July 16, 2018 Happy Monday! If you’re a baseball fan you probably know this is All Star week for Major League Baseball. And if you’re a Tigers fan, you probably heard on Sunday that former Tigers’ ace pitcher Justin Verlander took the mound in Houston against the Tigers. He had been selected to start for the American League All Star squad, but his outing on Sunday precludes him from pitching in tomorrow night’s mid-summer classic with only two days rest. Beyond that, the Tigers went on a homerun rampage Sunday, belting four long-balls into the seats, chasing JV off the mound with an early sixth-inning exit, and propelling the Tigers to a 6-3 victory. Verlander was a popular Tiger. He’s still popular among loyal Detroit fans, even after his move to Houston. He’s been a hard worker, and among active pitchers he ranks 5th in MLB with 24 complete games over his 14 seasons in the big league. But Verlander’s number of complete games is paltry compared to many former pitchers. Game strategies have changed substantially since baseball started with the formation of the National League in 1871. In those days, it was common for pitchers with teams in the “Senior Circuit” to throw many complete games. Cy Young had the most ever with 749. George Mullin is the all-time Tigers leader with 336 complete games. And another Detroit pitcher who stands out in that category ranks 58th among ALL pitchers who have ever played in the Majors: Charlie “Pretzels” Getzien. Pretzels Getzien was the starting pitcher in 292 Major League contests between 1884-1892; he completed 277 of those games. At the age of nineteen, he began the 1883 baseball season playing in the minors with the Grand Rapids Baseball Club of the Northwestern League. The league was also comprised of the Peoria Reds, Toledo Blue Stockings, Fort Wayne Hoosiers, Saginaw Greys, and teams from Bay City, Michigan, Quincy, Illinois and Springfield, Illinois. The Grand Rapids club played their games at the Grand Rapids Baseball Park, at Jefferson & Franklin Streets. It had a capacity of about 1000 fans and attracted an average crowd of about 760 over an 84-game season with about 42 home games. The team folded midway through Pretzel’s second season in 1884, and he was quickly signed by the struggling Detroit Wolverines of the National League. Pretzels compiled a 95-86 win-loss record in five seasons with the Detroit Wolverines. In 1886 he had a 30-11 record. And in 1887, he led the team in pitching with a 29-13 record. He also led them to the first World Series Championship recorded by a Detroit team prior to the establishment of the American League vs National League format in 1903. In the 1887 World Series between the Detroit Wolverines and the Saint Louis Browns, Pretzel led the team with 4 wins and 2 losses. That World Series was a set of fifteen games played in ten different cities; only two of the games were played in Detroit, at Recreation Park near the modern-day Harper Hospital of the Detroit Medical Center. A historical marker on the hospital campus now marks the location of the Wolverines homefield. As Sinatra once sang: “…there used to be a ball park, right here.” But back to Getzien: what made him so special? The “Pretzel” curve ball.
Hitters were befuddled. He had a quirky delivery and the ball curved away from hitters. Opposing players, curious fans, and sports-writers of the day were often confounded, and sometimes in denial about the physical properties of his curve ball. His pitching drew attention. Some newspapers published articles arguing that his curve was in the IMAGINATION of the hitters! Henry Chadwick responded in an 1886 article for the Scientific American magazine with scientific explanations and diagrams that illustrated the physical properties associated with the stitched ball in flight. The curve was very real. Despite the success, Pretzels was traded to the Indianapolis Hoosiers following the 1888 season. He struggled with injuries and fatigue, however. From there he went to the Boston Beaneaters and posted 23 wins during the 1890 season. He began the 1891 season with Boston but was traded again, after eleven appearances. In a brief stint with the Cleveland Spiders, he pitched one game giving up twelve hits and nine runs. He finished his major league career in 1892 with the Saint Louis Browns going 5-8. Over his nine years in MLB, Charlie Pretzels Getzien compiled a record of 145 wins and 139 losses. He was twenty-nine years old when he retired. As for that single complete-game loss in Cleveland in 1891, a twenty-four-year-old, hard-throwing right-hander in his sophomore season was on the bench beside Pretzels: Cy Young. Mistletoe Enterprises and Victory & Valor love to bring interesting stories of history and heroes to our followers. The nostalgia and history of our great American pastime is filled with people, places and events that give insight to our days gone by. It helps to connect our past to our present. Charles “Pretzels” Getzien might not be in the Hall of Fame, but he is remembered by Victory & Valor. We hope you enjoyed this. And we hope you enjoy the All-Star Game tomorrow night, even if Verlander isn’t pitching, and even if it won’t be a complete game! See you Wednesday! The following sources were researched to help compile and verify this installment: Library of Congress Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/getzich01.shtml Ernie Harwell Collection, Detroit Public Library Grand Rapids Historical Society Detroit Medical Center
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AuthorTom Davis is the owner of Mistletoe Enterprises LLC. He also publishes and distributes the Victory & Valor Flyer, it tells the stories of heroes from all walks of life. Archives
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