4 Responses to “Bloops: Long-Lost Jersey Returned to Player’s Widow”

1. Chuck Says:
   December 20th, 2010 at 4:45 pm

   Awesome story.

   Thanks, Neil.

2. Lawrence Azrin Says:
   December 22nd, 2010 at 12:37 pm

   Great, heartwarming story, thanks for sharing.

3. John Autin Says:
   December 23rd, 2010 at 11:54 pm

   That was a very sweet tale, Neil. Thanks.

   I knew very little about Buzhardt's career before this story got me to peruse his B-R page. Here's a few things I picked up:

   1. He had 71 career wins, but 15 shutouts. Since 1920, no pitcher has more than 15 shutouts with fewer than 71 wins. It's one of the best shutout-to-win ratios of any live-ball pitcher. And only 16 pitchers had at least 15 shutouts in fewer starts than Buzhardt's 200. Obviously, his era was a factor, as was spending some prime years in Comiskey Park.

   2. One of his shutouts was a 1-hitter in his 9th career start, June 21, 1959, for the Cubs against the Phillies. The hit was a 3rd-inning single by Carl Sawatski. He had a career-best 11 Ks in a 4-hit whitewash of the Tigers in '65. His best game score was 90 in a 3-hit, no-walk, 9-K blanking of Washington in '64.

   3. Buzhardt was traded to the Phillies for 1960, the centerpiece of a 3-for-1 deal that sent Richie Ashburn to the Cubs. Ashburn had had an off year in '59, age 32, but in his first year in Chicago he led both leagues with a .415 OBP and topped the NL with 116 walks. The other name player the Phils acquired was Alvin Dark, who was at the tail end of a good playing career that I had completely forgotten about. (Dark was soon traded again, for "the other" Joe Morgan, the one who managed the BoSox to 2 division titles in 4 seasons but got swept in both ALCS by Oakland.)

   4. Buzhardt served 2 seasons in purgatory with the the last-place Phillies, 1960-61. He was a league-average SP, but got hung with an 11-34 record in those 2 years. Perhaps the high points of his Philly career came on July 28 and August 20 of 1961 -- a pair of CG wins that sandwiched the Phils' record 23-game skid. The club finished 47-107, 17 games out of 7th place. However, Buzhardt later said of those '61 Phils, "Not a bad team, just a young team," and they did climb all the way over .500 the very next year, got up to 4th place in '63, and of course contended for the flag in '64. But Buzhardt wasn't around for any of that, having been traded for Roy Sievers.

   5. His best years came with the White Sox in 1963-65, when he had a 118 ERA+ and 2.84 ERA over 475 IP. The team averaged 96 wins in that stretch, but ran 2nd each year. He started to tail off in '66, with just 6 wins -- 4 of them shutouts, including 2 straight. Those would be the last shutouts of his career, as he spent his final 2 years working mostly in relief.

   He wasn't a great pitcher, but he was a lot better than his 71-96 W-L record. It's nice to know his family has another memento of that solid career.

4. John Autin Says:
   December 24th, 2010 at 12:02 am

   One more thing: Buzhardt beat the Yankees in 4 straight starts across 1962-64, and finished his career 7-0 against the Bombers.

   From a Chicago Tribune obituary; I especially like the sentiment expressed in his last quote below:
   ----------------------
   He beat the World Series champions 3-1 on April 24, 1962, in New York and blanked them 1-0 nine days later in Chicago. By the time the Sox had sold him to Baltimore in 1967, Buzhardt's record against the Yankees stood at 7-0.

   "They were the type of ballclub that wanted to hit the long ball," he recalled in an interview years later. "And I had a fastball that would sink. Occasionally, I could get the curveball over the plate, and they were probably just a little bit anxious. That's the only thing I can think of because I wasn't overpowering.

   "But it wasn't easy. Yeah, I beat 'em seven times, but our team beat 'em seven times while I was pitching."
   ----------------------------
   (obit was posted here: http://www.astrosdaily.com/players/obits/Buzhardt_John.html)