- Rip Sewell
Infobox MLB retired
name=Rip Sewell
width=
position=Pitcher
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date|1907|5|11Decatur, Alabama
deathdate=death date and age|1989|9|3|1907|5|11Plant City, Florida
debutdate=June 14
debutyear=by|1932
debutteam=Detroit Tigers
finaldate=September 18
finalyear=by|1949
finalteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
stat1label=Win-Loss record
stat1value=147-97
stat2label=Strikeouts
stat2value=636
stat3label=Earned run average
stat3value=3.48
teams=
*Detroit Tigers (by|1932)
*Pittsburgh Pirates (by|1938-by|1949)
highlights=
* 4x All-Star selection (1943, 1944, 1945, 1946)
* Led NL in wins in 1943 with 21Truett Banks "Rip" Sewell (
May 11 ,1907 -September 3 ,1989 ) was a right-handedstarting pitcher inMajor League Baseball who played 13 years in the major legues with theDetroit Tigers (1932) andPittsburgh Pirates (1938-1949). Sewell was selected four times to the National League All Star team (1943-1946) and is credited with inventing the "Eephus pitch ."Early years
Born in
Decatur, Alabama , Sewell attended Vanderbilt University in the 1930-1931 school year where played college football on scholarship for coachDan McGugin . However, Sewell only played on the freshman team and left because of the academic requirements.cite web
url=http://vucommodores.cstv.com/genrel/041107aac.html
title=Scotti Madison Talks About His Baseball Career - Traughber's Tidbit
date=2007-04-11
accessdate=2007-04-12
publisher=Vanderbilt University ] After leaving school, he went to work for Dupont in Tennessee, and started playing semipro baseball.He signed with the
Nashville Vols , who then sold his contract to theDetroit Tigers for $10,000. He played only one season (1932) with the Tigers, appearing mostly in relief. Sewell later recalled that he was shipped to the minor leagues in Toronto the day afterJimmie Foxx hit one of Sewell's best pitches over the left field wall. (Donald Honig, "Baseball When the Grass Was Real" (1975), p. 250) Sewell pitched only 10-2/3 innings for the 1932 Tigers, giving up 15 earned runs for a 12.66 ERA.The fight with Greenberg
In 1934, he got a second chance with the Tigers, attending spring training with the team. However, he got into a fight with
Hank Greenberg inLakeland, Florida . According to Sewell, Greenberg made a comment about Sewell's southern heritage, and Sewell responded with a comment about Greenberg's Jewish heritage. The fight was eventually broken up by the police, and the next day, Sewell was called in by managerMickey Cochrane , who told him: "Rip, don't think I feel any less about you for it; in fact, I think more of you. But we've got thirty pitchers and only one first baseman. What do you think I'm gong to do?" (Donald Honig, "Baseball When the Grass Was Real" (1975), p. 253) Sewell spent the 1934 season playing for theToledo Mud Hens .Sewell and Greenberg later became teammates on the 1947 Pirates. Greenberg hit a double to help Sewell get his first win of the 1947 season, and, according to Sewell, the two went on to become friends.
Greenberg, however, gave a different account of the fight in his autobiography. According to Greenberg, Sewell kept mouthing off, even after Greenberg asked to be left alone. Greenberg described the fight as follows: "As we got off the bus, I grabbed Sewell and started pummeling him. He couldn't fight, so he grabbed me around the knees. . . . I was embarrassed for him." (Hank Greenberg, "Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life"," p. 52)
Tigers pitcher
Elden Auker also wrote about the Sewell-Greenberg fight in his autobiography. Auker's account is consistent with Greenberg's. According to Auker, Greenberg "slapped Sewell across the face and pretty near busted his skin open." (Elden Auker, "Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms"," p. 102)Pittsburgh Pirates
In 1937, the
Pittsburgh Pirates bought Sewell's contract from the minor leagueBuffalo Bisons . In 1940, Sewell worked his way into the Pirates' starting rotation and went 16-5 in 33 games with a 2.80 ERA. His .762 winning percentage was third best in the NL, and he finished #25 in the 1940 NL MVP voting.In 1941, Sewell's record fell to 14-17, and his ERA rose to 3.72.
The blooper pitch
In December 1941, Sewell was injured in a hunting accident, as he was shot with two loads of buckshot. The injury permanently damaged the big toe that Sewell pitched off, and he was required to re-engineer his pitching motion and delivery. The re-engineered pitching motion is what gave rise to Sewell's famous "blooper pitch."
Sewell threw the blooper pitch by holding onto the seam and flipping it off three fingers to get backspin. Sewell's blooper reached an arc of 25 feet. The first time Sewell threw the blooper in a game was in an exhibition match against the Detroit Tigers. Sewell described the reaction of the Detroit batter,
Dick Wakefield : "He started to swing, he stopped, he started again, he stopped, and then he swung and missed it by a mile. I thought everybody was going to fall off the bench, they were laughing so hard." (Donald Honig, "Baseball When the Grass Was Real" (1975), p. 254)Pittsburgh outfielder
Maurice Van Robays named Sewell's blooper pitch the "Eephus pitch ." Van Robays said: "Eephus ain't nothin' and that's what that ball is."ewell's best years (1942-1944)
Using the blooper pitch, Sewell became one of the best pitchers in baseball. He won 17 games in 1942 and followed with 21-win seasons in both 1943 and 1944.
His best season was 1943, when he led the major leagues with 21 wins and 23 complete games. His record was 21-9 (.700 winning percentage) with a career-low 2.54 ERA (4th in the NL). He was selected to the first of four consecutive National League All Star teams and finished #6 in the 1943 National League MVP voting.
Williams' home run in the 1946 All Star game
Sewell's most famous blooper pitch came in the 1946 All Star game against
Ted Williams . Sewell warned Williams before the game he was going to throw him the blooper. With the American League ahead 8-0, Williams came to bat, and Sewell nodded, indicating the blooper was coming. Williams fouled off the first blooper. Sewell nodded again, and threw another blooper and then another. With the count 1-2, Williams hit the blooper for a home run -- the only home run ever hit off Sewell's blooper pitch. As Williams rounded the bases, Sewell followed him, saying "the only reason you hit it was because I told you it was coming." Williams laughed, the fans loved it, and Sewell got a standing ovation when he walked off the mound. (Donald Honig, "Baseball When the Grass Was Real" (1975), p. 257).Years later, Williams admitted that he had been running towards the pitcher’s mound as he hit the ball, and photographs reveal that he was in front of the batter’s box when he made contact -- a violation of baseball rules.
Critic of the player's union
Sewell was a critic of the players' union being organized after WWII. He led Pirate players against the union, and was reported as saying that he was "glad the owners had finally told these ungrateful players where to get off. First they wanted the hamburg, then filet mignon, eventually the cow and the entire pasture." [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Rip_Sewell_1907]
Career statistics and death
Sewell pitched 12 seasons for the Pirates from 1938-1949 and finished with a career record of 143-97.
Sewell died in
Plant City, Florida , at the age of 82.Three of Rip's cousins also played
Major League Baseball :Luke Sewell ,Joe Sewell , andTommy Sewell .ee also
*
List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
*List of Major League Baseball wins champions
*Eephus pitch External links
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sewelri01.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Rip_Sewell_1907 BaseballLibrary]
* [http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/sewelri01.php Baseball Page on Sewell]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=m7mwvZEkfasC&pg=PA249&lpg=PA249&dq=rip+sewell&source=web&ots=Tfzg_4UWNh&sig=D6ONN_jry4M-Hx-r_6zNvpd3I9Y#PPA316,M1 Excerpts from Donald Honig, "Baseball When the Grass Was Real"]
*References
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