1913
Born October 14, 1913
Atlanta, GA, USA
Hugh Casey Marquee
b. October 14, 1913 · Chicago Cubs 1935, Brooklyn Dodgers 1939–1942, 1946–1948, Pittsburgh Pirates 1949, New York Yankees 1949
Brooklyn led the fourth game of the 1941 World Series 4-3 with two out in the ninth. Casey struck out Tommy Henrich for what should have been the last out; the ball got past Mickey Owen, Henrich reached first, and the Yankees scored four before the inning ended. They won the Series the next day. Casey said for the rest of his life that the pitch was a curve, and others said it was a spitball.
He was one of the first pitchers a manager used purely to finish games: 18 saves in 1947 and 13 in 1942, both the most in the league, and 75 wins against 42 across nine seasons with a 3.45 earned run average. He pitched in five World Series games in 1947 and won two of them.
He left baseball in 1949, ran a restaurant in Atlanta, and was being sued in a paternity case when he telephoned his wife from an Atlanta hotel room on July 3, 1951, and shot himself while she was on the line. He was thirty-seven.
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | CHC | 13 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .167 |
| 1939 | BRO | 40 | 74 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 0 | .203 |
| 1940 | BRO | 45 | 36 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0 | .250 |
| 1941 | BRO | 45 | 50 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 0 | .120 |
| 1942 | BRO | 50 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 0 | .148 |
| 1946 | BRO | 46 | 22 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .136 |
| 1947 | BRO | 46 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .056 |
| 1948 | BRO | 22 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1949 | NYY/PIT | 37 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Career | — | 344 | 244 | 23 | 40 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 56 | 0 | .164 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 25.2 | 29 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 3.86 |
| 1939 | BRO | 15 | 10 | 40 | 25 | 1 | 227.1 | 228 | 74 | 54 | 79 | 2.93 |
| 1940 | BRO | 11 | 8 | 44 | 10 | 2 | 154.0 | 136 | 62 | 51 | 53 | 3.62 |
| 1941 | BRO | 14 | 11 | 45 | 18 | 7 | 162.0 | 155 | 70 | 57 | 61 | 3.89 |
| 1942 | BRO | 6 | 3 | 50 | 2 | 13 | 112.0 | 91 | 28 | 44 | 54 | 2.25 |
| 1946 | BRO | 11 | 5 | 46 | 1 | 5 | 99.2 | 101 | 22 | 33 | 31 | 1.99 |
| 1947 | BRO | 10 | 4 | 46 | 0 | 18 | 76.2 | 75 | 34 | 29 | 40 | 3.99 |
| 1948 | BRO | 3 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 36.0 | 59 | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8.00 |
| 1949 | NYY/PIT | 5 | 1 | 37 | 0 | 5 | 46.1 | 61 | 27 | 22 | 14 | 5.24 |
| Career | — | 75 | 42 | 343 | 56 | 55 | 939.2 | 935 | 360 | 321 | 349 | 3.45 |
On this day & linked events
1951
Died July 3, 1951
1935
Major-league debut: Hugh Casey
Hugh Casey made a major-league debut on April 29, 1935.
1949
Final major-league game: Hugh Casey
Hugh Casey played a final major-league game on September 23, 1949.
Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain