Russell Lee Bauers (May 10, 1914 – January 21, 1995) was a right-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 ...

/left-handed batter 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), ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, and

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during eight different seasons between 1936 and 1950. Signed as a 20-year-old free agent by 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 ...

in early 1935, Bauers was released after one year and then signed with the Pirates, the organization for whom he would make his major-league debut. Bauers was called up from the minors to be the Pirates' starting pitcher on August 20, 1936, but could not make it out of the second inning. In 1 innings of work, he allowed 5 earned runs on 2 hits and 4 walks for an unflattering

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 33.75. He would not return to Pittsburgh until the next season, when he became a regular contributor. Bauers pitched in 35 games, including 19 starts, and posted a 13–6 record. He was able to complete 11 of his starts and even threw 2 shutouts, posting a stellar ERA of 2.88, good enough for fourth-best in the league. Bauers also placed in the league's top ten in strikeouts, winning percentage, and fewest hits allowed per nine innings. His season was good enough to earn him a solid spot in Pittsburgh's starting rotation. Russ Baures 1940 Play Ball card

Bauers enjoyed another solid season in 1938, though his won-lost record was only 13–14 at year's end. His ERA of 3.07 was still good for seventh-best in the league, and he was in the top ten in innings pitched, strikeouts, games started, and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (where he was second behind only Johnny "Double No-Hit" Vander Meer). After the 1938 season, however, Bauers would become only a part-time major leaguer with oddly lengthy gaps in his career. Over the 1939–1941 seasons combines, he appeared in a total of 38 games, starting only 15, with a won-lost record of 3–9. From 1943–45 Bauers served in the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during World War II. During this time, he still played baseball while being assigned to the

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, playing in the ETO World Series. Although Bauers vanished from the major leagues for four full seasons, he was released by the Pirates before the 1946 season. He was able to sign a contract with the Chicago Cubs in mid-season and made a comeback of sorts, going 2–1 with a save and a nifty 3.53 ERA, but he again vanished from the majors after the season was up. The Cubs released him after the 1948 season, and Bauers was unable to find another suitor until late in the 1949 campaign, when he signed with the St. Louis Browns. In May 1950, the Browns called him up to the major league club at the age of 36. On May 6 he pitched the final two innings of a game against the

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. It was his last appearance in the major leagues. Bauers died on January 21, 1995, in

Hines, Illinois Hines is an unincorporated community in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located in Proviso Township next to the villages of Broadview, Maywood, Forest Park, and North Riverside. Government and infrastructure The United States Posta ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauers, Russ 1914 births 1995 deaths Baseball players from Wisconsin Chicago Cubs players Pittsburgh Pirates players St. Louis Browns players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Oconto County, Wisconsin United States Army personnel of World War II