15 Facts About Johnny Sain

John Franklin Sain was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who was best known for teaming with left-hander Warren Spahn on the Boston Braves teams from 1946 to 1951.

Johnny Sain was the runner-up for the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in the Braves' pennant-winning season of 1948, after leading the National League in wins, complete games and innings pitched.

Johnny Sain later became further well known as one of the top pitching coaches in the majors.

Johnny Sain had the distinction of being the first pitcher in the Major Leagues to face Jackie Robinson.

In 1943, while participating in a benefit game for the Red Cross, Johnny Sain became the last man to pitch against Babe Ruth in organized baseball.

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In 1948, Johnny Sain won 24 games against 15 losses and finished second in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award behind the St Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, who had won two legs of the Triple Crown.

Johnny Sain finished his career in 1955 with the Kansas City Athletics.

When Johnny Sain was pitching, he thought that merely throwing the ball was not enough to get the ball to vary its course as it travelled to home plate.

Johnny Sain eventually patented the idea and sold it from his home in Arkansas.

In each case, Johnny Sain was fired, but the manager's dismissal soon followed when his pitching staff suffered from Johnny Sain's absence.

Johnny Sain did not make friends among owners and general managers, either, when he would advise pitchers to "climb those golden stairs" to their teams' front offices to demand more money in salary talks.

Johnny Sain was well known for ignoring running drills that pitchers despised.

Jim Bouton, in his book Ball Four, expressed unreserved admiration for Johnny Sain, who had been his pitching tutor in New York during his first two Major League seasons, 1962 and 1963.

Tommy John, on the other hand, had trouble working with Johnny Sain, who kept trying to get the pitcher to throw a slider, a pitch that gave John trouble.

Pitchers who won 20 or more games under Johnny Sain's coaching include Jim Kaat, Whitey Ford, Mudcat Grant, Denny McLain, Jim Bouton, Al Downing, Jim Perry, Wilbur Wood, and Stan Bahnsen.