Tommy Warren

Thomas Gentry Warren

• Bats Both, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 190 lb.
• Debut April 18, 1944
• Final Game September 3, 1944
• Born July 5, 1917 in Tulsa, OK USA
• Died January 2, 1968 in Tulsa, OK USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Tommy Warren was a pitcher 16 years (1938-1955), three in semipro/independent ball (1940;1949-1950); one in the Majors (1944) and 13 in the minors (1938-1939;1941;1944-1948;1951-1955), losing two years to the Military (1942-1943). He was born on Thursday, July 5, 1917, in Tulsa, OK. He broke into Organized Baseball in 1938 at age 20 and played with Bisbee in the Arizona-Texas League (1938); Midland in the West Texas-New Mexico League (WTNM) (1938); Kilgore in the East Texas League (1939); and Amarillo (WTNM) (1941).

Serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he was wounded during troop landings in North Africa.

Warren was 26 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 18, 1944, with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He had 11 hits, all singles, 1 run, 2 RBI and 0 stolen bases at (.256/.289/.256) in 22 games and was (1-4) with 2 complete games in 4 games started, 14 games finished but no saves, 18 strikeouts, 40 walks and 0 shutouts in 68⅔ innings pitched with an ERA of 4.98 and a WHIP of 1.660 in 22 games. He played his final MLB game on September 3, 1944 at age 27.

He returned to the minors with the Montreal Royals of the International League (1944-1945); the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League (1946-1948); Monterrey in the Mexican League (1950); Miami in the K.O.M. League (1951); Temple in the Big State League (1953); Corpus Christi in the Gulf Coast League (1953); Seminole in the Sooner State League (1954); Borger (WTNM) (1954); and Wichita in the Western League (1954-1955); ending his baseball playing career at age 38. He then turned to managing until 1958, ending his baseball career at age 41.

In 1946, his best year in the minors, he was (20-6) with an ERA of 2.86. In 1951, he had 8 home runs and 64 RBI at (.320) and was (14-13) with an ERA of 2.66. Overall in the minors, he had 14 home runs and 116 RBI and was (124-85).

He managed some minor league baseball and was a deputy sheriff for the Tulsa County sheriff's office. He was known for his work with youth groups. He died at age 50 from a self-inflicted shotgun blast to the chest, leaving a note citing ill health as the reason, at a southside motel in Tulsa on January 2, 1968 and is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.

Sources

Principal sources for Tommy Warren include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; The Texas League in Baseball, 1888-1958 by Marshall D. Wright; The International League: Year-by-year Statistics, 1884-1953 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Tommy Warren at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)