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Best left-handed pitchers of all-time: The best lefties in MLB history

By Benjamin Chase

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 8: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox delivers during the first inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox on June 8, 2018 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JUNE 8: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox delivers during the first inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox on June 8, 2018 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
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MILWAUKEE – 1957. Warren Spahn, pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves, is about to deliver a pitch during a game at County Stadium in 1957. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

3. Warren Spahn, 363 wins, 119 ERA+, 5,243 2/3 innings, 2,583 strikeouts, 92.6 bWAR

In the modern game, pitchers simply don’t win 400 games. Well, pitchers named Warren Spahn don’t win 400 games, that is. After making his major league debut in 1942, Spahn was whisked off to military service, missing all of the next three seasons and part of the 1946 season as he got back onto his game. With those three seasons in his early 20s back, it’s hard to believe that Spahn would not have had the 37 more wins to reach 400 wins.

While Spahn was not a guy who struck a ton of guys out, that does not mean that he ever pitched to contact. He wasn’t afraid to pitch around a bat or two in order to set up a hitter the way he wanted. Spahn was by no means a large man at 6′ tall and 175 pounds dripping wet, but he was intimidating on the mound in that he knew how to work around every batter to make him look foolish, and no hitter likes that.

Spah would haave preferred to play first base and slug long fly balls, but he didn’t have the contact ability to be a full-time hitter. His father had drilled into him the importance of a mechanically-sound delivery on the mound, and Spahn would later credit his high leg kick and long career both to his father as he was able to stay healthy and have deception on the mound while he did so.

None other than Casey Stengel managed Spahn in his first season and reportedly stated then that he could be one of the best left-handed pitchers in the league if he avoided injury. While many baseball players entertained troups from camps, well behind conflict lines during World War II, Spahn was on the front lines, taking bullets in the Battle of the Bulge, eventually earning a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a battlefield promotion, and a Presidential citation.

Spahn would remain incredibly humble about his service, often refusing to discuss himself as a hero and never allowing the discussion of how many more wins he “could have had” to come up, in contrast with many other players who served much less active roles. Instead, Spahn found his service gave him focus he didn’t have prevoiusly on the mound, allowing him to “read” hitters, attacking them with pitches they wer never expecting.

Over his career, Spahn was selected to 17 All-Star games and appeared on 15 MVP ballots, his best finish being in 1956, when he was 4th on the ballot. He won the 1957 Cy Young Award, when it was still one award for both leagues, and he was on 4 other ballots. The final award he won may have meant the most to him, however, as he won the 1961 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award. Growing up, Spahn adored Gehrig and wanted to be just like the Yankee first baseman.

Spahn was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973.

Next: 2. Robert Moses

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