HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nelson Thomas Potter (August 23, 1911 – September 30, 1990) was an American professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
player and right-handed
pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
who appeared in 349 games in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
over a dozen seasons between 1936 and 1949, most notably as a member, in , of the only St. Louis Browns team to win an American League pennant. He also played for the St. Louis Cardinals,
Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...
,
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
and Boston Braves. Potter's repertoire featured the screwball.


Baseball career


Early struggles

Born in Mount Morris, Illinois, Potter was listed as tall and . He began his 18-year professional career in the minor leagues in 1932, and after a one- inning trial with the Cardinals in April 1936, played his first full MLB season in 1938 as a member of the Athletics. He led the
American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...
in earned runs allowed with (144) in 1939, and overall won only 20 of 57 decisions in his first of two stints in Philadelphia, playing for a team that lost an average of 96 games a year between 1938 and 1941. During the latter year, on June 30, Potter's contract was sold to the Red Sox, who used him in only ten games and 20
innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...
before assigning him outright to their top farm club, the Louisville Colonels. Potter won 18 games, losing eight, for the Colonels in 1942, earning his selection by the Browns in the Rule 5 draft on November 2, 1942.


St. Louis Browns

With
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
depleting major league rosters of playing talent, Potter proceeded to post three consecutive stellar seasons for the 1943–1944–1945 Browns, winning a total of 44 games with earned run averages below 3.00. In 1944, Potter won 19 games, leading the Browns' staff, as St. Louis prevailed over the
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
by a single game in the pennant chase. Potter finished ninth in voting for the 1944 American League MVP balloting, with a 19–7 won–lost record, 16 complete games, three shutouts, and a 2.83 ERA. In the all-St. Louis 1944 World Series that followed, he started two games (the second and sixth contests) against the Cardinals. He allowed only one earned run in 9 innings pitched for an ERA of 0.93, but poor defense (he allowed four unearned runs) did him in, and he lost his only decision. The Cardinals won the world championship in six games. On July 21, 1944, he became the first player to be ejected from a game and suspended for allegedly throwing a spitball. Umpire Cal Hubbard, who claimed that he had already warned Potter about his habit of wetting his fingers on the mound, ejected Potter in the fifth inning of a game against the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
. American League President Will Harridge later suspended Potter for 10 games. In 1945, the Browns failed to repeat as American League champions, although they finished in the first division. Potter contributed 15 wins, 21 complete games and three shutouts, and set a personal best in earned run average at 2.47, sixth in the Junior Circuit. The first two postwar seasons, 1946 and 1947, were not as successful for Potter, as he won 12 games and lost 19 for the Browns, who had returned to their losing ways. In 1948, he was reacquired by the Athletics in May, but on June 13, after less than a month with Philadelphia, he was "fired" by manager Connie Mack after a losing effort in
relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
against his old Brownie teammates.


Boston Braves

Signed as a free agent by the Boston Braves seven days later, he returned to the National League for the first time in 12 years and helped lead Boston to the 1948 NL pennant. Potter worked in 18 games, threw three complete games in seven starts, and added three saves out of the bullpen. Overall, he posted a 5–2 record and a 2.33 earned run average in 85 innings pitched. He then appeared in his second
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
. Against the AL champion
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 , the team ...
, Potter worked in two games. His effective relief appearance in Game 2, a Boston loss, was followed by a starting assignment in Game 5. In the latter game, Potter surrendered five runs, all earned, in 3 innings pitched on five hits (including two home runs), and left the game with the Braves trailing, 5–4. However, future Baseball Hall of Famer Warren Spahn, who relieved Potter, shut the door on the Indians on only one hit, and allowed Boston to come back to win, 11–5. Cleveland won Game 6 and the Series, however, the following day. Potter spent 1949 as a member of the Braves' pitching staff, getting into 41 games, all but three in relief, but retired after his contract was sold to the Cincinnati Reds on September 26. He finished his regular-season MLB career with a 92–97 record, six shutouts, 22 saves, and a 3.99 ERA, allowing 1,721 hits and 582 bases on balls in 1,686 innings pitched. He struck out 747. In World Series play, he posted a record of 0–1 and an ERA of 3.60, allowing six earned runs, 16 hits and five bases on balls, with seven strikeouts, in 15 innings pitched over four different appearances.


Family

Potter died in his hometown of Mount Morris at the age of 79 on September 30, 1990. He was survived by his wife, Hazel, two sons and a daughter: Nelson Jr., James, and Barbara.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Nels 1911 births 1990 deaths Baseball players from Ogle County, Illinois Boston Braves players Boston Red Sox players Columbus Red Birds players Houston Buffaloes players Lincoln Links players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Manchester Spartans baseball players People from Mount Morris, Illinois Sportspeople from the Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois Philadelphia Athletics players St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen St. Louis Cardinals players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Waterloo Hawks (baseball) players