# Nels Potter > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nels_Potter > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Nels_Potter.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nels_Potter > Source revision: 1296274753 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American baseball player (1911–1990)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Nels Potter |position=[Pitcher](/source/Pitcher) |image=Nels Potter 1944 (cropped).jpg |width=160px |caption=Potter in 1944 |bats=Left |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1911|8|23|mf=y}} |birth_place=[Mount Morris, Illinois](/source/Mount_Morris%2C_Illinois), U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1990|9|30|1911|8|23}} |death_place=[Mount Morris, Illinois](/source/Mount_Morris%2C_Illinois), U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=April 25 |debutyear=1936 |debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 18 |finalyear=1949 |finalteam=Boston Braves |statleague = MLB |stat1label=[Win–loss record](/source/Win%E2%80%93loss_record_(pitching)) |stat1value=92–97 |stat3label=[Strikeout](/source/Strikeout)s |stat3value=747 |stat2label=[Earned run average](/source/Earned_run_average) |stat2value=3.99 |teams= * [St. Louis Cardinals](/source/St._Louis_Cardinals) ({{mlby|1936}}) * [Philadelphia Athletics](/source/Philadelphia_Athletics) ({{mlby|1938}}–{{mlby|1941}}) * [Boston Red Sox](/source/Boston_Red_Sox) ({{mlby|1941}}) * [St. Louis Browns](/source/St._Louis_Browns) ({{mlby|1943}}–{{mlby|1948}}) * [Philadelphia Athletics](/source/Philadelphia_Athletics) ({{mlby|1948}}) * [Boston Braves](/source/Boston_Braves_(baseball)) ({{mlby|1948}}–{{mlby|1949}}) }} '''Nelson Thomas Potter''' (August 23, 1911 – September 30, 1990) was an American professional [baseball](/source/baseball) player{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pottene01.shtml |title=Nels Potter statistics |website=baseball-reference.com |publisher=sports-reference.com |access-date=November 15, 2019}} and right-handed [pitcher](/source/pitcher) who appeared in 349 [games](/source/games_pitched) in [Major League Baseball](/source/Major_League_Baseball) over a dozen seasons between 1936 and 1949, most notably as a member, in {{mlby|1944}}, of the only [St. Louis Browns](/source/St._Louis_Browns) team to win an [American League pennant](/source/List_of_American_League_pennant_winners). He also played for the [St. Louis Cardinals](/source/St._Louis_Cardinals), [Philadelphia Athletics](/source/Philadelphia_Athletics), [Boston Red Sox](/source/Boston_Red_Sox) and [Boston Braves](/source/Boston_Braves_(baseball)). Potter's repertoire featured the [screwball](/source/screwball).{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Bill |author-link1=Bill James |last2=Neyer |first2=Rob |author-link2=Rob Neyer |title=The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FfRLE6I5EEC&pg=GBS.PA52.w.2.5.0 |access-date=October 3, 2012 |date=June 15, 2004 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9780743261586 |page=52}} ==Baseball career== ===Early struggles=== Born in [Mount Morris, Illinois](/source/Mount_Morris%2C_Illinois), Potter was listed as {{convert|5|ft|11|in}} tall and {{convert|180|lb}}. He began his 18-year professional career in the [minor leagues](/source/minor_leagues) in 1932, and after a one-[inning](/source/inning_(baseball)) trial with the Cardinals in April 1936, played his first full [MLB](/source/MLB) season in 1938 as a member of the Athletics. He led the [American League](/source/American_League) in earned runs allowed with (144) in 1939, and overall won only 20 of 57 [decisions](/source/decision_(baseball)) in his first of two stints in Philadelphia, playing for a team that lost an average of 96 games a year between 1938 and 1941. During the latter year, on June 30, Potter's contract was sold to the Red Sox, who used him in only ten games and 20 [innings pitched](/source/innings_pitched) before assigning him outright to their top [farm club](/source/farm_system), the [Louisville Colonels](/source/Louisville_Colonels_(minor_league)). Potter won 18 games, losing eight, for the Colonels in 1942, earning his selection by the Browns in the [Rule 5 draft](/source/Rule_5_draft) on November 2, 1942. ===St. Louis Browns=== With [World War II](/source/World_War_II) depleting major league rosters of playing talent, Potter proceeded to post three consecutive stellar seasons for the 1943–1944–1945 Browns, winning a total of 44 games with [earned run average](/source/earned_run_average)s below 3.00. In 1944, Potter won 19 games, leading the Browns' staff, as St. Louis prevailed over the [Detroit Tigers](/source/Detroit_Tigers) by a single game in the pennant chase. Potter finished ninth in voting for the 1944 American League [MVP](/source/American_League_Most_Valuable_Player_Award) balloting, with a 19–7 [won–lost record](/source/Win%E2%80%93loss_record_(pitching)), 16 [complete game](/source/complete_game)s, three [shutouts](/source/shutout_(baseball)), and a 2.83 ERA. In the all-St. Louis [1944 World Series](/source/1944_World_Series) that followed, he [started](/source/starting_pitcher) two games (the second and sixth contests) against the Cardinals. He allowed only one [earned run](/source/earned_run) in 9{{fraction|2|3}} innings pitched for an ERA of 0.93, but poor defense (he allowed four [unearned run](/source/unearned_run)s) did him in, and he lost his only [decision](/source/decision_(baseball)). The Cardinals won the world championship in six games. On July 21, 1944, he became the first player to be ejected from a game and suspended for allegedly throwing a [spitball](/source/spitball). Umpire [Cal Hubbard](/source/Cal_Hubbard), who claimed that he had already warned Potter about his habit of wetting his fingers on the mound, ejected Potter in the fifth inning of a game against the [New York Yankees](/source/New_York_Yankees). American League President [Will Harridge](/source/Will_Harridge) later suspended Potter for 10 games.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/07/22/archives/potter-suspended-for-wetting-ball-harridge-awaiting-umpires-report.html |title=Potter Suspended For 'Wetting' Ball; Harridge Awaiting Umpire's Report Charging Browns' Hurler Violated Rule |work=New York Times |date=1944-07-22 |page=18 (Sports) |access-date=February 7, 2021}} In 1945, the Browns failed to repeat as American League champions, although they finished in the [first division](/source/first_division_(baseball)). Potter contributed 15 wins, 21 complete games and three shutouts, and set a personal best in earned run average at 2.47, sixth in the Junior Circuit. The first two postwar seasons, 1946 and 1947, were not as successful for Potter, as he won 12 games and lost 19 for the Browns, who had returned to their losing ways. In 1948, he was reacquired by the Athletics in May, but on June 13, after less than a month with Philadelphia, he was "fired" by [manager](/source/manager_(baseball)) [Connie Mack](/source/Connie_Mack) after a losing effort in [relief](/source/relief_pitcher) against his old Brownie teammates.{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/nels-potter/ |last1=Davis |first1=Sidney |title=Nels Potter |website=sabr.org |publisher=[Society for American Baseball Research](/source/Society_for_American_Baseball_Research) |access-date=February 7, 2021}} ===Boston Braves=== Signed as a free agent by the Boston Braves seven days later, he returned to the [National League](/source/National_League_(baseball)) for the first time in 12 years and helped lead Boston to the [1948 NL pennant](/source/1948_Boston_Braves_season). Potter worked in 18 games, threw three complete games in seven starts, and added three [saves](/source/save_(baseball)) out of the bullpen. Overall, he posted a 5–2 record and a 2.33 earned run average in 85 innings pitched. He then appeared in his second [World Series](/source/1948_World_Series). Against the AL champion [Cleveland Indians](/source/Cleveland_Indians), Potter worked in two games. His effective relief appearance in Game 2, a Boston loss, was followed by a starting assignment in Game 5. In the latter game, Potter surrendered five runs, all earned, in 3{{fraction|1|3}} innings pitched on five hits (including two [home runs](/source/home_runs)), and left the game with the Braves trailing, 5–4. However, future [Baseball Hall of Fame](/source/Baseball_Hall_of_Fame)r [Warren Spahn](/source/Warren_Spahn), who relieved Potter, shut the door on the Indians on only one hit, and allowed Boston to come back to win, 11–5.{{cite web |publisher=[Retrosheet](/source/Retrosheet) |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1948/B10100CLE1948.htm |date=10 October 1948 |title=Boston Braves 11, Cleveland Indians 5 |access-date=February 7, 2021}} Cleveland won Game 6 and the Series, however, the following day. Potter spent 1949 as a member of the Braves' pitching staff, getting into 41 games, all but three in relief, but retired after his contract was sold to the [Cincinnati Reds](/source/Cincinnati_Reds) on September 26. He finished his regular-season MLB career with a 92–97 record, six shutouts, 22 saves, and a 3.99 ERA, allowing 1,721 hits and 582 [bases on balls](/source/bases_on_balls) in 1,686 innings pitched. He struck out 747. In World Series play, he posted a record of 0–1 and an ERA of 3.60, allowing six earned runs, 16 hits and five bases on balls, with seven strikeouts, in 15 innings pitched over four different appearances. ==Family== Potter died in his hometown of Mount Morris at the age of 79 on September 30, 1990. He was survived by his wife, Hazel, two sons and a daughter: [Nelson Jr.](/source/Nelson_Thomas_Potter_Jr.), James, and Barbara.{{cite news |last1=Heise |first1=Kenan |title=Nelson Potter, 79; Pitched in the Majors |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-obituary-for-nelson-pott/140075102/ |access-date=February 1, 2024 |work=[The Chicago Tribune](/source/The_Chicago_Tribune) |date=October 4, 1990 |page=3–18|via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Baseballstats |mlb=120703 |espn= |br=p/pottene01 |fangraphs= |brm=potter001nel |retro=P/Ppottn102}} * {{Find a Grave}} {{Baltimore Orioles Opening Day starting pitchers}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Nels}} Category:1911 births Category:1990 deaths Category:Baseball players from Ogle County, Illinois Category:Boston Braves players Category:Boston Red Sox players Category:Columbus Red Birds players Category:Houston Buffaloes players Category:Lincoln Links players Category:Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Manchester Spartans baseball players Category:People from Mount Morris, Illinois Category:Sportspeople from the Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois Category:Philadelphia Athletics players Category:St. Louis Browns players Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:St. Louis Cardinals players Category:Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Category:Waterloo Hawks (baseball) players --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nels Potter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nels_Potter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nels_Potter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.