On June 10, 1944, just four days after D-Day, the Cardinals found themselves facing Joe Nuxhall, a 15-year-old pitcher who had been facing high school opposition just a few weeks earlier.
They showed him no mercy.
Joe Nuxhall, a lefthander out of Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Ohio, lasted just 2/3 of an inning after allowing five runs on five walks and two hits – including one to defending National League MVP and future Hall of Famer Stan Musial.
“Probably two weeks prior to that, I was pitching against seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-graders, kids 13 and 14 years old,” Nuxhall said. “All of a sudden, I look up and there’s Stan Musial and the likes.”[1]
Nuxhall’s debut made him the youngest player in major-league history, a record he still holds today. Twenty days shy of his 16th birthday when he faced the Cardinals, Nuxhall was younger than two 16-year-olds who made their debuts in the 1950s: Alex George (1955) and Jim Derrington (1956).
With many of the nation’s young men drafted to serve in World War II, baseball teams found themselves desperate for players. The Redlegs were recruiting Nuxhall’s father, Orville “Ox” Nuxhall, when they discovered his 14-year-old, 6-foot-2 son playing in the same Sunday baseball league.
“They were just looking for people who had ability,” Nuxhall said. “My dad could throw hard. They were really scouting him. Almost by accident, they found me.”[2]
When Ox turned them down to focus on family and his job at General Motors, the Redlegs invited Joe to join them, ultimately signing him in February 1944 after receiving an exemption from child-labor laws.
“Nuxhall is a great prospect,” Cincinnati general manager Warren Giles told The Associated Press. “We are not signing him because of the war situation. Two other clubs wanted him, and he would have been signed, war or no war.”[3]
That June, when Nuxhall’s school year ended, he joined the Redlegs in time for their homestand against the two-time defending National League champion Cardinals, who were on their way to 105 wins and a World Series championship that fall.
On the day of Nuxhall’s debut, the Redlegs started righthander Bill Lohrmann, who recently had been released by the Dodgers. It proved to be the final start of Lohrmann’s nine-year big-league career.
In the first inning, Walker Cooper hit an RBI single to score Musial and give St. Louis a 1-0 lead. Lohrmann was chased from the game in the second, after Johnny Hopp and Debs Garms each hit RBI singles. Ed Heusser, a 35-year-old veteran who led the league with a 2.38 ERA that season, allowed four consecutive singles that extended the Cardinals’ lead to 7-0 before he was removed in favor of Buck Fausett.
Fausett battled through the eighth inning, allowing six runs on 10 hits and six walks. Nuxhall said he was enjoying the show the Cardinals offense was putting on until he heard manager Bill McKechnie’s voice telling him to warm up.[4]
In the ninth, Nuxhall got his opportunity. He was so nervous that he tripped as he emerged from the Cincinnati dugout.
“I was scared to death,” he said. “I got all shook up and tripped over the top step and fell flat on my face in the dirt. It was embarrassing.”
Nonetheless, Nuxhall got the first batter he faced, George Fallon, to ground out. The next batter, Mort Cooper, drew a walk before Augie Bergamo lined out.
“Then the wheels fell off,” Nuxhall said.[5]
Nuxhall walked the next batter, Garms, before Musial singled to load the bases. Walks to Walker Cooper and Danny Litwhiler each brought runs home before Emil Verban singled to left to drive in two more. Mercifully, McKechnie brought in another rookie lefthander, Jake Eisenhart, to finish the inning.
“Those people that were at Crosley Field that afternoon probably said, ‘Well, that’s the last we’ll see of that kid,’” Nuxhall said.[6]
By the time it was over, the Reds’ 18-0 loss was the most lopsided shutout defeat any team had suffered since 1906, when the Cubs beat the Giants 19-0. Altogether, the Reds’ five pitchers walked 14 batters while striking out just two.
Cardinals starter Mort Cooper scattered five hits and two walks in the complete-game shutout. Musial reached base six times, compiling three hits and three walks, and first baseman Ray Sanders added three hits and two walks. Musial, Walker Cooper, and Litwhiler drove in three runs apiece.
Nuxhall didn’t appear for the Reds again that season, as he was sent to the minors to refine his craft.
“That’s where I should have been in the first place,” he said.[7]
After continuing to pitch in the minors in 1945, Nuxhall returned to high school in 1946. He didn’t return to the big leagues until 1952, when he appeared in 37 games, primarily out of the bullpen. Nuxhall was named an all-star in 1955 and 1956 as part of a 16-year major-league career that included 135 career wins.
After retiring in April 1967, Nuxhall joined the Reds’ broadcast booth, where he and Marty Brennaman became a legendary duo in Cincinnati.
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[1] Joe Kay, “At Age 15, Nuxhall Grew Up in a Hurry: The Youngest-Ever Pitcher in Majors Broke in 50 Years Ago Against Musial,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1994.
[2] Joe Kay, “At Age 15, Nuxhall Grew Up in a Hurry: The Youngest-Ever Pitcher in Majors Broke in 50 Years Ago Against Musial,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1994.
[3] Thomas Harrigan, “How a 15-year-old pitched for the Reds,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/joe-nuxhall-youngest-player-in-al-nl-history.
[4] Marc Katz, “Nuxhall took mound as a teen, returned to build great career,” Dayton Daily News, November 17, 2007.
[5] Marc Katz, “Nuxhall took mound as a teen, returned to build great career,” Dayton Daily News, November 17, 2007.
[6] Joe Kay, “At Age 15, Nuxhall Grew Up in a Hurry: The Youngest-Ever Pitcher in Majors Broke in 50 Years Ago Against Musial,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1994.
[7] Les Biederman, “Nuxhall, Released By Angels, Started With Reds When 15,” Pittsburgh Press, May 13, 1962.