109: Quinn & Ehmke-MLB

Sports' Forgotten Heroes

In 1909, pitcher Jack Quinn made his Major League debut. 24-years later, 1933, Quinn made his final appearance. A remarkable career, in which he was out of the game in 1916 and 1917, had come to an end. Incredibly, part of the reason he didn’t play in 1916 and 1917 was because many thought Quinn was too old. Yet, after he came back in 1918, he went on to pitch 16-more years and when he retired, depending on who you ask, he might have been as old as 51. Meanwhile, another pitcher who came back after a time away from the game was Howard Ehmke. Limitless in potential, Ehmke was also a thinking-man’s pitcher and sometimes over analyzed and would also occasionally lose concentration. Combined with continual injury battles, Ehmke, who never realized his full potential made his Major League debut 1915 and retired in 1930. Jack Quinn and Howard Ehmke both enjoyed terrific careers with many highs and many lows; and their careers intersected two times, first the Boston Red Sox and later they played together with the Philadelphia Athletics where they enjoyed one of their most exciting seasons, 1929. Quinn was a key contributor to the pitching staff of those Athletics, while Ehmke pitched one of the greatest games in this history of the World Series when he won game one. In their new book, “Comeback Pitchers, The Remarkable Careers of Howard Ehmke and Jack Quinn,” authors Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz do a phenomenal job of chronicling their careers and lives … and on this episode of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes, Steinberg joins for a terrific discussion about both pitchers.

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