American baseball player (1915-1972)
Baseball player
Dizzy Trout
|
---|
|
Pitcher
|
Born:
(
1915-06-29
)
June 29, 1915
Sandcut, Indiana
, U.S.
|
Died:
February 28, 1972
(1972-02-28)
(aged 56)
Harvey, Illinois
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
April 25, 1939, for the Detroit Tigers
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September 11, 1957, for the Baltimore Orioles
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Win?loss record
| 170?161
|
---|
Earned run average
| 3.23
|
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Strikeouts
| 1,256
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|
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Paul Howard
"
Dizzy
"
Trout
(June 29, 1915 ? February 28, 1972) was an American professional
baseball
player.
[1]
He played in
Major League Baseball
as a right-handed
pitcher
from
1939
to
1952
, most notably as a member of the
Detroit Tigers
team that finished either in first or second place in the American League pennant races between 1944 and 1947 and won the
1945 World Series
. The two-time
All-Star
player was the American League
wins leader
in 1943 and, was the league
ERA leader
in 1944. In
1957
, Trout made a brief comeback attempt at the age of 42 with the
Baltimore Orioles
. He also played for the
Boston Red Sox
.
1939?1942
[
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]
Trout was born in
Sandcut, Indiana
.
[1]
He first played professionally in 1935 with the
Terre Haute Tots
in the
Three-I League
before signing with the Tigers in 1939. In his first four seasons (1939?1942), Dizzy Trout never had a winning record and totaled 33 wins and 44 losses.
[1]
Even in 1940, as the Tigers won the
American League
pennant, Trout finished 3-7.
1943?1947
[
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]
Dizzy Trout was classified
4-F
due to hearing impairment
[1]
and was not accepted for military service during World War II. It was during the war years that Trout had his best seasons.
Trout had a losing record in his first four seasons, but in the next four years (1943?1946) he turned into one of the best pitchers in the
American League
, winning 82 and losing 54.
[1]
Dizzy Trout led the
American League
in wins (20) in 1943, but his best season was 1944, when he won 27 games and lost 14. He led the American League that year in
ERA
(2.12),
complete games
(33),
shutouts
(7), and
innings pitched
(352-1/3). He also finished second in the league to his Detroit teammate,
Hal Newhouser
, in wins (27) and
strikeouts
(144). The Tigers' pitching duo of Trout and Newhouser won 56 games in 1944 and finished 1-2 in ERA, wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, complete games, and shutouts. Newhouser and Trout also finished 1-2 in the American League MVP voting, with Trout trailing Newhouser in the voting by only 4 votes.
Trout's pitching totals were not as impressive in 1945, but he was a workhorse in the pennant drive. He pitched six games and won four over a nine-game late-season stretch. In Game 4 of the
1945 World Series
, Trout beat the Cubs 4-1 on a five-hitter. The Tigers won the 1945 World Series, and Trout went 1?1 with an ERA of 0.66 in the Series.
1947?1952
[
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]
From 1947?1949, Trout's performance dropped off, as he failed to achieve a winning record, and had a total record of 23?31. Aside from his pitching, Trout could hit for power. He hit 20
home runs
, tying him for 11th all-time in home runs by pitchers. He hit a 9th inning
grand slam
against the
Washington Senators
on July 28, 1949, helping the Tigers to a victory.
In 1950, Trout and the Tigers both turned things around. Trout won 13 and lost only 5, and the Tigers won 95 games and narrowly lost the
American League
pennant to the
Yankees
.
On June 3, 1952, Trout was sent to the
Boston Red Sox
in a blockbuster trade that sent
Walt Dropo
,
Don Lenhardt
,
Johnny Pesky
,
Fred Hatfield
, and
Bill Wight
to the Tigers for Trout,
George Kell
,
Hoot Evers
, and
Johnny Lipon
. Trout started only 17 games for the Red Sox, and retired at the end of the 1952 season.
Trout was a very good hitting pitcher in his 15-year major league career. He posted a .213
batting average
(205-for-961) scoring 99
runs
with 28
doubles
, 7
triples
, 20
home runs
, 110
RBI
and drew 59
bases on balls
. He was in double figures in RBI in five seasons, with a high of 24 RBI in
1944
.
[1]
Retirement
[
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]
After retiring from baseball, Trout called play-by-play for the Tigers on radio
WKMH
and TV
WJBK-TV
from 1953 to 1955. He also hosted
The Knot-Hole Gang
, a sports show aimed at children. Trout broadcast the Tigers games with
Van Patrick
and became popular with Detroit fans for his self-effacing humor, scrambled syntax, and folksy demeanor.
In 1956, Trout ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in
Wayne County
as a Republican, losing to long-time incumbent
Andrew C. Baird
.
He attempted a return to baseball with the
Baltimore Orioles
in 1957 at age 42. Trout made two appearances, allowed three earned runs, and retired one batter, for an 81.00 ERA. After being released by Baltimore, he joined the
Chicago White Sox
as a pitching instructor and then worked with that organization's front office until his death from stomach cancer at the age of 56 on February 28, 1972, at
Ingalls Hospital
in Harvey, Illinois.
[2]
He was buried at
Homewood Memorial Gardens
in
Homewood, Illinois
.
He was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
[3]
Trout's son,
Steve
, pitched for 12 years in the major leagues.
See also
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References
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External links
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