Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 08, 2006
Pray for Sain

Johnny Sain passed away:

Johnny Sain, a three-time All-Star who teamed with Warren Spahn to make up one of baseball's most fabled pitching tandems, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Sain's best year was 1948, when he and Hall of Famer Spahn led the Boston Braves to the World Series, where they lost to Cleveland. It was during that season when the famous saying was born: "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain."

The Boston Post ran a poem by sports editor Gerald Hern that led to the catchy phrase about the Braves' two dominant pitchers -- and the rest of their unheralded rotation.

"First we'll use Spahn, then we'll use Sain, Then an off day, followed by rain. Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain, And followed, we hope, by two days of rain," it read.

Sain won 20 games four times and posted a 3.49 ERA in 11 seasons. He's one of many players who lost time to World War II. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Update: David Gertsman sends along this article examing the link between Sain and Leo Mazzone.

Mazzone told Schwarz of a conversation he had with Sain in 1979, two years after the Boston Braves' old ace (Spahn and Sain and Two Days of Rain) tried to turn around the 1977 Atlanta Braves' staff (at least he had Phil Niekro and Dick Ruthven to work with then... of course, they also had Eddie Solomon and Buzz Capra). Sain was apparently still employed by the Braves in some capacity at that time, and Mazzone was the organization's newly-hired minor league pitching coordinator. Mazzone was, by his own admission, highly impressed by Sain and his unconventional methods, telling Schwarz that Sain was the first person he talked to who didn't have all the same old cliches.

Posted by David Pinto at 08:11 AM | Deaths | TrackBack (0)
Comments

re: Johnny Sain

the 1948 Boston Braves Pennant Run, now forgotten, featured Johnny Sain. Lost to the Indians in six.

So two did the 1957 and 58 Milwaukee Braves Series runs. Won in 57, lost in 58.

One of the alltime greats.

--art kyriazis, philly

Posted by: art kyriazis at November 13, 2006 07:53 AM
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