Karl Benjamin Spooner (June 23, 1931 – April 10, 1984) was an
American professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
player.
He played in
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), ...
(MLB) as a left-handed
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 ...
for the
Brooklyn Dodgers.
After a meteoric rise during which he set a Major League Baseball record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in his major league debut in , his promising athletic career was cut short by an injury to his pitching arm.
Baseball career
A native of
Oriskany Falls, New York
Oriskany Falls is a village in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 732 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a waterfall on a nearby stream.
The Village of Oriskany Falls is in the southeast section of the Town of Au ...
, at the age of 20, Spooner was signed to a contract by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent in
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
and was assigned to play in
Minor league baseball.
Spooner's early minor league career was promising, but erratic. Walks were frequently a problem, as Spooner averaged a walk per inning in his first two minor league seasons.
However, he also had great speed, and showed flashes of brilliance. He made his way up the Dodgers' minor league system, compiling a fairly unimpressive 27–36 record during his first three seasons.
He had a breakout year in 1954 when he won 21 games with 262
strikeouts in 238
innings for the
Fort Worth Cats
The Fort Worth Cats was a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats were a member of the South Division of the now disbanded United League Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Basebal ...
of the
Texas League
The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...
.
His successful performance earned him a promotion to the Brooklyn Dodgers with one week left in the
1954 season.
Spooner made his major league debut with the Dodgers on September 22, 1954 at the age of 23.
He allowed only 3
hits, all
singles and, struck out 15 batters, setting a Major League Baseball record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in his major league debut.
He broke the record of 13 strikeouts set by the New York Giants’
Cliff Melton on April 25, .
J. R. Richard tied the record in his major league debut in . Spooner also set another record for pitching debuts by recording six consecutive strikeouts, striking out the side in both the 7th and 8th innings.
Pete Richert
Peter Gerard Richert (born October 29, 1939) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1962–64, 1972–73), Washington Senators (1965–67), Ba ...
(1962) is the only other pitcher to strike out six consecutive batters in his Major League debut.
Four days later, Spooner beat the
Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0, striking out 12 and surrendering 4 hits.
Although he only started two games for the Dodgers, Spooner, compiled two
complete game shutouts
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 ...
, throwing 18
innings, giving up 7 total hits and no runs. His 27 strikeouts in two successive games was a
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
record (not just for rookies) and was second only to
Bob Feller’s 28 on the major league list.
However, during
spring training prior to the 1955 season, Spooner entered a game without warming up properly. A severe arm injury was the result, after which Spooner was out of action until May 15, then made a comeback, appearing in 29 games with the Dodgers that year, but with only fairly mild success. Initially used as a spot starter, Spooner was moved to the bullpen after two poor starts. He was added back into the rotation in late June, removed from it at the end of July, and was then given some spot starts in August and September, finishing the season at 8–6. He appeared in his final major league game on October 3, 1955 when he started game 6 of the 1955 World Series.
Despite the winning record, Spooner was deemed only marginally effective. Prior to the injury, Spooner threw a
fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...
which ranged in the mid to high 90s;
post-injury, that was not the case. In his final appearance with the Dodgers, Spooner started game 6 of the 1955 World Series, and was shellacked, giving up 5 runs in one-third of an inning, taking the loss.
Spooner never again played in the majors. Still hampered by injuries, he pitched in only 4 games in Triple-A in 1956, was later called up to the Dodgers in September, although did not get into any games that year. For the 1957 season, Spooner was demoted all the way back down to A-ball: in 13 games (9 starts) he was 2–4.
The Dodgers left Spooner unprotected in the 1957 minor league draft, and he wound up being claimed by the St. Louis Cardinals. For the 1958 season, Spooner was demoted to the very lowest rung of minor league ball, playing for
Dothan Dothan is a place-name from the Hebrew Bible, identified with Tel Dothan. It may refer to:
* Dothan, Alabama, a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties in the U.S. state of Alabama
* Dani Dothan, lyricist and vocalist for the Israeli rock and ne ...
in the 'D' level
Alabama–Florida League
The Alabama–Florida League was a low-level circuit in American minor league baseball that existed from 1936 through 1939 and 1951 through 1962. In 1940–1941 and from 1946–1950. The absence of clubs based in Florida caused the league to chan ...
, appearing in 9 games. He also played two games for
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
at the AA level that same season, but that ended his professional career. Spooner attended spring training in 1959, but retired before the season started.
Later life
As his baseball career wound down, Spooner, a native of New York state, moved to
Vero Beach, Florida
Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...
and found work as a manager in the citrus industry.
He worked at this job for the rest of his life, raising five children with his wife Carol. Spooner died of liver cancer in 1984, aged 52.
References
External links
Karl Spooner at The Deadball Era
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spooner, Karl
People from Oneida County, New York
Baseball players from New York (state)
Major League Baseball pitchers
1931 births
1984 deaths
Brooklyn Dodgers players
Macon Dodgers players
Houston Buffaloes players
St. Paul Saints (AA) players
Dothan Cardinals players
Fort Worth Cats players
Pueblo Dodgers players
Hornell Dodgers players
Greenwood Dodgers players
Elmira Pioneers players
Miami Sun Sox players
Newport News Dodgers players
Deaths from cancer in Florida
Deaths from liver cancer