WARREN MARTIN

Warren Martin was born April 30, 1922, and attended Saginaw High School where he was a three-sport athlete. The 6-foot-1 right hander once won 16 straight games in American Legion baseball, was signed by the Chicago White Sox and in 1941 after Martin’s junior year of high school. In 1940 he was 12-10 with a 3.45 ERA at Jonesboro, while striking out 149 batters in 28 games. That same year Martin beat Hall of Famer Warren Spahn and struck out 16 in another game pitching for Saginaw where he was 7-6. In 1941 he headed to Pasadena, CA., for spring training with the White Sox but pitched for Saginaw that season. Martin finished high school that year after promising his mother he would graduate. In 1942, Martin was 9-9 with Madison, WI., before serving three years in the U.S. Army during World War II. During the war fought on the front lines in France and ultimately received the Combat Infantry Medal and the Bronze Star while serving with the 103rd infantry unit. Despite a knee injury that occurred while jumping into a foxhole, Martin returned to baseball in 1946 where he was 12-6 with Tacoma. The next season in Des Moines he went 10-6 with a 4.68 ERA. Martin struck out 80 in 146 innings. In 1948 he won two games with Denver, striking out 39 in 98 innings. Martin would go on to post a 5-7 record with Saginaw in 1949.He had a 3.10 ERA and struck out 109 batters in 145 innings. Still with the Saginaw Bears in 1950, Martin was 10-14 with a 4.32 ERA, with 83 strikeouts and 109 walks in 199 innings. Pitching only home games the next season for the Saginaw Jack Rabbits, Martin went 13-5 and posted an earned-run-average of 3.71. He fanned 136 for the season. On May 24, 1951, Martin hurled all 14 innings in a 5-4 win against Muskegon. On June 14, 1951, he threw a threehitter during a 5-0 win over Grand Rapids in front of 1,506 fans on Harold D. Draper Night. Martin got three hits and threw a sixhit win over Dayton on August 17, 1951. In 1952 Martin pitched for Austin, Texas, where he was 7-7 with a 3.11 ERA – fourth best in the league – and had 12 complete games. On April 3, 1952, He then pitched the next two years in Minot, North Dakota and Rochester, Minnesota. All told, he pitched 14 years of minor league baseball in the White Sox and Cubs’ organizations, rising as high as Triple-A before injuring his arm. Martin had a career record of 110-99.