1917
Born August 8, 1917
York, PA, USA
Ken Raffensberger Marquee
b. August 8, 1917 · St. Louis Cardinals 1939, Chicago Cubs 1940–1941, Philadelphia Blue Jays 1943–1944, Philadelphia Phillies 1945–1947, Cincinnati Reds 1947–1953, Cincinnati Redlegs 1954
He finished 119-154 with a 3.60 earned run average and 31 shutouts, and led the National League in shutouts in 1949 and 1952. In 1949 he went 18-17 for a Cincinnati club that finished seventh; in 1952 he went 17-13 with a 2.81 for one that finished sixth.
Fifteen seasons gave him 2,151 innings and 133 complete games. He walked 1.6 men per nine innings, among the best rates of his time, and lost twenty games in 1944 for the Phillies and eighteen more in 1950.
He won the 1944 All-Star Game for the National League. He was from York, Pennsylvania, and went home to run a sporting-goods business. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him. He died in 2002, at eighty-five.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 1 | 1944 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | STL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1940 | CHC | 43 | 30 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | .167 |
| 1941 | CHC | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| 1943 | PHI | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| 1944 | PHI | 38 | 80 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 38 | 0 | .138 |
| 1945 | PHI | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
| 1946 | PHI | 39 | 60 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 0 | .167 |
| 1947 | CIN/PHI | 29 | 52 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 29 | 0 | .192 |
| 1948 | CIN | 40 | 62 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 0 | .113 |
| 1949 | CIN | 41 | 90 | 7 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 0 | .178 |
| 1950 | CIN | 38 | 82 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 21 | 0 | .134 |
| 1951 | CIN | 42 | 82 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 31 | 0 | .122 |
| 1952 | CIN | 38 | 75 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 0 | .107 |
| 1953 | CIN | 26 | 57 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 0 | .140 |
| 1954 | CIN | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 |
| Career | — | 397 | 688 | 38 | 97 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 31 | 20 | 280 | 0 | .141 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | STL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 1940 | CHC | 7 | 9 | 43 | 10 | 3 | 114.2 | 120 | 43 | 29 | 55 | 3.38 |
| 1941 | CHC | 0 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 18.0 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4.50 |
| 1943 | PHI | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.0 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1.13 |
| 1944 | PHI | 13 | 20 | 37 | 31 | 0 | 258.2 | 257 | 88 | 45 | 136 | 3.06 |
| 1945 | PHI | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 24.1 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 6 | 4.44 |
| 1946 | PHI | 8 | 15 | 39 | 23 | 6 | 196.0 | 203 | 79 | 39 | 73 | 3.63 |
| 1947 | CIN/PHI | 8 | 11 | 29 | 22 | 1 | 147.2 | 182 | 74 | 37 | 54 | 4.51 |
| 1948 | CIN | 11 | 12 | 40 | 24 | 0 | 180.1 | 187 | 77 | 37 | 57 | 3.84 |
| 1949 | CIN | 18 | 17 | 41 | 38 | 0 | 284.0 | 289 | 107 | 80 | 103 | 3.39 |
| 1950 | CIN | 14 | 19 | 38 | 35 | 0 | 239.0 | 271 | 113 | 40 | 87 | 4.26 |
| 1951 | CIN | 16 | 17 | 42 | 33 | 5 | 248.2 | 232 | 95 | 38 | 81 | 3.44 |
| 1952 | CIN | 17 | 13 | 38 | 33 | 1 | 247.0 | 247 | 77 | 45 | 93 | 2.81 |
| 1953 | CIN | 7 | 14 | 26 | 26 | 0 | 174.0 | 200 | 76 | 33 | 47 | 3.93 |
| 1954 | CIN | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 10.1 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 7.84 |
| Career | — | 119 | 154 | 396 | 282 | 16 | 2151.2 | 2257 | 860 | 449 | 806 | 3.60 |
On this day & linked events
2002
Died November 10, 2002
1939
Major-league debut: Ken Raffensberger
Ken Raffensberger made a major-league debut on April 25, 1939.
1954
Final major-league game: Ken Raffensberger
Ken Raffensberger played a final major-league game on June 2, 1954.
Image: Bowman Gum, public domain