Eric Erickson (baseball)

Eric George Adolph Erickson (March 13, 1895 - May 19, 1965) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played seven years in the Major Leagues with the New York Giants (1914), Detroit Tigers (1916, 1918-1919), and Washington Senators (1919-1922). Born in Goteborg, Sweden, Erickson was the second player born in Sweden to play in the Major Leagues. (Charlie Hallstrom was the first.) Erickson was a right-handed pitcher who debuted with the Giants in 1914. Erickson pitched in only 1 game for the Giants, going five innings and giving up seven runs -- "though none were earned" . In 1916, the Detroit Tigers gave Erickson a second chance, and he played parts of three seasons in Detroit, never having a winning season. He was traded to the Senators in 1919 and had his best seasons there. In 1919, as a teammate of Walter Johnson, Erickson led the American League in strikeouts per nine inings with 5.52, though he also was among the league leders in hit batsmen and wild pitches. In 1921, Erickson was among the league leaders in ERA (3.62), strikeouts per nine innings (3.57), shutouts (3) and hit batsmen (11).

After his Major League career ended, Erickson pitched for several minor league teams. He led the San Francisco Seals to a Pacific Coast League pennant in 1917 and won the 1917 PCL pitching Triple Crown, winning 31 games with a 1.93 earned run average and 307 strikeouts in 444 innings. [http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/top100.jsp?idx=10]

After his days in professional baseball, he worked in the shipping department of a metal company and also ran a farm. He died in 1965 at the age of 70 in Jamestown, New York.

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/e/ericker01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Eric_Erickson BR Bullpen]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Eric_Erickson_1892 BaseballLibrary.com]