ewell threw harder than anyone else on the team, made him a pitcher.

All the latest information about the expanded baseball postseason. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Did not play in major or minor leagues (Military Service - US Army), Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses. Are you a Stathead, too? ''I was up on the top step,'' Vander Meer would remember. Stan Musial said, “I don’t see how Blackwell ever loses a game.”3. Return to Top; MLB Players. This article was written by Warren Corbett. Ewell Blackwell (October 23, 1922 – October 29, 1996) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.Nicknamed "The Whip" for his sidearm, snap-delivery, Blackwell played for the Cincinnati Reds for most of his career (1942; 1946–52). The deal outraged the other American League teams, who were trying to hold off the Yankees’ drive for their fourth straight pennant. Clemens was raised in Texas and played college baseball for the University of Texas…, San Diego Padres: …Famer members Dave Winfield and Gaylord Perry, the latter of whom won the 1978 NL Cy Young Award (at age 39) for outstanding pitching. us, Died: 17 Brad Willson, “Veteran Barlick Honored as Umpire of Year,” The Sporting News, February 20, 1971, 30. Ewell Blackwell, Self: 1952 World Series.    vs. CLE 1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 SO, 2 BB, 3 ER, L, Rookie Status: Blackwell didn’t make his first appearance of 1949 until May 1, and that was too soon. April 21, 1942 Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. He lost another extra-inning game nine days later in Chicago on Bill Nicholson’s eleventh-inning homer.

Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. When the scouts came calling, Ewell and his father showed more interest in a quick path to the majors than in a big bonus. Dillinger turned to umpire Al Barlick and said, “Al, you can call me out any time you want. The AL pennant will be won, but will we also crown an NL champ? On June 18 he started against the Boston Braves, who had scored 36 runs in their previous three games. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ewell-Blackwell, Society For American Baseball Research - Biography of Ewell Blackwell. Ewell Blackwell was one. The Dodgers catcher and the Braves lefty share more than a name, they now share a decisive moment in history. Blackwell's best season was 1947, when he had a record of 22-8 for fifth-place Cincinnati, swept to 16 consecutive victories -- a National League record for right-handers -- and almost matched Johnny Vander Meer's double no-hit feat, which had been accomplished with the Reds in 1938. "(Ewell) Blackwell perhaps isn't as fast as (Bob) Feller was in his prime. Blackwell had two strikes on Buddy Kerr when he threw a curve that he thought “cut the middle of the plate, belt-high.” The umpire called it a ball. Williams warned him that he was tipping his changeup. His ERA was above 5.00 before he beat the Cubs on May 10. He was promoted to state manager in South Carolina and moved his family to Columbia. 19 “Blackwell Quits Baseball; Arm that Won 22 Fails,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 6, 1954. Copyright © 2000-2020 Sports Reference LLC. The Yankees had made a specialty of picking up National League veterans in late-season waiver transactions; Johnny Mize and Johnny Sain had preceded Blackwell. Updates? Ewell (the Whip) Blackwell, a fastballing sidearm pitcher of the late 1940's and early 1950's who came within two outs of throwing consecutive no-hit games for the Cincinnati Reds, died Tuesday in Hendersonville, N.C. However, as the saying went, “There’s a war on.” Blackwell was drafted into the army in January 1943. He was the losing pitcher in the decisive fifth game against the Oise Base all-stars. Some of the best—Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Ralph Kiner, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella—moaned about facing him. In Blackwell’s Hall of Fame library file. ''I wanted to be the first one out there to congratulate him.''. Ryan retired in 1993 at age 46 with a record 5,714 strikeouts. Ewell (the Whip) Blackwell, a fastballing sidearm pitcher of the late 1940's and early 1950's who came within two outs of throwing consecutive no-hit … Your Account; Logout; Login; Create Account; You are here: BR Home Page > MLB Players > B Listing > Ewell Blackwell Statistics and History.

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Ewell Blackwell, ("THE WHIP"), U.S. sidearm fastball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team during the 1940s and ’50s whose whiplike delivery intimidated batters; he compiled a career record of 82 wins and 78 losses, with a 3.30 earned run average (b. Oct. 23, 1922--d. Oct. 29, 1996). Pitcher Ewell Blackwell earned the nickname "The Whip" for his sidearm delivery. He recalled retiring Rowell for the last out in his army no-hitter. He was 3-12 with a 5.38 ERA in August when the Reds traded him to the New York Yankees for pitcher Johnny Schmitz, three minor leaguers, and a reported $35,000. It was a false spring. Cincinnati scout Pat Patterson gave the Blackwells what they wanted, and promised to assign the teenager to the Reds’ Class C farm club in Ogden, Utah, his mother’s hometown. No surprise that a poll of players named him the league’s toughest pitcher.13. “At least they can’t blame it all on us.”18. After hitting two home runs, Los Angeles Dodgers' Corey Seager says 'everything is kind of clicking'. Born: (Williams always insisted it was low.) 12 Donald Honig, Baseball Between the Lines, in A Donald Honig Reader (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975), 273-4. He was an immediate star at the top minor league level in his first professional season, posting a 2.02 ERA and a 15-10 record, including four shutouts. 18 Honig, Baseball Between the Lines, 275. Cronkite School at ASU It seems as though I should have, but probably not.

The 1952 season was a disaster. Sportswriter Joe Falls described Blackwell as “for one season—1947—the most intimidating pitcher of all time.”20 For years after he retired, every sidearm fireballer was compared to him. April 18, 1955 He struck out the AL leadoff batter, George Kell, and fanned three more future Hall of Famers—Ted Williams, Lou Boudreau, and Joe Gordon—in three shutout innings.