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Carl Erskine, who pitched two no-hitters as a mainstay on the Brooklyn Dodgers, and was a 20-game winner in 1953 when he struck out a then-record 14 within the World Collection, died Tuesday. He was 97.
Erksine died at Neighborhood Hospital Anderson in his hometown of Anderson, Indiana, in line with Michele Hockwalt, the hospital’s advertising and communication supervisor.
Among the many final survivors from the celebrated Brooklyn groups of the Nineteen Fifties, Erskine spent his total main league profession with the Dodgers from 1948-59, serving to them win 5 Nationwide League pennants.
The proper-hander had a profession file of 122-78 and an ERA of 4.00, with 981 strikeouts.
Erskine had his greatest season in 1953, when he went 20-6 to guide the Nationwide League. He received Recreation 3 of the World Collection, beating the Yankees 3-2 at Ebbets Area. He struck out 14, retiring the facet within the ninth, for a file that stood till Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax bought 15 in 1963. The Dodgers went on to lose in six video games because the Yankees received their fifth consecutive championship.
Erskine was an All-Star in 1954, when he received 18 video games.
He appeared in 5 World Collection, with the Dodgers lastly beating the Yankees in 1955 for his or her solely championship in Brooklyn. He gave up a house run to Gil McDougald within the first inning of Recreation 4 and left after 3 2/3 innings. The Dodgers went on to win 8-5.
Erskine’s loss of life leaves the 88-year-old Koufax because the lone surviving Dodgers participant from the 1955 World Collection staff.
Erskine acquired the Buck O’Neil lifetime achievement award in July 2023 from the Baseball Corridor of Fame’s board of administrators to honor a person whose efforts improve baseball’s optimistic impression on society.
“For thousands and thousands of followers, he was a baseball hero,” Corridor of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark mentioned in a press release. “For his household and hundreds of Particular Olympians, Carl was somebody who at all times believed every thing was attainable. His legacy is certainly one of deep compassion and encouragement of the human spirit.”
Carl Daniel Erskine was born Dec. 13, 1926, in Anderson, Indiana. He started taking part in baseball at age 9 in a neighborhood parks program.
After graduating highschool in 1945, he was drafted into the Navy with World Conflict II underway. A yr later, Erskine requested the Navy recreation officer the place he was stationed if he may play baseball. He was turned away, however a couple of weeks later, he was scouted by the Dodgers and discharged from army service.
He spent the following 1 1/2 years within the minors earlier than making his main league debut on July 25, 1948. Erskine started as a reliever, going 21-10 throughout his first two seasons.
In 1951, he transitioned to the beginning rotation and joined teammates Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider as one of many revered “Boys of Summer season.”
In 1952, Erskine had a career-best 2.70 ERA and received 14 video games. The next yr, he led the NL with a .769 successful proportion, together with 187 strikeouts and 16 full video games, all profession highs.
When teammate Don Newcombe was pitching within the ninth inning of Recreation 3 of the 1951 NL pennant with the New York Giants, Erskine and Ralph Branca have been warming up within the bullpen.
On the advice of pitching coach Clyde Sukeforth, Newcombe was relieved by Branca, who then gave up the game-winning residence run to Bobby Thomson within the famed “Shot Heard ‘Around the World.”
Each time Erskine was requested what his greatest pitch was, he replied, “The curveball I bounced within the Polo Grounds bullpen in 1951.”
Nicknamed “Oisk” by followers with their Brooklyn accents, Erskine pitched no-hitters in opposition to the Chicago Cubs in 1952 and the New York Giants in 1956.
Bobby Morgan preserved Erskine’s no-hitter in opposition to the Cubs with two good fielding performs at third base.
“I made two tremendous performs on swinging bunts the place they simply dribbled down the road and I fielded them one-handed and threw to Gil Hodges at first,” Morgan informed The Oklahoman newspaper in April 2020.
Morgan, who died final yr, mentioned Erskine nonetheless thanked him years later each time they spoke.
The Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles in 1957. Erskine began the primary residence sport in Los Angeles on April 18, 1958, when the Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in entrance of greater than 78,000 followers.
Nevertheless, Erskine did not get pleasure from being away from his household and he lasted simply 1 1/2 years in Los Angeles. He pitched his last sport in June 1959 and retired at 32.
Erskine returned to his hometown about 45 miles northeast of Indianapolis and opened an insurance coverage enterprise. He coached baseball at Anderson School for 12 years, and his 1965 staff went 20-5 and received the NAIA World Collection.
He additionally grew to become lively locally and served as president and director at Star Monetary Financial institution from 1982-93.
A six-foot bronze statue of Erskine was erected in entrance of the Carl D. Erskine Rehabilitation and Sports activities Medication Middle to honor his accomplishments in baseball and as an Anderson resident. An elementary faculty constructed on land he donated is called for him. He was inducted into the Indiana Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame in 1979.
In 2002, Erskine Avenue in Brooklyn was named for him.
His youngest son, Jimmy, was born with Down syndrome, which led Erskine to champion the reason for individuals with developmental disabilities. He wrote a e-book known as “The Parallel,” concerning the similarities Jimmy and Erskine’s teammate Robinson shared in breaking down social perceptions. He was lengthy concerned with Particular Olympics in Indiana and the Carl and Betty Erskine Society raises cash for the group.
“Carl Erskine was an exemplary Dodger,” Stan Kasten, Dodgers president and CEO, mentioned in a press release. “He was as a lot a hero off the sphere as he was on the sphere, which given the brilliance of his pitching is saying rather a lot. His assist of the Particular Olympics and associated causes, impressed by his son Jimmy, who led a life past all expectations when he was born with Down syndrome, cemented his legacy.”
Jimmy died in November at age 63, having outlived his prognosis by many years.
Erskine additionally authored the books “Tales from the Dodger Dugout” and “What I Realized From Jackie Robinson.”
He’s survived by Betty, his spouse of 76 years, and sons Danny and Gary and daughter Susan.
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