At 1:14 AM Eastern time this morning, the Vernal Equinox occurred, bringing with it the first day of Spring. (As an aside, ever notice how most of “Spring Training” actually takes place in the Winter?).
Here at the VORG, we celebrate this day with a hat tip to the only “Spring” to ever make it to the Majors.
Jack Russell (don’t call him “Terrier”) Spring was a pitcher for ten different organizations in an 18-year professional career. His career marks of 9.4 hits, 3.8 walks and 4.2 strikeouts per nine innings tell you pretty much all you need to know about his skills. He appeared in 155 major league games, almost all in relief. His career was mostly middle relief and set-up man (see below).
| Split | G | PA | H | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Save Situ | 38 | 120 | 34 | 2 | 7 | 10 | .309 | .345 | .436 | .781 |
| Non-Save | 112 | 570 | 133 | 15 | 59 | 58 | .273 | .353 | .429 | .782 |
Generated 3/20/2012.
He *did* get to pitch against 18 future Hall-of-Famers:
| AB | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luis Aparicio | 13 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .231 | .333 | .462 |
| Nellie Fox | 9 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .556 | .600 | .778 |
| Brooks Robinson | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .286 | .375 | .429 |
| Harmon Killebrew | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | .667 | .000 |
| Whitey Herzog | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .200 | .200 | .200 |
| Al Kaline | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .600 | .750 |
| Mickey Mantle | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .333 | .600 | .667 |
| Yogi Berra | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .333 | .500 | 1.333 |
| Carl Yastrzemski | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Whitey Ford | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Early Wynn | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Hank Aaron | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Orlando Cepeda | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 |
| Roberto Clemente | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | ||
| Monte Irvin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | ||
| Willie Mays | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| Robin Roberts | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| Ted Williams | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
Generated 3/20/2012.
Perhaps the items most memorable about Mr. Spring can be found in his transactions. First, he was traded, returned to his original team 17 days later, then traded again roughly nine days after that:
- June 24, 1958: Traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Washington Senators for Bud Byerly. Jack Spring returned to original team on July 11, 1958. The Boston Red Sox sent Joe Albanese (July 11, 1958) to the Washington Senators to complete the trade.
- July 20, 1958: Traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Cleveland Indians for Stu Locklin. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.)
- June 15, 1964: Traded by the Chicago Cubs with Lou Brock and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz.
1 thought on “Spring is Here, and Spring was in the Majors”