Comments Thread For: Muhammad Ali, Ted Williams, and Time Lost

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Thomas Hauser - "March Madness" was to have culminated this weekend. Major League Baseball was supposed to be underway. The NBA playoffs were scheduled to begin this month. Instead, our games have been put on hold. The athletes are the ones who are suffering the most. Career-defining performances and paychecks have been lost. But...
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[PeanutRay]

Don't forget Bob Feller

Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller lost nearly four full seasons during World War II and still finished with 266 wins. He was a consistent 20-game winner. If you add those four seasons to his record with just 20 wins per season, that would have put Feller at 346 wins. His first season back in 1946 he won 26 games.

[Rapscallion]

Here's another baseball great.Warren Spahn lost three years to WWII. His 21 year career average was 17 wins and 12 losses. His career wins totaled 363. Multiply 17 times 3 and those 51 wins put him up to 414 career wins. That would have placed Spahn third in career wins behind Cy Young and Walter Johnson. Or, take the total wins Spahn earned his first three years back and it's 44. Add 44 to 363 and he has 407 career wins which still places Spahn third for all time wins.

[Rapscallion]

By the way, here's what Spahn had to say about losing three years to WWII and its effect on his career: Along with many other major leaguers, Spahn chose to enlist in the United States Army, after finishing the 1942 season in the minors. He served with distinction, and was awarded a Purple Heart.[2][8] He saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and at the Ludendorff Bridge as a combat engineer, and was awarded a battlefield commission.[2][8]

Spahn returned to the major leagues in 1946 at the age of 25, having missed three full seasons. Had he played, it is possible that Spahn would have finished his career behind only Walter Johnson and Cy Young in all-time wins.[9] Spahn was unsure of the war's impact on his career:

People say that my absence from the big leagues may have cost me a chance to win 400 games. But I don't know about that. I matured a lot in three years, and I think I was better equipped to handle major league hitters at 25 than I was at 22. Also, I pitched until I was 44. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to do that otherwise.[8]

[PeanutRay]

Joe Louis

Joe Louis lost four years during World War II

[Dasmius Shinobi]

Overall, above average.

Sorry, this article need more substance, there are spots that are missing information. In other words, this article is incomplete.