Herbert Jude Score (June 7, 1933 – November 11, 2008) was an American

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 (A ...

(MLB) player and

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

. Score pitched for 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) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

from 1955 through 1959 and the

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 ...

from 1960 through 1962. He was 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 b ...

(AL) Rookie of the Year in 1955, and an AL All-Star in 1955 and 1956. Due to an on-field injury that occurred in 1957, he retired early as a player in 1962. Score was a television and radio broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians from 1964 through 1997. He was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2006.

Early life

Herb Score was born in

Rosedale, New York Rosedale is a neighborhood in New York City in the southeastern portion of the borough (New York City), borough of Queens. The neighborhood, located along the southern part of Queens, borders Nassau County, New York, Nassau County. Rosedale is l ...

, in 1933. At 3, he was run over by a truck and later had

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful ...

. As a teenager, he started playing basketball and baseball at Holy Name of Mary School until he moved with his family to Lake Worth, Florida. In 1952, he threw six no-hitters for the Lake Worth Community High School baseball team, when the school won its only state baseball championship."Herb Score, Big League Star who Pitched at Lake Worth, Dies at 75."
''Palm Beach Post'', November 11, 2008 On June 7, 1952 (his 19th birthday), he signed a baseball contract with the Cleveland Indians. He was sent to

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

of the American Association where he made 10 pitching starts. In 1953, he moved to Cleveland's Class A affiliate, Reading (Pennsylvania) of the Eastern League. At Reading, he became a roommate and lifetime friend with Rocky Colavito, a near future Cleveland Indians

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hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...

and

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In ...

from

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. For the 1954 season, both were promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis. Score won ''The Sporting News'' Minor League Player of the Year Award and began to be referred to as "left-handed

Bob Feller Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Clevel ...

MLB playing career

Cleveland Indians (1955–1959)

In , Score came up to the major leagues (with Colavito) as a rookie with the

at the age of 21. He quickly became one of the top power pitchers in the

, no small feat on a team that still included Feller,

Bob Lemon Robert Granville Lemon (September 22, 1920 – January 11, 2000) was an American right-handed pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Lemon was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. Lemon was raised in Californi ...

and other top pitchers, going 16–10 with a 2.85

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 numb ...

in his first year. He appeared on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' magazine on May 30, 1955. Score struck out 245 batters in 1955, a major league rookie record that stood until , when it was topped by

Dwight Gooden Dwight Eugene Gooden (born November 16, 1964), nicknamed "Dr. K" and "Doc", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Gooden pitched from 1984 to 1994 and from 1996 to 2000 for the ...

(Score, Gooden, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Don Sutton, Gary Nolan,

Kerry Wood Kerry Lee Wood (born June 16, 1977) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Wood first came to prominence as a 20-year-old ro ...

, Mark Langston, and

Hideo Nomo is a Japanese former baseball pitcher who played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He achieved early success in his native country, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from to . He then exploited a l ...

were the only eight rookie pitchers to top 200 strikeouts in the 20th century). It was the first time in major league history that a regular starting pitcher averaged over one strikeout per inning. In , Score improved on his rookie campaign, going 20–9 with a 2.53 earned run average and 263 strikeouts, while reducing the number of walks from 154 to 129, and allowed only 5.85 hits per 9 innings, which remained a franchise record until it was broken by Luis Tiant's 5.30 in .

Injury from Gil McDougald's line drive

On May 7, , during the first inning of a night game against the

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

at Municipal Stadium in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

, Score threw a low fastball to

Gil McDougald Gilbert James McDougald (May 19, 1928 – November 28, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) infielder who spent ten major league seasons playing for the New York Yankees from 1951 through 1960. McDougald was the 1951 American ...

with Jim Hegan catching. McDougald lined the pitch to the mound and struck Score in the face, breaking Score's facial bones and injuring his eye. The ball caromed to third baseman

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a Ci ...

, who threw McDougald out before he rushed to the

pitching mound A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

to aid Score. McDougald, seeing Score hit by the baseball and then lying down and injured, also ran immediately to the pitching mound, instead of

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

, to help Score. McDougald reportedly vowed to retire if Score permanently lost his sight in one eye as a result of the accident. Score eventually recovered his 20/20 vision, though he missed the rest of the season. He returned early in the season. Though many believe he feared being hit by another batted ball, and thus changed his pitching motion, Score rejected that theory. Score would tell Cleveland sportswriter

Terry Pluto Terry Pluto (born June 12, 1955) is an American sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and author who primarily writes columns for ''The Plain Dealer'', and formerly for the ''Akron Beacon Journal'' about Cleveland, Ohio sports and religion. Plu ...

(for ''The Curse of Rocky Colavito'') that, in 1958, after pitching and winning a few games and feeling better than he'd felt in a long time, he tore a tendon in his arm while pitching on a damp night against the Washington Senators and sat out the rest of the season. In 1959, he shifted his pitching motion in a bid to avoid another, similar injury. "The reason my motion changed", Score told Pluto, "was because I hurt my elbow, and I overcompensated for it and ended up with some bad habits." As a result of the changes Score made in his pitching delivery, his velocity dropped and he incurred further injuries. Score pitched the full season, going 9–11 with a 4.71 earned run average and 147 strikeouts. In the book ''The Greatest Team Of All Time'' (Bob Adams, Inc, publisher. 1994),

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

picked Score as the toughest American League left-handed pitcher he faced (before the injury).

Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–1963, 1965), all but t ...

picked Score for his "Greatest Team Of All Time".

Chicago White Sox (1960–1962)

Score was traded to the

by Cleveland on April 18, 1960 for pitcher

Barry Latman Arnold Barry Latman (May 21, 1936 – April 28, 2019) was an American professional All Star Major League Baseball pitcher. Early and personal life Latman was born in Los Angeles, California, and was Jewish. Latman would not pitch on the Jewish Hi ...

. Score's roommate, Colavito, was traded to the Detroit Tigers the previous day. Score was reunited on the Chicago team with some former Indians players and manager Al Lopez. Score pitched parts of the following three seasons before retiring. He finished with a major league career record of 55–46, a 3.36 earned run average, and 837 strikeouts over eight seasons in 858

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 inning ...

Broadcasting career

Score retired from playing baseball in 1962. Beginning in 1964, he was employed as a television and radio play-by-play announcer with the Cleveland Indians for the next 34 years, first on television from to , and then on radio from to , the longest career for an Indians play-by-play announcer. Score was revered by the Indians fans for his announcing style, including a low voice and a low-key style, as well as a habit of occasionally mispronouncing the names of players on opposing teams. Score's final Major League Baseball game as an announcer was Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.

Retirement and death

On October 8, 1998, while driving to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

after being inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame the night before, Score was severely injured in a traffic accident. He pulled into the path of a westbound tractor-trailer truck near

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, and his car was struck in the passenger side. He suffered trauma to his brain, chest, and lungs. The

orbital bone In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is , ...

around one of his eyes was fractured, as were three ribs and his sternum. He spent over a month in the

intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensi ...

, and was released from MetroHealth Hospital in mid-December. He was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign. He went through a difficult recovery, but managed to throw out the first pitch at the Indians'

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

on April 12, 1999. He suffered a stroke in 2002, and died on November 11, 2008, at his home in Rocky River, Ohio, after a lengthy illness. He is interred at Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River. The Indians wore a memorial patch on their uniform during the 2009 season to honor him.

Awards and honors

Baseball

High school

* 1952 Florida State Baseball Championship ( Lake Worth Community High School)

Professional

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

Most Valuable Player Award – 1954 * ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' Minor League Player of the Year – 1954 *

Rookie of the Year – 1955 * Two-time American League All-Star – 1955, 1956 * Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame – 2006 * Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame (class of 1992)

Broadcasting

* Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (class of 1996) * Cleveland Press Club Journalism Hall of Fame (class of 1998) * Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame (class of 1998)Ohio Broadcasters HOF

References

External links

*
''New York Times'' Obituary

Obituary
in ''Cleveland Plain Dealer''
Herb Score – ''Sports Illustrated'', May 30, 1955 (cover)

Herb Score Chronology
in This Day at Baseball {{DEFAULTSORT:Score, Herb 1933 births 2008 deaths American League All-Stars Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners American League strikeout champions Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians announcers Cleveland Indians players Indianapolis Indians players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from New York (state) Major League Baseball broadcasters Reading Indians players Sportspeople from Queens, New York People from Lake Worth Beach, Florida American Association (1902–1997) MVP Award winners Burials at Lakewood Park Cemetery People from Rosedale, Queens Baseball players from Cleveland