Books and articles about Lew Burdette

On October 10, 1957, Burdette shut out the Yankees for the second time in four days. He was the first pitcher in 37 years to win three complete games in a single WS and the first since Christy Mathewson (1905) to throw two shutouts in a single Series. The win gave Milwaukee the world championship and earned Burdette Series MVP honors.

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Hall of Fame lefty Warren Spahn and righthander Burdette gave the Braves a formidable one-two punch, with 443 victories between them in 13 seasons. A slider and sinkerball pitcher, Burdette was widely accused of throwing a spitball as well. His constant fidgeting on the mound fed that suspicion; it didn't indicate nervousness. Teammate Gene Conley said, "Lew had ice water in his veins. Nothing bothered him, on or off the mound. He was a chatterbox out there ... He would talk to himself, to the batter, the umpire, and sometimes even to the ball."

Besides winning 20 games in 1958 and 21 in '59, Burdette won 19 twice and 18 once. His 2.70 ERA topped the NL in 1956. In two All-Star Games, he allowed only one run in seven innings. He no-hit the Phillies on August 18, 1960.

On May 26, 1959, he was the winning pitcher when Pittsburgh's Harvey Haddix hurled 12 perfect innings against the Braves, only to lose in the 13th. That winter, the puckish Burdette asked for a $10,000 raise, explaining: "I'm the greatest pitcher that ever lived. The greatest game that was ever pitched in baseball wasn't good enough to beat me, so I've got to be the greatest!" (TJ)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » August 28, 1951: The Braves sell P Johnny Sain to the Yankees for $50,000 and a young pitcher named Lew Burdette. It is another late-season insurance measure for the New Yorkers. » September 26, 1951: The Giants stay one game behind the Dodgers as Jim Hearn tops the Phillies 10–1 and the Dodgers crush the Braves 15–5. Campanella drives home three runs in the first inning and Newcombe coasts to his 19th win. With a 13–3 lead in the 8th inning, Robinson steals home against rookie P Lew Burdette, infuriating the Braves. » May 12, 1954: Dodger Gil Hodges' home run in the 5th spoils Lew Burdette's bid for a no-hitter in the Braves 5–1 win. » May 31, 1956: The Cubs and Braves keep banging on each other like rented mules, with Milwaukee coming out on top, 15–8. Lew Burdette is the winner, while Paul Minner absorbs his 12th loss in a row to the Braves, a streak that started August 29, 1951. » August 13, 1957: P Lew Burdette of the Braves hits his first two HRs and beats the Redlegs 12-4. » October 3, 1957: In Game 2 Lew Burdette defeats Yankee Bobby Shantz 4-2. » October 7, 1957: Lew Burdette wins his 2nd against New York--a brilliant 1-0 shutout--to give Milwaukee a 3-2 Series lead. » October 9, 1957: With Warren Spahn stricken by the flu, Lew Burdette pitches with 2 days rest, achieves his 3rd complete game and 2nd shutout to beat New York 5-0 The Braves win their first WS championship since the "Miracle Braves" of 1914 beat Connie Mack's Athletics. » July 10, 1958: P Lew Burdette of Milwaukee hits two HRs and beats the Dodgers 8-4. » October 2, 1958: The Braves erupt for 7 runs in the first and go on to defeat the Yankees 13-5. Lew Burdette is shaky but beats New York for the 4th consecutive time. He also chips in with a 3-run HR. » October 6, 1958: The Yankees finally solve Lew Burdette, scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 6th and winning 7-0 behind the 5-hit pitching of Bob Turley. » October 8, 1958: The Yankees win the WS handily on Moose Skowron's 3-run HR off Lew Burdette in the 8th that puts the game on ice 6-2. Eddie Mathews strikes out for the 11th time, a record that will stand until l980 when broken by Willie Wilson of Kansas City. The Braves' 53 strikeouts are also a new WS record. This is Casey Stengel's 7th championship, tying him with Joe McCarthy for the most Series won. » April 16, 1959: Phillie Dave Philley, who ended 1958 with eight consecutive pinch hits, starts 1959 with a pinch-hit double in his first pinch at bat to extend his ML record. Despite Philley's new mark, Lew Burdette and the Braves win 7–3. Burdette allows just six hits in beating Russ Meyer. » April 26, 1959: Was it something I said? Reds pitcher Willard Schmidt is twice hit by pitches in the 3rd inning in an 11–10 win over the Braves. Braves pitchers Bob Rush and Lew Burdette do the plunking. It is a first in the major leagues, but the ML mark will be tied in three years by Frank Thomas. While on the mound in the 4th inning, Schmidt is hit again when a Johnny Logan line drive strikes him on the right hand and he has to leave the game. The two teams use 14 pitchers between them to tie a National League record, with the eight pitchers by the Reds tying another NL record. Warren Spahn is tagged for the loss, his 2nd in two days to the Reds. » May 12, 1959: At Wrigley, the Braves Lew Burdette loses a 3–2 lead in the 9th when he serves up a gopher to Walt Moryn. After loading the bases, Burdette fires what he thinks is strike three to pinch hitter Earl Averill. His next pitch is grand slammed by Averill for a 7–3 Cubs win. » May 26, 1959: In a singular performance, Harvey Haddix of the Pirates pitches a perfect game against Milwaukee for 12 innings, only to lose in the 13th. Felix Mantilla opens the last inning by reaching base on an error. A sacrifice and an intentional walk to Hank Aaron brings up Joe Adcock, who hits one out of the park in right-CF for an apparent 3–0 victory. Aaron pulls a "Merkle," leaving the field, and Adcock passes him on the basepaths. Both are called out as Mantilla scores. Lew Burdette goes all 13 innings for his 8th win, scattering 12 hits. As a consequence of the baserunning in the 13th, the Braves leave an National League-record one runner on base. Haddix's gem makes him the 9th pitcher to lose a no-hitter in extra innings; A combined effort of three Reds pitcher, on May 26, 1956, was the last. Making Haddix's effort even more remarkable is the fact that the Braves hitter knew what was coming. In 1993, Bob Buhl admitted that the Braves pitchers were stealing the signs from Smoky Burgess, who could not crouch down all the way. They would place a towel on the bullpen fence in such a way to signal fastball or breaking ball. » August 18, 1960: Facing just 27 batters, Lew Burdette pitches a 1–0 no-hitter against the Phillies. Tony Gonzalez, the only Phil to reach base, is hit by a Burdette pitch in the 5th inning but erased on a DP. The Milwaukee pitcher also scores the only run of the game. » August 23, 1960: Following up his no hitter, Lew Burdette fires his 3rd shutout in a row, pitching the Braves to a 7–0 win over the Dodgers. The Braves stroke five homers, including Aaron's 33rd and Mathews 29th. » August 27, 1960: After pitching 32 2/3 innings without allowing a run, Braves P Lew Burdette gives up a Felipe Alou home run as San Francisco defeats Milwaukee 3–1. » September 6, 1960: Pittsburgh's All-Star SS Dick Groat suffers a broken wrist when hit by a Lew Burdette pitch. The Pirates captain, 2nd in the batting race, will be sidelined until the final weekend of the season. Dick Schofield, his replacement, has three hits, as the Bucs rally for a 5–3 win. Roy Face finishes a Pittsburgh win for the 30th time in 1960. » June 15, 1963: St. Louis trades C/1B Gene Oliver and minor league P Bob Sadowski to the Braves for P Lew Burdette. In 13 seasons with the Braves, Burdette and Warren Spahn won 443 games between them. » June 2, 1964: The Cards trade P Lew Burdette to the Cubs for P Glen Hobbie. » May 25, 1966: At Yankee Stadium, the Yanks maul the Angels 11–6. Mickey Mantle has two homers, one off Dean Chance and the other coming off reliever Lew Burdette. » June 16, 1966: Led by the hitting and pitching of Tony Cloninger, the Braves roll over the Mets, 17–1. Cloninger has five RBIs, the first pitcher to drive in that many since Lew Burdette on July 10, 1958.