Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

Player #107B: Warren H. "Curly" Ogden. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1924-1926. 18 wins in 5 MLB seasons. Served as "decoy" starting pitcher in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series. He was removed after two batters -- an early example of an "opener". He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922-1924. His best season was probably 1924 with Washington as he posted a 9-5 record with a 2.58 ERA in 108 innings pitched.

We go back to Ogden's SABR biography: Warren Harvey “Curly” Ogden became part of World Series lore in 1924 when Washington manager Bucky Harris started him in Game Seven as a ploy to fool Giants manager John McGraw. The idea was to get McGraw to play rookie first baseman Bill Terry and other left-hand batters against the right-handed Ogden, so that Harris then could bring in lefty George Mogridge. . . .

. . . Ogden’s gutsy performance had earned him a spot on the 1925 staff. “Curly’s work with a damaged arm last season was sensational, and it was expected that he would be even better after Bonesetter Reese fixed his wing,” The Sporting News wrote in April 1925. After Ogden’s poor spring, “Manager Harris must have figured that the Sheik of Swarthmore is a slow starter and will be all right.”

Getting “all right” never happened in 1925, however. Although he somehow managed to pitch a shutout and complete another one of the four games he started, Ogden threw just 42 innings all year in 17 games for the pennant-winning Nats. The following season wasn’t much better. He started nine of the 22 games in which he appeared and pitched 96 innings, but his ERA was again well over 4.0, and by midseason, he found himself with Birmingham in the Southern Association.

(Aside: It appears to me that the PSA flip-writer was so distracted by Ogden's menacing demeaner, that he couldn't spell his name completely.)

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