{{Short description|American baseball player (1930–2017)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |image=Chuck Churn 1957 Hollywood Stars.jpg |caption=Churn with the Hollywood Stars {{circa}} 1957 |name=Chuck Churn |position=Pitcher |birth_date={{Birth date|1930|2|1}} |birth_place=Bridgetown, Virginia, U.S. |death_date={{Death date and age|2017|10|21|1930|2|1}} |death_place=Lady Lake, Florida, U.S. |bats=Right |throws=Right |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=April 18 |debutyear=1957 |debutteam=Pittsburgh Pirates |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 29 |finalyear=1959 |finalteam=Los Angeles Dodgers |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Win–loss record |stat1value=3–2 |stat2label=Earned run average |stat2value=5.10 |stat3label=Strikeouts |stat3value=32 |teams= *Pittsburgh Pirates ({{baseball year|1957}}) *Cleveland Indians ({{baseball year|1958}}) *Los Angeles Dodgers ({{baseball year|1959}}) |highlights= * World Series champion ({{wsy|1959}}) }}
'''Clarence Nottingham''' "'''Chuck'''" '''Churn''' (February 1, 1930 – October 21, 2017) was an American professional baseball player. The native of Bridgetown, Virginia, was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who appeared in 25 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers between 1957 and 1959. He threw and batted right-handed and was listed as {{convert|6|ft|3|in}} tall and {{convert|205|lb}}.
==Early career== Churn was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pirates before the start of the 1949 season. After seven years in minor league baseball and one in military service, Churn was finally called up to the majors when he made the Pirates' pitching staff at the outset of the 1957 season. He made his debut on April 18, 1957, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, and gave up two hits and two runs in one inning pitched. Churn appeared in five games for the Pirates before being returned to the minors at the May cutdown, recording no decisions and a 4.32 earned run average, having given up four runs in {{frac|8|1|3}} innings of work.<ref name=BaseballRef>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/churnch01.shtml Chuck Churn], Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref>
He was selected by the Boston Red Sox from Pittsburgh in the 1957 Rule 5 draft held on December 2. But the Red Sox placed Churn on waivers during spring training, and he was acquired on March 26, 1958, by the Cleveland Indians. He pitched in six games, all in relief, for the Indians during the early weeks of the 1958 season, with no decisions and a 6.23 ERA in {{frac|8|2|3}} innings pitched. Then, in early May, he was purchased by the Cincinnati Redlegs<ref name=BaseballRef/> and sent back to the Triple-A Seattle Rainiers for the rest of the season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Churn in a trade with the Reds on May 6, 1959, in exchange for Dick Hanlon<ref name=BaseballRef/> and Churn was recalled from the Triple-A Spokane Indians in August.
==Role in 1959 pennant race== After going unscored upon in his first three appearances coming out of the Los Angeles bullpen, Churn earned his first-ever victory in the major leagues on September 2, 1959, when the Dodgers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 9–6. Churn pitched one-run ball over the final {{frac|4|2|3}} innings to get the win.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN195909020.shtml Sep 2, 1959, Cardinals at Dodgers Play by Play and Box Score], Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref> Churn got his second victory on September 11 in the first game of a doubleheader against his original team, the Pirates. He came into the game in the eighth inning in relief of Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers down, 4–2. Los Angeles scored its third run in the eighth and then tallied twice off Elroy Face in the bottom of the ninth. Churn pitched {{frac|1|2|3}} scoreless innings to get the 5–4 win. The loss was charged to Face, his only defeat in a season in which he finished with an 18–1 record.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN195909111.shtml Sep 11, 1959, Pirates at Dodgers Play by Play and Box Scoren], Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Chuck_Churn_1930&page=chronology Chuck Churn] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604151427/http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Chuck_Churn_1930&page=chronology |date=2011-06-04 }}, BaseballLibrary.com. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref><ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1959/09/12/archives/dodgers-take-2-from-pirates-los-angeles-wins-54-40-contests-moon.html "Dodgers Take 2 From Pirates;; LOS ANGELES WINS 5-4, 4-0 CONTESTS Moon Hits Three Homers — Face Beaten in Opener — Dodgers Gain in Race"], ''The New York Times'', September 12, 1959. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref>
With the Dodgers involved in a desperate pennant race with the Milwaukee Braves and San Francisco Giants, Churn's September wins—along with his only MLB save on September 19 against the Giants—were priceless. On the season's final day, Sunday, September 27, 1959, the Dodgers and Braves finished in flat-footed tie at 86–68, necessitating a best-of-three tie-breaker series to resolve the deadlock. After the Dodgers won Game 1, Churn appeared in the pivotal Game 2 on September 29. He relieved Johnny Podres with the bases loaded and two out in the top half of the seventh inning and Milwaukee ahead 4–2. He retired pinch hitter Enos Slaughter to quell the threat, but then surrendered what appeared to be an insurance run to Milwaukee in the eighth inning. He left the game for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth with the Braves leading 5–2. However, in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers rallied for three runs to tie Game 2 and force extra innings. Three innings later, they won the game and the National League championship, sending them to the 1959 World Series.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN195909290.shtml Sep 29, 1959, Braves at Dodgers Play by Play and Box Score], Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref>
Churn finished the 1959 season with a 3–2 record and one save to along with a 4.99 ERA in 14 appearances.<ref name=BaseballRef/> He came on in relief of Roger Craig in the third inning of Game 1 of the 1959 Fall Classic, giving up six runs (two of them earned) in only two-thirds of an inning as the Dodgers lost to the Chicago White Sox 11–0. It was Churn's only World Series appearance as the Dodgers went on to win the world title in six games.<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1959_WS.shtml 1959 World Series], Baseball-Reference.com. Accessed November 19, 2008.</ref>
The 1959 season was Churn's last in the majors. Along with the five decisions and the save he posted for the Dodgers that season, he ended his career with 32 strikeouts in {{frac|47|2|3}} total innings pitched, allowing 49 hits and 19 bases on balls.
Churn pitched full-time in the minor leagues through 1962, then became a playing coach and player-manager in the Houston Astros' farm system through 1967.
Churn, whose nickname was "Slim," died in Lady Lake, Florida on October 21, 2017, at age 87.<ref>[http://www.doughtyfuneralhome.com//memsol.cgi?user_id=2028860 "In Memory of Slim Churn" Wilkins-Doughty Funeral Home, Cape Charles, Virginia. Accessed October 26, 2017]{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Baseballstats|mlb=|espn=|br=c/churnch01|fangraphs=|brm=churn-001cla}}
{{1959 Los Angeles Dodgers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Churn, Chuck}} Category:1930 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Asheville Tourists managers Category:Asheville Tourists players Category:Baseball players from Virginia Category:Charleston Rebels players Category:Cleveland Indians players Category:Columbus Jets players Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:Denver Bears players Category:Durham Bulls managers Category:Durham Bulls players Category:Hollywood Stars players Category:Hutchinson Elks players Category:Los Angeles Dodgers players Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Modesto Colts players Category:Moultrie Colt .22s players Category:New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Category:Oklahoma City 89ers players Category:Omaha Dodgers players Category:People from Northampton County, Virginia Category:Pittsburgh Pirates players Category:Salisbury Astros players Category:Seattle Rainiers players Category:Spokane Indians players Category:Uniontown Coal Barons players Category:American expatriate baseball players in Cuba Category:Habana players