Hard Luck Houtteman Art Houtteman

houtteman on cover of baseball digest

houtteman youngest major leaguer in 1946 played 1 game tigers season, allowing 8 runs , fifteen hits in 8 innings. spent of 1946 in minor leagues, finished @ 16–13 , led league in strikeouts. @ end of season, houtteman named 6 of 8 international league managers top pitching prospect in league, leading league in strikeouts 150, pitching on 200 innings, finishing second in victories 16, , amassing 11–2 road record. minor league third baseman johnny bero liked houtteman s fielding ability called him fifth infielder.

despite newfound top prospect status houtteman remained in buffalo @ beginning of 1947 season before being recalled tigers in july. relegated bullpen time, , saw little action. after hal newhouser, fred hutchinson , dizzy trout used in 2 days, tiger manager steve o neill decided start houtteman against washington senators second start of career. tossed five-hit shutout , tiger general manager billy evans said, in 40 years ve never seen better pitching job first-year pitcher. know houtteman big leaguer . followed five-hit victory against boston red sox, pitched three-hit shutout in september against st. louis browns. finished season @ 7–2 3.42 era, 7 complete games , 2 shutouts. performance in 1947 caught attention of new york yankees star , future hall of famer joe dimaggio, said of houtteman , bob lemon, have more stuff , more pitching sense other young fellows ve seen come in long while .

the 1948 detroit tigers season began houtteman in starting rotation. things started off poorly, however, houtteman lost first 8 decisions. 2 of first 5 losses, though, 1 run, , had little run support. 0–8 start , lack of run support led being called hard luck houtteman in media. first victory year came against senators, in drove in winning run. after winning next start, defeated philadelphia athletics allowing 5 hits, , avoided loss. lost 8 more games , finished season @ 2–16. teammates , media attributed bad luck rather bad pitching, , still regarded him prime prospect. newhouser said, kid has had nothing bad luck since season opened , while fred hutchinson said, shouldn t have lost more 3 or 4 games had gotten break . 4.66 era 0.06 higher major league average.

as 1949 spring training began, houtteman killed. in lakeland, florida on march 10, while driving home florida southern college, crashed fruit truck fracturing skull. listed in critical condition (a priest stood administer last rites in extremis), recovered rapidly , able talk teammates 2 days after accident, telling them, ll able pitch sooner . within 2 weeks, tigers optimistic houtteman able play again june. result of injuries houtteman , yankee star catcher yogi berra due car accidents, cleveland indians playing manager lou boudreau banned players driving, forcing soon-to-be world champions ride chartered buses exhibition games.