John Frederick Sanford (August 9, 1919 – March 15, 2011) was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

St. Louis Browns

Sanford signed with the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

in . Despite having made three appearances with the Browns in , he was essentially a career minor leaguer with a 55–61 record and 3.74

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in the Browns'

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

when his career was interrupted by service in World War II. He returned to the Browns in , and went 15–10 with a 2.74 ERA for the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played in ...

to earn a September call up to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. He pitched

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s in his first two major league starts against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. His success against the Yankees was fleeting, as he allowed successive

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

Charlie Keller Charles Ernest Keller (September 12, 1916 – May 23, 1990) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a left fielder in Major League Baseball from 1939 through 1952 for the New York Yankees (1939–43, 1945–49, 1952) and Detro ...

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

and

Johnny Lindell John Harlan Lindell (August 30, 1916 – August 27, 1985) was an American professional baseball player who was an outfielder and pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1941 to 1950 and from 1953 to 1954 for the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardina ...

during a

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

appearance against the Yanks during the season. Still, he pitched well enough against them to catch the eye of Yankees

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

George Weiss. At the

Winter meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

, he and

Roy Partee Roy Robert Partee (September 7, 1917 – December 27, 2000) was a Major League Baseball catcher. Listed at , , Partee was nicknamed the "Little Round Man." He is likely best remembered as the man behind the plate for Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" i ...

were dealt to the Yankees for

Red Embree Charles Willard Embree (August 30, 1917 – September 24, 1996) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. His key pitch was the curveball. Nicknamed Red, due to his red hair, Emree joined the Cleveland Indians in , and spent three seaso ...

Sherm Lollar Sherm is a shortened version of the given name Sherman and may refer to: People *Sherm Chavoor (1919-1992), American swimming coach *Sherm Cohen (born 1965), American storyboard artist *Sherm Feller (1918–1994), American musician and sports an ...

and

Dick Starr Richard Eugene Starr (March 2, 1921 – January 18, 2017) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. Listed at , , he batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. New York Yankees Starr signed with the New York Yankees in 19 ...

plus $100,000.

New York Yankees

Having pitched 227

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

s and appeared in 42 games with the Browns in 1948, Sanford's role with the Yankees was far more limited, as he pitched just 95.1 innings for the "Bronx Bombers" in . Still, he proved to be a very important piece for the Yankees down the stretch, as he went 3–0 with a 2.31 ERA in the month of September to help hold off the surging

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, and win the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

by a game. Sanford did not make an appearance in the 1949 World Series against the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

. Sanford's name came up in trade rumors early in the season, as the Yankees were in need of left-handed pitching. He responded to these rumors by getting off to a 4–0 start; shortly after which, the Yankees acquired left hander

Joe Ostrowski Joseph Paul Ostrowski (November 15, 1916 – January 3, 2003) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played all or part of five seasons in the majors, from 1948 to 1952, for the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees. After graduating from the ...

from the Browns without departing with Sanford. From that point forward, Sanford's record fell to 1–4 with a 5.40 ERA. Having been a starter in the early part of the season, Sanford was demoted to the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

in June, making just one spot start in August. The Yankees returned to the World Series in , however, Sanford was once again kept out of all four games with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. The Yankees won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

both seasons Sanford was with the club, but he did not make a postseason appearance.

Final season

At the trade deadline, he,

Tom Ferrick Tom Ferrick, Jr. (1949) is an editor, reporter and columnist long active in print and web journalism in Philadelphia. Until 2013, he was senior editor of Metropolis, a local news and information Web site based in Philadelphia that he founded in 20 ...

and

Bob Porterfield Erwin Coolidge "Bob" Porterfield (August 10, 1923 – April 28, 1980) was a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for twelve seasons between 1948 and 1959 for the New York Yankees, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh ...

were traded to the Washington Senators for

Bob Kuzava Robert Leroy "Sarge" Kuzava (May 28, 1923 – May 15, 2017) was an American professional baseball player, a left-handed pitcher for the Cleveland Indians (1946–1947), Chicago White Sox (1949–1950), Washington Senators (1950–1951), New York ...

. Unhappy with the Yankees, Sanford was exceptional in his first start with his new club, retiring fourteen batters in a row at one point to earn the win. He went 1–3 with a 7.89 ERA in his next six starts, and was traded back to the St. Louis Browns. This time he was traded for fellow right hander Dick Starr even up. He went 2–4 with a 10.21 ERA for the last place club that lost 102 games that season. He spent two seasons with the

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

after his major league career ended, going 24–20 with a 3.62 ERA.

Career stats

Perhaps Sanford's most outstanding ability was his fielding; in 1948 he committed only four errors in 42 games (second best in the league). In 1950 and 1951 he committed no errors at all, and in 1950 he was second among pitchers in range factor per nine innings. His career ERA+ was 94, meaning he was approximately six percent worse than average in allowing earned runs relative to his era, stadiums, and league. He led the league with 21 losses in 1948, however, he "ate up innings" for the lowly Browns. He was fourth in the league with 33 starts and seventh in

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. His only career

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

came off the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

Bob Lemon Robert Granville Lemon (September 22, 1920 – January 11, 2000) was an American right-handed pitcher and manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Lemon was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, National Ba ...

on July 9, 1948.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Fred 1919 births 2011 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Utah People from Salt Lake County, Utah New York Yankees players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players American military personnel of World War II St. Louis Browns players Portland Beavers players San Antonio Missions players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Toledo Mud Hens players Youngstown Browns players Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery West High School (Utah) alumni