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Another Edition of
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars:
Herb Score Sets Rookie Strikeout Record!
“People will tell me I was unlucky. Me? Unlucky? I started with a great team in the Indians and played under a great manager in Al Lopez. Then I went from the field to the broadcasting booth, at the age of 30, and 30 years later I’m still doing the games. If you ask me, that’s not unlucky. That’s a guy who has been in the right place at the right time.” -Herb Score (1)
In a game played at Washington’s Griffith Stadium sixty-nine years ago yesterday, September 14, 1955, the Indians’ rookie left-hander Herb Score fanned nine Senators — bringing his season total to 228 — in the Tribe’s’ 3-2 loss to the Senators. This established a new rookie record for strikeouts in a season, surpassing Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander’s mark of 227 strikeouts set in 1911. Score’s rookie record would hold until 1985 when Dwight Gooden struck out 251.
The Rosedale, New York, native is only one of eight rookie pitchers to top 200 strikeouts in the 20th century. With his 245 strikeouts in 1955 coming in only 227.1 innings, Score’s feat marked the first time in major league history that a regular starting pitcher averaged over one strikeout per inning.
Herb Score’s talent was on display early in life. In 1952, as an 18-year-old star pitcher for his Lake Worth, Florida high school, he threw six no-hitters, leading his school to its only state baseball championship. This led to a contract with the Cleveland Indians which he signed on his 19th birthday.
Herb played eight years in the major leagues (1955-1962), for the Indians (1955-1959) and White Sox (1960-1962). Over his career, he posted a 55-46 record, with a 3.36 ERA, averaging nearly a strikeout per inning (837 K’s in 858.1 innings). The two-time All-Star led the American League in strikeouts in both his rookie season of 1955 (245) and then again in 1956 (263). He also led the league in shutouts in 1956 with five. He was named the 1955 Rookie of the Year.
Posting a winning percentage of .654 for his first two seasons (16-10 in 1955 and 20-9 in 1956), Score seemingly possessed unlimited potential as he was quickly developing into one of the top power pitchers in the American League. That all came to a crashing halt on May 7, 1957. On the hill during the first inning of a night game on that date, Gil McDougald hit a line drive back to the mound that struck Score in the face, breaking several facial bones and injuring his eye. At first, it was uncertain if he would regain sight in the eye. Although severely injured, he eventually recovered 20/20 vision, though he missed the rest of the season.
Following the devastating injury, Score was only a shadow of his former self. He retired as an active player in 1962 after two seasons with the White Sox; and in 1964, he began his 34-year tenure as television and radio announcer for the Indians. Over the years, Score became much beloved by Indian fans, remembered for his low voice and a low-key style, as well as a habit of occasionally mispronouncing the names of opposing players.
Traumatic accidents were seemingly commonplace in the life of Herb Score. In addition to the mound beaning, he had been run over by a truck at the age of three and eventually developed rheumatic fever. Then, on October 8, 1998, he was severely injured in a traffic accident while returning to Florida after being inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame the previous day.
Herb Score suffered a stroke in 2002, and died on November 11, 2008, at his home in Rocky River, Ohio, after a lengthy illness, aged 75. He has been elected to the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame.
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Gary Livacari
Information: Opening quote from SABR biography of Herb Score by Joe Wancho; Excerpts edited from the Herb Score Wikipedia page; Stats from Baseball-Reference
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