Vernon Eugene Curtis (May 24, 1920 – June 24, 1992), nicknamed "Turk", was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

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 ...

. A

right-hander In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

, he appeared in 11 games over parts of three seasons 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 Washington Senators (– and ). Curtis served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1945, the final year of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Born in Cairo, Illinois, Curtis was listed as tall and . He began his pro baseball career in 1942, and was called to the Senators in September 1943 for his first

MLB 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), ...

trial. In his 11 games with Washington, spread over three seasons, he posted a 0–1 record and a 5.70

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 ...

; he allowed 30 hits and 19

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

in 30 full

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 ...

, with ten

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. In his only

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

assignment, on September 24, 1944, he pitched creditably against his "hometown"

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 ...

Comiskey Park Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Buil ...

, permitting only five hits and two

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

in seven innings pitched. But Washington was

shut out Shut Out may refer to: * Shutout, a game in which one team prevents the opposing team from scoring * ''Shut Out'' (album), a 1977 album by Paul Jabara * "Shut Out" (song), a 1977 song by Paul Jabara and Donna Summer * "Shutout", a song by The Walk ...

Eddie Lopat Edmund Walter Lopat (originally Lopatynski) (June 21, 1918 – June 15, 1992) was a Major League Baseball pitcher, coach, manager, front office executive, and scout. He was sometimes known as "The Junk Man", but better known as "Steady Eddie ...

and fell 2–0.

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

br>box score (24 September 1944): "Chicago White Sox 2, Washington Senators 0"
/ref> The loss was Curtis' only big-league decision. He left baseball after the 1948 minor-league season.

References

External links

* 1920 births 1992 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Cairo, Illinois Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Greenville Spinners players Hopkinsville Hoppers players Major League Baseball pitchers Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy sailors Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Waycross Bears players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1920s-stub