H A L L   O F   F A M E   C A N D I D A T E S

Carl Erskine
Pitcher, Washington Monuments, Chicago Colts · 1954-1962

Erskine's UL career started slowly -- not helped by being drafted into the Korean War in 1952. When "Oisk" finally returned from military service in 1954, he took time to find his feet, at least during his debut season.  Finishing 14-13, Erskine muddled to a 4.40 ERA in 245 innings, and a championship medal with the Monuments (he would add another in '56).  He would pitch more innings than that every year until his career was cut short by injury; his ERA would only twice rise above 3.00.

From 1955 to 1962, Carl Erskine put up some of the most gaudy numbers of any pitcher in UL history.  If we remove his debut year from the equation, and his sub-par 1959, Oisk went 156-55, with an ERA of 2.57.  If we remove his injury shortened '63 year too, he averaged 24 wins a year, 17 complete games and 303 innings a year for his six best seasons.  Each one could be detailed, but two deserve special attention.  In 1958, Erskine won the Cy Young, going 26-3 with a 2.11 ERA and a WHIP of 0.90, walking just 23 batters in 256 innings (around 0.78 BB/9).  1960 should have been another, when he pitched one of the best seasons in UL history.  Erskine was 25-12 with a 2.10 ERA, but completed 25 of his 42 starts that year.  The Cy Young panel preferred Gene Conley however, who went 26-5 but with an ERA 0.50 points higher (someone should have realized that Conley was going to accumulate enough silverware for everyone!).

1960 wasn't with the Monuments though: by this point, Oisk had found a new home in Chicago.  Coming off a down year in '59 (a 3.72 ERA in 280 innings was good for most, but not for Erskine), Washington shipped him to the Colts for basically SP Bob Shaw, Art Ditmar and a 1st-rounder (who turned out to be Johnny Romano).  It's not too often that a trade which sends two future all-stars the other way can be seen as a win, but in this case, the Colts clearly made the better bargain.  Not only did Erskine provide magic in '60, in '61 he followed up with another 19 wins, a 2.90 ERA and a pennant (the Superbas took the Series in 5 games, however).  In '62, he started off with similar intentions, pitching even better than the year before.  Erskine had already thrown 208 innings for a 2.63, and was 13-6, before tragedy struck.  On July 26, 1962, Erskine tore an elbow ligament pitching, bringing his baseball career to an end at the age of 35.

Erskine's achievements, particularly the period between 1955-60, his five All-UL awards and his one (and it should be two) Cy Young, should be placed in the context of the great pitchers he outpitched. In each year bar '59, Erskine was in the top-3 in ERA.  Over these five years, Erskine was better than Pierce, Miller, Burdette, Antonelli and perhaps even the great Gene Conley.  His '58 and '60 seasons were probably two of the five best pitching seasons in UL history, although only one was recognised by the Cy Young panel.  This is not to say that Erskine was faltering before the cruel injury, rather his '62 year placed him 6^th in ERA and his '63 season would have been a top 10 season.  What was indisputable that even by this point, Carl Erskine had proven his credentials as one of the, if not the, best pitchers of the 1950s. He finished 184-80, with a 2.88 ERA and 2,537 innings pitched, 139 complete games and 29 shutouts.  He retired with the best career WHIP of 1.09. (Doug Aiton)


AWARDS & ACCOLADES
All-Decade Team (1951-60)
Cy Young Award (1958), All-UL Team (1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960),
ERA champion (1956, 1958, 1960), WHIP champion (1956, 1958, 1960), Win champion (1957, 1958)
10-time Pitcher of the Month

 

Career Pitching Stats Year/Team Age G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER HR BB K CG SHO WHIP   1954 Washington 26 34 34 14 13 0 4.40 245.1 250 135 120 0 86 99 13 2 1.37   1955 Washington 27 38 38 25 9 0 2.82 318.2 265 114 100 0 82 177 17 4 1.09   1956 Washington 28 35 35 21 9 0 2.40 284.2 230 101 76 0 50 151 16 6 0.98   1957 Washington 29 39 39 27 6 0 3.08 318.1 318 121 109 0 47 140 15 2 1.15   1958 Washington 30 31 31 26 3 0 2.11 264.2 216 77 62 0 23 116 16 4 0.90   1959 Washington 31 34 34 14 13 0 3.72 280.1 309 129 116 7 38 149 15 2 1.24   1960 Washington 32 42 42 25 12 0 2.10 359.1 300 101 84 8 51 220 25 2 0.98   1961 Chicago 33 32 32 19 9 0 2.90 257.1 224 95 83 9 49 169 14 4 1.06   1962 Chicago 34 26 26 13 6 0 2.63 208.2 181 73 61 2 44 125 8 3 1.08   Total UL 9 yrs. 311 311 184 80 0 2.88 2537.1 2293 946 811 26 470 1346 139 29 1.09