Biography

Born on September 25, 1917 in Havana, Arkansas, Johnny Sain (John Franklin Sain) played for the Boston Braves, New York Yankees and Kansas City Athletics over the course of his 11 year career. Sain broke into the bigs on April 24, 1942 with the Boston Braves, and put up a 3.90 ERA in 97 innings pitched in 1942, his rookie year.

Most people believe that Johnny Sain's best season was 1948, when he posted a 2.60 ERA, won 24 games and struck out 137 batters.

Sain's best years were those immediately after World War II, when he won 100 games for the Boston Braves before being traded to the New York Yankees during the 1951 season for Lew Burdette and cash. In 1948, he won 24 games, lost only 15, and finished second in the voting for that year's MVP Award. He and teammate Warren Spahn achieved joint immortality that year when their feats were the subject of a poem in the Boston Post which was eventually shortened to the epigram, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain."

After retiring as a player, Sain spent many years as a well-regarded pitching coach.

Statistics

Pitching Stats

Fielding Stats

Batting Stats

Transactions

• Signed as an amateur free agent by Detroit Tigers (1936).
• Granted free agency (January 14, 1940).
• Signed by Nashville (Southern Association) (@March, 1940).
• Sold by Nashville (Southern Association) to Boston Braves (1942).
• Traded by Boston Braves to New York Yankees in exchange for Lew Burdette and $50000 (August 29, 1951).
• Traded by New York Yankees with Enos Slaughter to Kansas City Athletics in exchange for Sonny Dixon and cash (May 11, 1955).
• Released by Kansas City Athletics (July 23, 1955).

External links

• Johnny Sain's career statistics at Baseball Almanac
• Johnny Sain's career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Johnny Sain's career statistics at Baseball Library

Trivia

See also