Spahn Of A Kind

Originally Published: Jan 27, 2010 8:46 AM CDT

I enjoyed meeting CC Sabathia at the Warren Spahn Award ceremony Tuesday night.  For a guy who signed a 7-year $161 million contract only seven months ago, Sabathia seems remarkably humble and down to earth.  The kind of guy Warren Spahn would have enjoyed getting to know.

Spahn was born in Buffalo, New York, but lived the later years of his life in Broken Arrow and his remains are interred in Hartshorne, OK.   He managed the Tulsa Oilers of the Pacific Coast League to a league championship in 1968.

So just how good was Warren Spahn?  He won 363 games over 21 seasons and missed three full seasons, in the prime of his career, while serving our country in World War II.  Figure conservatively that Spahn would have won 18 games per year over those three years he missed, giving him an additional 54 wins for his career.  That total of 417 would tie him with Walter Johnson for second all time behind only Cy Young’s 511 career wins.

For Sabathia to equal Spahn’s win total he will have to average 22 wins a year over the next 10 years.  And CC will be 39 at the end of that time. 

Pitchers and catchers report in 24 days.