Skip to main content

Card #170 - Carl Erskine: Pitcher - Brooklyn Dodgers

I have an admitted soft spot for Carl Erskine. He has been a family friend for decades, and is my sister's Godfather. Also, as far as I know, he's the only Major League Baseball player born in the same city as I was. 

Before we get into the career recap, I need to talk about this card.


Talk about doing a guy dirty. Most of the cards up to this point have looked mostly like photos, maybe with a little "1950's Photoshop" enhancement. Carl's card looks like it was hand drawn at 4:45 on a Friday before a holiday weekend. Also, has anyone been noticing how many cards have had the same or very similar backgrounds? From something I read a while ago, I believe it was said that Shibe Park in Philadelphia was used as a fairly generic background for many cards in this set.

While serving in the Navy in 1945, Erskine signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. However, there was a rule that teams couldn't sign active military. When he left the Navy in 1946, several teams pursued him, but he eventually signed with the Dodgers again - getting a second signing bonus in the process.

At the beginning of his career, Erskine was used primarily out of the bullpen. After going 21-10 in his first four seasons, he was made primarily a starter, and had several successful seasons. He went 20-6 in 1953, and made the All-Star team in 1954. He threw two of the seven total no-hitters in the entire league in the 1950's. 

Carl moved to Los Angeles when the Dodgers went West, but he was far less effective, and retired partway into the 1959 season. He did remain as the pitching coach, and helped guide the staff to a World Series win. 

My favorite story about Carl is that he was in the bullpen in 1951 warming up during the final game of the season against the New York Giants. Whoever won this game would go to the World Series. Carl was bouncing his curveball in the dirt, so Ralph Branca was brought into the game, and the rest is history...


 Erskine, when asked, would say that curveball that bounced in the bullpen was the best pitch he ever threw.

After retiring, Erskine returned to Anderson, Indiana to coach the local college team, become President of the local bank, and became instrumental to the Special Olympics. His son Jimmy was born with Down Syndrome and from stories I recall hearing, was told he wouldn't make it to 18 years of age. Sadly, I literally just found out as I am writing this post that Jimmy passed away in November of 2023 at the age of 63. 

Jimmy competed for 50 years in Special Olympics, and worked for over 20 years at Applebee's. R.I.P.


On to the back of the card...


Carl held that strikeout record for 10 years until Sandy Koufax struck out 15 in a game.

In 2023, Carl was given the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to charity and his work with Special Olympics. This award is housed in the Baseball Hall of Fame. So while he doesn't have a plaque on the wall, he still has a permanent spot inside those hallowed halls. 

At the time of writing this, Carl is the 6th oldest living Major League player at just over 97 years old. 


Carl, his wife Betty, and Jimmy
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Card #21 - Don Hoak - Infield: Brooklyn Dodgers

Just looking at Hoak's major league stats, you might think he came to baseball later than others of the era. Hoak broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954 at the "ripe old" age of 26. However, he had been toiling away in the Dodgers minor league system since 1947 (after a 2-year stint with the Navy as well). Sidetrack: most of the cards we've seen so far have looked like actual photographs of the players over a background painting. Something about Houk's card has an "uncanny valley" feel to it. As though the uniform was painted on over the top of a different picture. I'll spoil the fact that my next subject is one that's obviously a painting, and not a very good one. In his two seasons with the Dodgers, he split time with Jackie Robinson at third base. That's a tough act to break into, but Houk performed decently well. In fact, he was the third baseman when the Dodgers won Game 7 over the New York Yankees - the only postseason game in Jacki...
Post a Comment
Read more

Card #4 - Eddie Waitkus - First Base: Baltimore Orioles

 This card is the reason why I decided to start this blog in the first place. On the surface, it looks pretty much like every other card in the set; a bunch damaged corners with a little bit of ink on the front that doesn't match his uniform number. It's when we turn the card over when the real story begins.  But let's start with the front, shall we? Waitkus' career path was very much like many other baseball players of the era. He got a cup of coffee with the Chicago Cubs in 1941 before spending the next three years in the Army fighting in World War II. Waitkus was awarded four Bronze Stars for bravery during the War. When he returned to baseball, he quickly became one of the better players in the game - finishing 13th in MVP voting in 1946. Waitkus made the All-Star team in 1948. In that off season, he was traded to Philadelphia with Hank Bowory for Monk Dubiel (awesome name) and Dutch Leonard (not too shabby either). That 1949 season was going very well for Waitkus, ...
Post a Comment
Read more