# Who was that pitcher? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 22, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392 "2018-07-22T23:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/1 "2018-07-22T23:16:51Z")
Not sure, may have played for Boston. His team, I believe, was playing in Milwaukee back in the days of players wearing ties, maybe late 50’s/early 60’s. There was some horsing around in the locker room which carried on in the team bus. Cutting off ties? Anyway, something happens and the pitcher’s arm was injured and it prematurely ended his career. Anyone know the pitcher’s name? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/2 "2018-07-23T19:15:00Z")
[Vern Bickford?](https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ba2a98bd) ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/3 "2018-07-24T04:28:50Z")
No, he was a well-known player ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/4 "2018-07-24T07:16:25Z")
Not to mention Vern’s career wasn’t cut off by an arm injury caused by team bus horseplay. His career just sputtered out over time as he couldn’t maintain his pitching success. He had a few injuries but nothing out of the ordinary. He just got fewer starts and eventually retired. Then he died of cancer at the age of 40. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/5 "2018-07-24T14:39:21Z")
I spent more time than I should have yesterday trying to research this and I got nothin’. I found out that Schoolboy Rowe wore a lucky tie. No stories of anyone ever cutting it off and his career wasn’t cut short by a team bus incident. So, I’m curious to see if there’s a legit answer to this one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/6 "2018-07-24T21:32:50Z")
Was it a misremembered story about Cecil Upshaw? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/7 "2018-07-25T09:51:54Z")
Lew Burdette? Burdette won the 1957 World Series with the Milwaukee Braves. But, I couldn’t find anything about him being injured and ending his career prematurely. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/8 "2018-07-25T09:53:28Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Was it a misremembered story about Cecil Upshaw? It might be Upshaw. Wiki: > [@](#): > > His career was actually cut short due to an unfortunate incident in 1970. He and two other Braves players were walking down an Atlanta sidewalk and one of the other players bet him he could not jump up and touch an overhead awning. He did reach the awning, but a ring on his pitching hand ring finger got caught on a projection off of the awning and tore ligaments in his hand. He never fully recovered, but was considered one of the better relief pitchers in major league baseball up to that time. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/9 "2018-07-25T09:56:30Z")
And here, about Upshaw: > [@](#): > > They could’ve written the script of _White Men Can’t Jump_ all about MLB reliever Cecil Upshaw. He tried mimicking how he used to dunk a basketball to his teammates by jumping up and pretending to dunk on an awning. Unfortunately, his wedding ring got caught in the awning and he was left to dangle. Upshaw had to go into 2.5 hours of surgery to repair the damage done to his finger. From [6 Most Gruesome Non-Sports Injuries Suffered by Athletes](https://www.12up.com/posts/6112874-6-most-gruesome-non-sports-injuries-suffered-by-athletes). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/10 "2018-07-25T19:13:35Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > From [6 Most Gruesome Non-Sports Injuries Suffered by Athletes](https://www.12up.com/posts/6112874-6-most-gruesome-non-sports-injuries-suffered-by-athletes). Somehow, that list omits Jason Pierre-Paul blowing off one finger, and parts of two others, in a fireworks accident. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/11 "2018-07-25T19:19:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Somehow, that list omits Jason Pierre-Paul blowing off one finger, and parts of two others, in a fireworks accident. :eek: Not to mention [Mordecai Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Brown) and the fortuitous feed chopper. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/12 "2018-07-25T19:44:54Z")
The OP’s not thinking of Ed Delahanty, right? Big Ed, as I found out in the HOF thread, was kicked off a train in 1903 for being drunk and disorderly, which led to his death by tumbling into Niagara Falls. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-that-pitcher/818392/13 "2018-07-26T07:24:22Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Not to mention [Mordecai Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Brown) and the fortuitous feed chopper. LOL, I know pitchers sometimes get elective Tommy John surgeries, I wonder if anyone has chopped off fingers intentionally to get a wicked curve ball?