Walt Masterson Marquee

b. June 22, 1920 · Washington Senators 1939–1942, 1945–1949, 1952–1953, Boston Red Sox 1949–1952, Detroit Tigers 1956

He threw as hard as anyone in the American League in the late 1940s and had no idea where it was going: 97 walks in 1947 and 122 in 1948. He was chosen for the All-Star team in both of those years anyway, going 12-16 and then 8-15 for Washington clubs that finished seventh.

Fourteen seasons gave him 78 wins against 100, a 4.15 earned run average, 1,649 innings and 15 shutouts. He signed with Washington out of a Philadelphia high school at eighteen and pitched his first game before he turned nineteen.

The Navy took 1943, 1944 and most of 1945. He came back, was traded to Boston in 1949, and was traded back to Washington in 1952, which is where he had his last good year at thirty-three. He died in 2008, at eighty-seven. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	2	1947, 1948

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1939	WSH	24	13	0	2	1	0	1	0	7	0	.154
1940	WSH	31	38	6	7	1	0	1	4	17	0	.184
1941	WSH	34	19	1	2	0	0	1	0	10	0	.105
1942	WSH	26	45	2	7	0	0	3	4	19	0	.156
1945	WSH	4	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	5	0	.111
1946	WSH	29	25	0	2	0	0	0	2	14	0	.080
1947	WSH	36	83	4	11	2	1	4	4	43	0	.133
1948	WSH	33	57	8	11	2	1	4	2	22	0	.193
1949	BOS/WSH	29	35	5	3	0	0	0	5	18	0	.086
1950	BOS	33	44	2	6	1	0	1	2	18	1	.136
1951	BOS	30	11	2	2	0	0	1	0	5	0	.182
1952	BOS/WSH	29	52	5	6	1	0	4	5	21	0	.115
1953	WSH	29	51	2	7	1	0	5	6	21	0	.137
1956	DET	35	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	.250
Career	—	402	486	37	68	9	2	26	34	221	1	.140

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1939	WSH	2	2	24	5	0	58.1	66	36	48	12	5.55
1940	WSH	3	13	31	19	2	130.1	128	71	88	68	4.90
1941	WSH	4	3	34	6	3	78.1	101	52	53	40	5.97
1942	WSH	5	9	25	15	2	142.2	138	53	54	63	3.34
1945	WSH	1	2	4	2	0	25.0	21	3	10	14	1.08
1946	WSH	5	6	29	9	1	91.1	105	61	67	61	6.01
1947	WSH	12	16	35	31	1	253.0	215	88	97	135	3.13
1948	WSH	8	15	33	27	2	188.0	171	80	122	72	3.83
1949	BOS/WSH	6	6	28	12	4	108.0	100	45	56	36	3.75
1950	BOS	8	6	33	15	1	129.1	145	81	82	60	5.64
1951	BOS	3	0	30	1	2	59.1	53	22	32	39	3.34
1952	BOS/WSH	10	9	29	22	2	170.0	171	78	83	92	4.13
1953	WSH	10	12	29	20	0	166.1	145	67	62	95	3.63
1956	DET	1	1	35	0	0	49.2	54	23	32	28	4.17
Career	—	78	100	399	184	20	1649.2	1613	760	886	815	4.15

On this day & linked events

1920

Born June 22, 1920

Philadelphia, PA, USA

2008

Died April 5, 2008

1939

Major-league debut: Walt Masterson

Walt Masterson made a major-league debut on May 8, 1939.

1956

Final major-league game: Walt Masterson

Walt Masterson played a final major-league game on September 24, 1956.

Image: Bowman Gum, public domain