Ned Garver
Ned Franklin Garver was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the St. Louis Browns, the Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Athletics, and the Los Angeles Angels. Garver and Irv Young are the only pitchers in the modern era of baseball to win 20 or more games for a team that lost 100 games.
A native of Ney, Ohio, Garver grew up rooting for the Tigers. Signed by the Browns in 1944, he reached the major leagues with the team in 1948. Poor run support contributed to his tying for the American League lead with 17 losses in 1949. However, in 1951, he posted a 20–12 record for the ballclub, during a season in which the Browns had a 52–102 record. Casey Stengel picked him to start the All-Star Game that year.
Garver suffered a pinched vertebra in 1952, an injury that would forever alter the way he would pitch. Though never as successful after that, he remained in the major leagues through the 1961 season, relying more heavily on adjusting pitch velocity and the angle at which he threw the ball to fool hitters. Traded to the Tigers in 1952, Garver remained with the team through the 1956 season. After that, he pitched four seasons with the Athletics before finishing up with the Angels in 1961. Following his career, Garver moved back to Ney, where he concentrated on farming while also serving as the town's mayor for some years.
Early life
Ned Franklin Garver was born on December 25, 1925, in Ney, Ohio, to parents Arl and Susie Garver. He was the fourth of five children. The Garvers lived on a wheat farm, which they tended using horses. Though Garver's mother wanted him to be a preacher or an undertaker, his father encouraged him to play baseball; the older Garver was once a successful amateur pitcher. Ned grew up rooting for the Detroit Tigers, the closest Major League Baseball team to Ney. He recalled awakening at midnight and getting the chores done early so that his family could arrive early at Briggs Stadium to watch a doubleheader, something the Garvers did several times during his youth. Because they did not have enough money to buy concessions at the games, Garver would bring a picnic basket with sandwiches made from home. Tommy Bridges was one of his favorite players.Garver started pitching for his town's local semipro baseball team, also playing baseball and basketball at Ney High School. As a senior in 1943, Garver helped the high school baseball team reach the state championship, where he suffered the loss in a 3–2 defeat.
Garver's performance with the semipro team caused three MLB teams to be interested in him: the St. Louis Browns, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Washington Senators. He did not think he would be able to take advantage of any of these opportunities, as he enlisted in the United States Naval Air Corps in the fall of 1943. However, Garver was discharged the following spring because his feet were flat. Garver's manager with the semipro team, P. L. McCormick, contacted the Browns, who signed Garver to a minor league contract.
Professional career
Minor leagues (1944–1947)
Garver began his professional career at age 18 in 1944 with the Newark Moundsmen, St. Louis' affiliate in the Ohio State League. On July 19, he threw a no hitter against the Marion Diggers. Garver ultimately pitched in 32 games for the team, going 21–8. He led the OSL in wins, earned run average , and innings pitched. In the playoffs, he defeated the Middletown Red Sox three times, ultimately helping the Moundsmen to the first OSL championship since the league was put on hiatus due to World War II.The following season, Garver pitched briefly for the Browns' Single-A affiliate, the Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League, before being promoted to the Double-A Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association. In Toledo, he served as both a starting pitcher and a reliever, starting 15 games while making 16 relief appearance. He went 5–8 with an ERA of 4.64 and a walks plus hits per inning pitched figure of 1.712.
In 1946, Garver was sent to the San Antonio Missions, another Double-A team in the St. Louis Browns organization, and he would stay there until the end of the 1947 season. During his two years in San Antonio, Garver went 25–22 with an ERA of 3.43. According to Garver, the Browns nearly called him up in September 1947 when rosters expanded in September, but they decided to keep him in San Antonio when Ox Miller had his contract sold to the Chicago Cubs, as this left the Missions short of pitchers.
St. Louis Browns (1948–1952)
1948
Garver attended spring training with the Browns in 1948. " likes to pitch and know how to pitch," manager Zack Taylor said, though he was not certain what role he would use Garver in. Garver was afraid he would be sent back to the minor leagues. However, late in spring training, Taylor became impatient waiting for pitcher Cliff Fannin to begin warming up for a start against the Cleveland Indians and chose to start Garver instead. Garver allowed one hit against a lineup composed mostly of major league regulars and was named to St. Louis's roster to begin the season.Garver's MLB debut was not as a pitcher, but as a pinch runner, on April 28 in a 9–4 loss to the Detroit Tigers. His pitching debut came at Griffith Stadium when he started against the Senators on May 9. Garver recalled Taylor having Sam Zoldak warm up as well before the game. "I guess he didn’t think I’d make it," Garver said. The pitcher felt nervous and allowed three runs in the first inning. He followed the first inning with five scoreless innings but still earned the loss in a 3–1 defeat. After losing his second start to the Tigers on May 15, Garver won his first game in his third start, allowing just two unearned runs on May 22 in a 4–2 win over Washington.
Used mainly as a starting pitcher through the end of June, Garver then made a number of relief appearances in the second half of the season, although he still started several games. On September 4, he pitched 10 innings, driving in the winning run with a walk-off RBI single against Ed Klieman in a 2–1 victory over the Cleveland Indians. The Sporting News called him one of the "cagiest young pitchers in the circuit" in its September 15 issue. In 38 games, Garver had a 7–11 record, a 3.41 ERA, 75 strikeouts, 95 walks, and 200 hits allowed in 198 innings.
1949
In 1949, Garver was named the Browns' Opening Day starter, the first of four consecutive years in which he would start their first game. Against the Indians in St. Louis's first game on April 19, he threw a complete game, outpitching Cleveland starter Bob Feller in a 5–1 victory. Years later, Garver remembered the victory as "special" because the Indians had just won the World Series, and "to beat was a miracle!" Again facing the Indians on May 30, he and Gene Bearden entered the 12th inning having allowed each other's teams to score just once. Garver took the loss when Ken Keltner hit a game-ending sacrifice fly with two outs in the bottom of the inning. He threw his first major league shutout on June 29, holding the White Sox to five hits in a 1–0 victory. In 41 games, Garver had a 12–17 record, tying with Paul Calvert and Sid Hudson of Washington for the American League lead in losses, though the low-scoring Browns were held to three runs or less in 14 of Garver's defeats. He had a 3.98 ERA, 70 strikeouts, 102 walks, and 245 hits allowed in innings.1950
Against the Tigers on May 13, 1950, Garver and Virgil Trucks each pitched 10 scoreless innings for their teams before Vic Wertz won the game in the 11th inning for Detroit with a two-out single. After the Browns were defeated 20–4 by the Boston Red Sox on June 7 and 29–4 on June 8, it was Garver's turn to pitch in the final game of the series on June 9. He struggled in the first inning, and catcher Sherm Lollar suggested that he try to "loosen" the Boston hitters. Garver responded by throwing brushback pitches at them in the next inning. He allowed seven runs in seven innings but earned the victory in a 12–7 triumph, receiving a free steak afterwards from a grateful manager Taylor.None of the Browns' relief pitchers had an ERA under 5.00 in 1950, and Taylor allowed Garver to complete 17 of his final 18 starts. The stretch started with a game against the White Sox on June 30, in which Garver pitched innings against the White Sox but suffered the loss in a 3–2 defeat when Gus Zernial hit a game-ending home run. In 1950, Garver led the AL with 22 complete games and finishing with a 3.39 ERA, second to Early Wynn's 3.20. His record was 13–18 with the 58-96 Browns, though the 18 losses only tied him for third in the AL this time.
1951
On June 1, 1951, Garver threw a shutout against the Red Sox, recording two RBI as a hitter as St. Louis won 4–0. Arm soreness caused him to miss the final two weeks of June, yet Casey Stengel chose Garver to start the All-Star Game in early July, which Garver later called "one of the biggest thrills I've ever experienced." He allowed one unearned run in three innings, receiving a no decision in an 8–3 defeat.Against the Philadelphia Athletics on August 24, Garver was the pitcher for the Browns on "Grandstand Managers Night," a promotion in which the fans held up large placards with "Yes" or "No" printed on them and made decisions on the team's strategy in the game against the Athletics. Garver recalled at one point during the game, the Athletics had runners on first and third base with only one out. He wanted the team to play the infielders farther to the plate, which would make a double play more likely. The fans, however, voted twice to play the infield in. Realizing this was not a good strategy, catcher Sherm Lollar called time and headed out to the mound to talk to Garver, then started walking around behind home plate when he returned to his position, to delay the game. Prompted a third time by the coach as to whether to play the infield in or not, the fans finally changed their vote to "No." Garver got Pete Suder to hit into a double play to end the inning, and he pitched a complete game as the Browns won 5–3.
Facing the White Sox in the season's final game on September 30, Garver needed a victory to attain the 20-win milestone. With the score tied at four in the fourth inning, Garver hit his only home run of the season, against Randy Gumpert, to put his team ahead. With Garver not pitching well in the early innings, Lollar suggested that the pitcher rely on his sinking fastball exclusively for a few innings, then return to throwing all his pitches later in the game. After allowing four runs through the first four innings, Garver allowed just one unearned run the rest of the game. The Browns won 9–5, and Garver won his 20th. The Commissioner of Baseball sent him a plaque to commemorate the victory.
In 1951, Garver compiled a 20–12 record with a 3.73 ERA, 84 strikeouts, 96 walks, and 237 hits allowed in 246 innings. Offensively, he compiled.305 batting average with one home run and nine RBI. He was also used as a pinch hitter and pinch runner. The Browns finished last in the American League with a 52–102 record, meaning Garver recorded the win in 38% of his team's victories. He was the first pitcher to win 20 games with a last-place team since Sloppy Thurston did so for the White Sox in 1924, and he was one of two pitchers in the 20th century to win 20 or more games for a team which lost 100 or more games in the same season, along with Irv Young, who went 20-21 for the 51-103 1905 Boston Braves. He led the AL with 24 complete games, the second year in a row he had thrown the most. In Most Valuable Player Award voting, Garver received the same number of first-place votes as New York Yankees players Yogi Berra and Allie Reynolds, though Berra ultimately took the most shares on ballots and won the award.