<\/a>On this date (July 10) in 1932, Philadelphia Athletics\u2019 righty Edwin Americus (Eddie) Rommel<\/strong> <\/span>(often terms the \u201cfather of the knuckleball\u201d) earned his 171^{st<\/sup> and final major league victory \u2013 and it was hard-earned to be sure.<\/p>\n}

Rommel, at age 34 and in his 13^{th<\/sup> season with the Athletics, came on in relief of starter Lew Krausse in the bottom of the second, with the Athletics trailing 3-2. \u00a0Seventeen innings later, Rommel had his final MLB win, as the Athletic prevailed 18-17.\u00a0\u00a0 That win came after Rommel had surrendered 14 runs (13 earned) on nine walks, while also giving up a single-game recorded 29 hits. Notably, the Athletics had just finished a series in Philadelphia (against the White Sox) and were traveling to Cleveland for a one-game (make-up game) stand before playing in Philadelphia again on July 11.\u00a0 In an apparent cost-saving move, they brought only two pitchers (Krausse and Rommel) to Cleveland. Rommel pitched in only five more MLB games (all in 1932) \u2013 going 0-2, 3.86 in those games and 1-2, 5.51 on the season. \u00a0He finished his MLB pitching career with a 171-119, 3.54 record in 501 appearances (249 starts \u2013 145 complete games.)<\/p>\n}

If Rommel\u2019s name sounds familiar, not only did he win 171 MLB games, he also \u00a0spent 22 years (1938-59) as a major league umpire \u2013 working a half dozen All Star games and two World Series.<\/p>\n

In Eddie Rommel’s 29-hit final victory, Indians\u2019\u00a0 shortstop and number-two hitter Johnny Burnett collected a single-game MLB record nine hits (11 at bats), with eight of those safeties coming off Rommel.\u00a0 Burnett had seven singles and two doubles, with four runs scored and two RBI.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The 29-outing was not indicative of Rommel\u2019s skills on the mound.\u00a0 In 1922, he led the American League in victories, despite pitching for an under-performing (or under-talented) Athletics team.\u00a0 That season, Rommel went 27-13, 3.29, while the Athletics went 65-89. \u00a0Then, in 1925, Rommel again led the AL in wins with a 21-10, 3.69 record \u2013 pitching for an improved Athletics squad (88-64).<\/p>\n

On Opening Day in 1926, Eddie Rommel was involved in what has become a legendary Opening Day match up. It came on April 13, with Rommel and his Athletics facing future Hall of Famer Walter Johnson and the Senators. The game ended in a 1-0 Senators win, with both Rommel and Johnson going the distance \u00a0Johnson\u2019s effort \u2013 his final Opening Day start (at age 38) – gave him the longest Opening Day shutout ever.\u00a0 Over his career, Johnson won a record nine Opening Day games (against five Opening Day losses) and tossed a record seven Opening Day shutouts.\u00a0 Arguably, no one made Johnson work harder for an Opening Day win than Eddie Rommel.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; \u201cEddie Rommel,\u201d by Tim Deal, Society for American Baseball Research.<\/em><\/p>\n

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On this date (July 10) in 1932, Philadelphia Athletics\u2019 righty Edwin Americus (Eddie) Rommel (often terms the \u201cfather of the knuckleball\u201d) earned his 171st and final major league victory \u2013 and it was hard-earned to be sure. Rommel, at age 34 and in his 13th season with the Athletics, came on in relief of starter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n