Biography
Ned Garver (born December 25, 1925) was an American League pitcher playing from 1948 to 1961 winning 129 games in his major league career. Most of his career was spent playing for perennial second-division teams like the St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics. In 1951, Garver fashioned an outstanding season, however, the Cy Young Award was not created until 1956. Had it been given in 1951, Garver likely would have been a top contender for the award. Pitching for the St. Louis Browns that season, Garver compiled a 20-12 record, which was noteworthy considering the Browns lost 102 games that year. Garver also posted a 3.73 ERA that season. Out of the Browns' 52 total wins, Garver accounted for nearly 40 percent of them. Garver also led the American League in complete games with 24 in 1951, and when he pitched, he often batted sixth in the order rather than the customary ninth compiling a .305 batting average with one home run. Garver remains the only pitcher in American League history and modern baseball history (post-1920) to win 20 or more games for a team which lost 100 or more games in the same season and the only pitcher in Major League history to do so with a winning record. Garver was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1951 All-Star Game, which was held in Detroit. Following the 1951 season, Browns owner Bill Veeck made Garver the highest paid member of the team, with a salary of $25,000. Ted Williams, perhaps the greatest hitter in the history of baseball, said of Garver, "He could throw anything up there and get me out." In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative postmark in his honor in his hometown of Ney, Ohio, to mark the 45th anniversary of his 20-win season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Garver
