The Top 100 Cubs Of All Time - #61 Larry French

by Al on Dec 20, 2006 8:45 AM CST in Top 100 Cubs Comment 15 comments

Photo taken in either 1935 or 1936, because those were the only years the Cubs wore that uniform while French was a Cub. He was thus either 27 or 28 when the photo was taken -- sure looks older than that to me.

Profile by BCB cartoonist Mike

A constant in Cubs history has been the dearth of reliable left-handed starting pitching. Larry French was the first steady rotation lefty since Jim Vaughn. He was a workhorse for three teams in his fourteen major-league seasons. Unique among the star ballplayers who went to war in the `40s, he gave up the game to make a new career in the military, retiring after 27 years of naval service.

Lawrence Herbert French was born November 1, 1907, in Visalia, California. At age 18, he was set to enter UC Berkeley as a pre-med student, when he threw his fourth semipro no-hitter for Eugene, Oregon. This game was witnessed by Ray Mack, son of Connie, who convinced French, and his parents, to give pro ball his first attention. After three minor league seasons, French made his major-league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates in May, 1929.

From his first full season in 1930, French piled up starts, innings, and decisions with clockwork regularity. His W-L records for his five full Pirate seasons: 17-18, 15-13, 18-16, 18-13, 12-18. Pittsburgh finished second in `32 and `33, but slipped badly in `34, a sub-.500 year. French's 12-18 was seen as a disappointment, and he was traded to the Cubs after that season. It was a major deal; the Cubs acquired French and Fred Lindstrom in exchange for Guy Bush, Jim Weaver, and Babe Herman.

French pitched seven seasons for the Cubs, posting a 95-74 record, with 21 shutouts. During the late-season 21-game winning streak that earned the Cubs the 1935 pennant, French won five games. He was 10-19 for the 1938 pennant winners, his only losing year for the Cubs except his last. In his two Cub World Series, his record was 0-2. His only WS start was a loss in game 6 in 1935, the clinching win for the Detroit Tigers.

A thumb injury contributed to a 4-15 record in 1941, and late in the season the Cubs sent French to the Dodgers for the waiver price. Adjusting to the situation, French worked on a knuckleball during the offseason, and gave Brooklyn one of his finest years in 1942, 15-4, leading the league in winning percentage. His last start in `42 was a 6-0 one-hitter aginst the Phillies in which he faced only 28 batters, one over the minimum.

It was to be his final season as a ballplayer. He joined the Navy in 1943, with his lifetime record at 197-171, with 40 shutouts. He vowed to return to get the milestone 200th victory, but made the military his career instead. He participated in the Normandy invasion as a landing craft material officer, and saw action in the Pacific theatre. He retired from active service in 1969, with the rank of Captain.

French died in San Diego on February 9, 1987.

Larry French's career stats from baseball-reference.com

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Comments

In an effort to avoid the diary police...

...even though it is off-topic to Mr. French, how would you like to have this AARP certified line-up?

"Maybe if the Giants can't work out the language in Bonds' contract, Ryan can play left full time! Right now, the Giants staters look like this (2007 seasonal ages):

C -- Benjie Molina, 31
1B -- Rich Aurilia, 35
1B -- Ryan Klesko, 36
2B -- Ray Durham, 35
3B -- Pedro Feliz, 31
SS -- Omar Vizquel, 40
LF -- Barry Bonds, 42
CF -- Dave Roberts, 35
RF -- Randy Winn, 33

Counting the 1B platoon as 35.5, that makes the average age of the starting lineup 35.3 years."

http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/018748.php

El Jefe

by Reverend Jim Ignatowski on Dec 20, 2006 9:34 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Yet another Cub I've never heard of

You learn something new every day. Well done, Mike.

HENDRY!

by cubbiejulie on Dec 20, 2006 9:55 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

French

I've heard of him, of course, and he sounds like the kind of pitcher the Cubs could have used last year: A workhorse who's always ready to take the ball and give some innings. Right now, Carlos Zambrano is the only pitcher on the team that can do this.

by danimal15 on Dec 20, 2006 10:24 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Zambrano gives you a lot of pitches

but not a lot of innings. If he could improve his control he could absolutely be an innings eater but until then he usually has to get up into ungodly pitch counts to get deep into games.

by TR on Dec 20, 2006 12:29 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Not a lot of innings?

2003 - 8th in NL in innings
2004 - not in top 10, but only 3 innings short of 10th
2005 - 9th in NL in innings
2006 - not in top 10, but only 4 innings short of 10th, and would have been in top 10 had he not missed a couple of starts in September

by Al on Dec 20, 2006 12:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

Zambrano gives a lot of innings for this day and age, but he could be a regular 240 to 260 innings a year guy if he'd go after hitters and not walk so many.

by danimal15 on Dec 20, 2006 12:59 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, brother.

No, he couldn't. No one throws 260 innings any more -- no one. The last pitcher to throw 260 innings was Roy Halladay, in 2003.

We know, we know, we know. Pitchers should complete their starts, like they did 30 years ago.

But the fact is, they don't. Throwing 210-220 innings today IS being a "horse". And Z does that every year.

by Al on Dec 20, 2006 1:02 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

But for Zambrano to accumulate those

innings takes way more of a toll on his arm than a more economical pitcher. Maybe his arm will survive all the strain. But if he had control he could be the rare pitcher of today that does get into the seventh and even the eighth regularly.

I know pitching has changed (for no real physical reason) and there aren't guys like Jenkins piling up 300 inning season anymore, but it's hard to think of these guys who pitch less than two-thirds of the innings their predecessors did as horses. There just aren't horses anymore which is fine. The game can survive without labeling guys innings-eaters and horses if no one deserves it.

by TR on Dec 20, 2006 1:26 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Z...

... made 33 starts in 2006. He pitched at least seven innings in 18 of them.

How many major league pitchers did as well or better? OK, I admit: I haven't looked. But I'd guess not many.

by Al on Dec 20, 2006 1:40 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Good point

I refuse to call a guy a horse if he's out of the game before the 7th inning in 40% of his starts. Maybe that's OK by today's standards. Mine are higher. Maybe unrealistically higher, but I can hope, can't I?

by danimal15 on Dec 20, 2006 2:13 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I think...

... you are being unrealistic. Hope, sure. But the game isn't going back to what it was, probably ever.

I haven't looked it up, but I imagine that with the very small number of CG's these days, that MOST good starting pitchers are out of the game in the 7th or 8th inning in 40% of their starts.

by Al on Dec 20, 2006 3:10 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm sure you're right

I'm not trying to be "realistic." I realize that your points are good.

But you don't seem to be considering the ill effects this development is having on baseball. Tell me with a straight face that baseball is better off without the great pitching duels we used to see like Gibson against Jenkins. Tell me it's better off with a no-hitter every three years instead of several a year. Tell me it's better off with six extra commercial breaks during games for mid-inning pitching changes.

by danimal15 on Dec 20, 2006 3:32 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs