Braves history: The 10 greatest games of Warren Spahn’s career

April 23 marks the 102nd anniversary of the birth of the winningest left-handed pitcher in history. Warren Spahn won 363 games, the sixth highest total in history, between his 1942 debut with the Boston Braves and his retirement in 1965 at age 44.

That total is even more remarkable since Spahn arguably lost three full seasons (1943 through 1945) to World War II, where his service included conflict in the Battle of the Bulge.

Although he made four appearances as a 21-year-old in 1942, Spahn did not actually win his first game until he was 25 years old in July of 1946. That first win was a 4-1 Boston Braves decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates in which Spahn pitched a complete game. It was the first of 382 complete games by Spahn, who would lead the league in that department annually from 1957 through 1963.

In honor of Spahn, who died in 2003, the anniversary of his birth is a good time to look at the 10 greatest pitching performances of his remarkable career. It is an amazing list, containing seven games decided by a score of 1-0, several of them extending into extra innings.

Our standard of measurement is Win Probability Added. That calculates the individual’s role in influencing the game’s outcome. For that reason, it emphasizes late-inning game-turning accomplishments. It judges the player’s contribution within the broader context of winning the game.

Here are the 10 greatest games hurled by Warren Spahn, Braves legend and the winningest lefty-hander in baseball history.

10. Sept. 6, 1961, Braves 1, Phillies 0. The pitching matchup was a full-out study in contrasts. The Braves sent out their 40-year-old ace with 297 victories under his belt, against 24-year-old John Buzhardt, a 15-game loser for a Phillies team that just two weeks earlier had ended a 23-game losing streak.

On this Wednesday evening at County Stadium, however, Buzhardt matched Spahn pitch for pitch. The only run scored on a Hank Aaron sacrifice fly in the first that scored Roy McMillan, who had walked and taken third on an Eddie Mathews single. Buzhardt would allow just four more hits.

But Spahn would allow just three, striking out six and walking only one. The Phillies mounted their best threat in the ninth when Ken Walters got a one-out single and Johnny Callison singled with two out, sending Walters to third. Spahn made Charlie Smith his sixth strikeout victim to end the 1-0 shutout. Win Probability Added: 0.723.

9. April 28, 1961, Braves 1, Giants 0. Spahn threw two no-hitters, his first coming against the Phillies in September of 1969. That game does not make our list. His second, however, does. Facing Sam Jones on a Friday night at County Stadium, Spahn struck out five.

Again the only run he needed or would get scored in the first inning, this time on a Hank Aaron single that plated Frank Bolling. Facing a Giants lineup that included Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda, Spahn retired the first nine batters he faced before Chuck Hiller worked him for a walk to begin the fourth. A double play grounder took care of Hiller, as did a fourth inning double play following a walk to McCovey.

That meant Spahn faced the minimum 27 batters all night. Win Probability Added: 0.723.

8. Sept. 13, 1951, Braves 2, Cardinals 0. In the second game of a Thursday night doubleheader at Sportsman’s Park, Spahn made a run at his first no-hitter. After the Braves scored a first-inning run on a throwing error, Spahn set down the first six Cardinals he faced, walked Chuck Diering, then retired 10 straight.

Roy Hartsfield broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out ground single up the middle in the sixth. He was the last Cardinal baserunner, Spahn retiring the final 11 St. Louis hitters to complete his one-hit shutout. Win Probability Added: 0.731.

7. Sept. 10, 1949, Braves 1, Phillies 0. At Braves Field, Spahn faced off against Phillies phenom Robin Roberts, the only run scoring on Marv Rickert’s first-inning double that got Jim Russell home. Neither pitcher gave anything from that point on.

For his part, Spahn provided opportunities in the form of 10 baserunners, four walking their way on and six reaching via hits, but he fanned 11. Roberts was even stingier, allowing just four baserunners after the first inning.

The Phillies never could touch the Braves ace for a hit when it would have done some good. They wasted a leadoff Willie Jones double in the fifth, stranded a runner at second in the sixth, and  wasted another leadoff double in the seventh.

In the ninth, Jones walked and stole second and reached third on a Mike Goliat groundout. But Spahn fanned pinch hitter Buddy Blattner, then retired Richie Ashburn on a game-ending ground ball. Win Probability Added: 0.735.

6. Sept. 4, 1963, Braves 1, Pirates 0. Spahn was 42,  a 340-game winner and seeking his 19th victory of the season when he took the mound against the Pirates that night at County Stadium. Facing Bob Friend, a Lee Maye fourth-inning home run gave him a lead to work with, and Spahn made the most of it.

Through seven innings, no Pirates reached scoring position. In the eighth, Donn Clendenon and Bill Virdon strung back-to-back singles, a sacrifice and an intentional walk to Ted Savage loading the bases with one out.

The situation called for a threat-killing double play grounder, and that’s exactly what Spahn coaxed out of Bob Bailey. Having escaped that incident, Spahn stifled the Pirates in order in the ninth. He allowed just four hits in the complete game win. Win Probability Added: 0.737.

5. June 5, 1953, Braves 3, Phillies 2. The newly minted Milwaukee Braves sent their ace to face Karl Drews in a night game at the recently rechristened Connie Mack Stadium. Through nine innings of a 2-2 tie, Spahn had allowed five hits and three walks.

Spahn also had a hand in the offense, his seventh-inning single scoring Jack Dittmer with the tying run. When the game moved into extra innings, Spahn was still there, striking out Stan Lopata and Jim Konstanty in the 10th.

Del Crandall’s 11th-inning base hit pushed Milwaukee in front 3-2 and, when Spahn set down the Phillies in order in the bottom of the 11th, he had his complete game victory. Win Probability Added: 0.784.

4. May 15, 1948, Braves 1, Dodgers 0. The Braves would win the 1948 pennant, but they were a .500 team only beginning to find themselves when Spahn took the mound against the defending champion Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

Jim Russell’s first-inning home run gave Spahn his only support. He allowed just four hits and struck out just four, but had the Dodgers beating the ball into the ground all afternoon. Only one batter, Preston Ward with a third-inning leadoff double, reached as far as second base, and he was retired at third on a fielder’s choice.

Brooklyn’s final threat came in the eighth when Billy Cox opened with a base hit. Spahn retired the final six Dodgers he faced to complete the 1-0 shutout. Win Probability Added: 0.860.

3. July 2, 1963, Giants 1, Braves 0. This was just one more sensational extra-inning performance by Spahn, this time matched up against Giant ace Juan Marichal. Through the regulation nine innings at Candlestick Park, neither team scored. An Ernie Bowman single gave the Giants a glimmer of a chance in the 10th, but Spahn got Chuck Hiller and Marichal to end that threat.

Neither pitcher surrendered a baserunner until Frank Bolling touched Marichal for a leadoff single in the 13th, but Marichal immediately picked Bolling off base. Norm Larker worked a one-out walk against Marichal in the 14th and, in the bottom of that same inning, Harvey Kuenn’s double, an intentional walk to Willie Mays and an error loaded the bases for Ed Bailey, who Spahn retired on a fly ball.

The marathon continued into the 16th inning, when Spahn threw one pitch too many to Willie Mays, who homered over the left field fence to give Marichal the 2-1 complete game victory. Win Probability Added: 0.970.

2. April 23, 1951, Dodgers 2, Braves 1. The Dodgers won this remarkable game, played at Ebbets Field, but Spahn pitched heroically in defeat. He got his only support in the third inning, driving it in himself with an infield grounder. The Dodgers evened the score in the fifth on a Gil Hodges home run, the first hit Spahn had allowed.

Then the game settled into a seemingly interminable pitcher’s duel. Through nine innings, neither team could break the logjam. Spahn allowed hits in the 10th, 11th and 12th, but escaped all three times. In the 15th, Jackie Robinson singled, but Spahn retired Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella to strand that baserunner as well.

Finally in the bottom of the 16th, Spahn was done in by a two-out error by third baseman Gene Mauch. The next batter, Carl Furillo, singled to score the winning run. Win Probability Added: 1.021.

1 Sept. 6, 1948, Braves 2, Dodgers 1. The Braves hadn’t won a pennant since 1914, but they led Brooklyn by two and one-half games when Spahn and fellow rotation ace Johnny Sain faced the Dodgers in a pivotal late-season double-header at Braves Field.

The first game was tied 1-1 after the regulation nine innings, Spahn having held the Dodgers to two hits. Boston mounted a 10th inning threat, when two hits and a walk loaded the bases for Bob Elliott. But Elliott popped out and Dodger reliever Joe Hatton got Clint Conatser on an inning ending fly ball.

Again in the 12th, Conatser batted with the bases full and two out, and again he was retired. Spahn, meanwhile, gave up nothing. Finally, in the bottom of the14th inning, Earl Torgeson doubled Conatser home with the run that gave Spahn a complete game win. When Sain pitched a 4-0 shutout in the second game, Boston was well on its way to the pennant. Win Probability Added: 1.260.