Johnny Allen (baseball)

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John Thomas Allen (September 30, 1905 - March 29, 1959) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Giants.

Born in Lenoir, North Carolina, Allen reached the Yankees in an unusual way. While working as a bellhop in a hotel, he was told to take some fans to the room of Yankee scout Paul Krichell. Allen told Krichell that he was a pitcher, and the scout arranged a tryout. Allen was an immediate success for the Yankees, debuting in 1932 with a 17-4 record and a 3.70 ERA for the world champions. He was less stellar in that year's World Series, starting Game 4 and leaving after giving up 3 runs off five hits in just two-thirds of an inning. He continued to post decent records for the Yankees, but he constantly held out for more money and a sore arm threatened his career. For these reasons, he was dealt to the Indians before the 1936 season.

Allen turned things around in Cleveland, going 20-10 with a 3.44 ERA in 1936 and following that up by winning his first fifteen decisions of 1937, one short of the record held by Walter Johnson. He lost his next start 1-0 on an unearned run, but his 15-1 mark that year set a winning percentage record that lasted until Roy Face bettered it with an 18-1 record in 1959. In 1938, he won his first twelve decisions and made his only all star team. During the all star break, he suffered an unknown injury, some claim he slipped on a bar of soap in the shower, and never did approach his earlier success again, finally retiring in 1944 after six mediocre campaigns. He became a minor league umpire after retiring, eventually becoming the umpire-in-chief of the Carolina League. He died at age 53 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

YEAR TEAM        AGE   W   L   PCT    G  GS  CG  SV  GF   IP      H    R   ER   BB   SO    ERA RSAA
1932 Yankees      26  17   4  .810   33  21  13   4   6  192    162   86   79   76  109   3.70    8 
1933 Yankees      27  15   7  .682   25  24  10   1   1  185    171   96   90   87  119   4.38  -10 
1934 Yankees      28   5   2  .714   13  10   4   0   2   72     62   30   23   32   54   2.88   10 
1935 Yankees      29  13   6  .684   23  23  12   0   0  167    149   76   67   58  113   3.61    7 
1936 Indians      30  20  10  .667   36  31  19   1   4  243    234  108   93   97  165   3.44   52 
1937 Indians      31  15   1  .938   24  20  14   0   4  173    157   55   49   60   87   2.55   35 
1938 Indians      32  14   8  .636   30  27  13   0   3  200    189  107   93   81  112   4.19   10 
1939 Indians      33   9   7  .563   28  26   9   0   2  175    199   96   89   56   79   4.58   -4 
1940 Indians      34   9   8  .529   32  17   5   5  12  139    126   61   53   48   62   3.43    8 
1941 Browns       35   2   5  .286   20   9   2   1   6   67     89   53   49   29   27   6.58  -17 
     Dodgers      35   3   0 1.000   11   4   1   0   2   57     38   18   16   12   21   2.53    7 
     TOTALS            5   5  .500   31  13   3   1   8  124    127   71   65   41   48   4.72  -10 
1942 Dodgers      36  10   6  .625   27  15   5   3   9  118    106   53   42   39   50   3.20    1 
1943 Dodgers      37   5   1  .833   17   1   0   1   4   38     42   21   18   25   15   4.26   -3 
     Giants       37   1   3  .250   15   0   0   2  10   41     37   16   14   14   24   3.07    1 
     TOTALS            6   4  .600   32   1   0   3  14   79     79   37   32   39   39   3.65   -2 
1944 Giants       38   4   7  .364   18  13   2   0   3   84     88   48   38   24   33   4.07   -2 
     TOTALS          142  75  .654  352 241 109  18  68 1951   1849  924  813  738 1070   3.75  103 
     LG AVERAGE      109 109  .500          108  11     1951   2104 1103  952  810  746   4.39    0

YEAR TEAM          HR   H/9  BR/9  SO/9  BB/9 SO/BB SHO  WP IBB HBP   BFP BK  NW  NL
1932 Yankees       10  7.59 11.39  5.11  3.56  1.43   3   5   0   5   804  1  11  10 
1933 Yankees        9  8.32 12.75  5.79  4.23  1.37   1  10   0   4   804  0  10  12 
1934 Yankees        3  7.75 12.00  6.75  4.00  1.69   0   5   0   2   309  0   5   2 
1935 Yankees       11  8.03 11.37  6.09  3.13  1.95   2   3   0   4   692  0  10   9 
1936 Indians        5  8.67 12.30  6.11  3.59  1.70   4  13   0   1  1030  0  21   9 
1937 Indians        4  8.17 11.55  4.53  3.12  1.45   0   2   0   5   713  0  12   4 
1938 Indians       15  8.51 12.29  5.04  3.65  1.38   0   7   0   3   855  0  12  10 
1939 Indians        9 10.23 13.27  4.06  2.88  1.41   2   5   0   3   763  2   8   8 
1940 Indians        3  8.16 11.46  4.01  3.11  1.29   3   0   0   3   576  0  10   7 
1941 Browns         4 11.96 16.12  3.63  3.90  0.93   0   8   0   2   317  1   2   5 
     Dodgers        6  6.00  7.89  3.32  1.89  1.75   0   0   0   0   218  0   2   1 
     TOTALS        10  9.22 12.34  3.48  2.98  1.17   0   8   0   2   535  1   4   6 
1942 Dodgers       11  8.08 11.21  3.81  2.97  1.28   1   1   0   2   494  0   8   8 
1943 Dodgers        3  9.95 16.34  3.55  5.92  0.60   0   2   0   2   180  1   2   4 
     Giants         4  8.12 11.20  5.27  3.07  1.71   0   4   0   0   169  0   2   2 
     TOTALS         7  9.00 13.67  4.44  4.44  1.00   0   6   0   2   349  1   4   6 
1944 Giants         7  9.43 12.21  3.54  2.57  1.38   1   3   0   2   368  0   5   6 
     TOTALS       104  8.53 12.11  4.94  3.40  1.45  17  68   0  38  8292  5 120  97 
     LG AVERAGE   128  9.71 13.58  3.44  3.74  0.92  11  40   0  29  8627  4