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Mel Harder

Mel Harder Marquee

b. October 15, 1909 · Cleveland Indians 1928–1947

Mel Harder pitched for the Cleveland Indians for the entirety of his 20-year career, from 1928 to 1947, and for no other club, one of the longest single-team careers on record for a pitcher.

He went 223-186 with a 3.80 earned run average across 3,426 innings pitched, one of the larger workloads in this database, completing 181 of his 433 starts and throwing 25 shutouts.

He was a Baseball Magazine All-Star in both 1934 and 1935, part of a run of four All-Star selections in as many consecutive years.

Beemer, Nebraska produced him, on October 15, 1909; he batted and threw right-handed and lived a long life after retiring, until October 20, 2002.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	4	1934, 1935, 1936, 1937
Baseball Magazine All-Star	2	1934, 1935

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1928	CLE	23	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	.000
1929	CLE	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
1930	CLE	36	63	8	9	2	1	0	4	2	28	1	.143
1931	CLE	40	75	7	19	2	1	0	10	2	24	0	.253
1932	CLE	39	94	11	17	7	1	0	13	5	25	0	.181
1933	CLE	44	84	2	16	3	0	1	5	2	26	0	.190
1934	CLE	44	87	9	14	6	0	0	5	3	24	0	.161
1935	CLE	42	102	11	21	1	0	2	10	2	29	0	.206
1936	CLE	36	80	3	11	4	0	0	3	0	19	0	.138
1937	CLE	38	86	5	15	4	0	0	10	5	33	0	.174
1938	CLE	39	88	3	10	2	0	0	6	4	31	0	.114
1939	CLE	29	72	8	10	0	1	1	9	3	17	0	.139
1940	CLE	31	62	4	11	1	0	0	4	4	17	1	.177
1941	CLE	15	25	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	.080
1942	CLE	29	67	3	8	0	0	0	2	2	19	0	.119
1943	CLE	19	47	2	10	1	1	0	4	2	11	0	.213
1944	CLE	30	74	9	16	3	0	0	6	0	19	0	.216
1945	CLE	11	25	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	9	0	.080
1946	CLE	13	35	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	14	0	.086
1947	CLE	15	28	2	5	1	0	0	1	2	10	0	.179
Career	—	584	1203	89	199	38	5	4	93	39	369	2	.165

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1928	CLE	0	2	23	1	1	49.0	64	36	32	15	6.61
1929	CLE	1	0	11	0	0	17.2	24	11	5	4	5.60
1930	CLE	11	10	36	19	2	175.1	205	82	68	44	4.21
1931	CLE	13	14	40	24	1	194.0	229	94	72	63	4.36
1932	CLE	15	13	39	32	0	254.2	277	106	68	90	3.75
1933	CLE	15	17	43	31	4	253.0	254	83	67	81	2.95
1934	CLE	20	12	44	29	4	255.1	246	74	81	91	2.61
1935	CLE	22	11	42	35	2	287.1	313	105	53	95	3.29
1936	CLE	15	15	36	30	1	224.2	294	129	71	84	5.17
1937	CLE	15	12	38	30	2	233.2	269	111	86	95	4.28
1938	CLE	17	10	38	29	4	240.0	257	102	62	102	3.83
1939	CLE	15	9	29	26	1	208.0	213	81	64	67	3.50
1940	CLE	12	11	31	25	0	186.1	200	84	59	76	4.06
1941	CLE	5	4	15	10	1	68.2	76	40	37	21	5.24
1942	CLE	13	14	29	29	0	198.2	179	76	82	74	3.44
1943	CLE	8	7	19	18	0	135.1	126	46	61	40	3.06
1944	CLE	12	10	30	27	0	196.1	211	81	69	64	3.71
1945	CLE	3	7	11	11	0	76.0	93	31	23	16	3.67
1946	CLE	5	4	13	12	0	92.1	85	35	31	21	3.41
1947	CLE	6	4	15	15	0	80.0	91	40	27	17	4.50
Career	—	223	186	582	433	23	3426.1	3706	1447	1118	1160	3.80

On this day & linked events

1909

Born October 15, 1909

Beemer, NE, USA

2002

Died October 20, 2002

1928

Major-league debut: Mel Harder

Mel Harder made a major-league debut on April 24, 1928.

1947

Final major-league game: Mel Harder

Mel Harder played a final major-league game on September 7, 1947.

Image: Goudey, public domain