Braves left-hander Warren Spahn sets a National League mark for shutouts thrown by a southpaw

On September 3, 1957 — Milwaukee Braves ace Warren Spahn tossed a six-hitter and blanked the Chicago Cubs, 8-0, to set a new National League record for shutouts by a southpaw. It was the Hall of Fame left-hander’s 41st career shutout, breaking the record held by Larry French, who was a mainstay of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cubs in the 1930s.

Pitching for the first-place Braves on a Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, where just 7,490 fans were on hand to watch the Cubs battle to stay out of the NL cellar, Spahn worked a scoreless duel with Cubs lefty Dick Littlefield until the Braves used four singles, two walks and two wild pitches to tally five runs in the seventh inning. Hank Aaron added a three-run shot in the eighth, and Spahn worked around two singles to open the ninth to complete the shutout. On the day, he fanned five Cubs and walked just one.

After helping to lead Milwaukee to a seven-game victory over the New York Yankees in the World Series that fall, and winning the Cy Young Award, the 36-year-old Spahn went on to pitch eight more seasons and retired with 63 shutouts.

He still holds the record for National League shutouts by a left-hander and ranks sixth all-time among all NL and AL pitchers behind Walter Johnson (110), Pete Alexander (90), Christy Mathewson (79), Cy Young (76) and Eddie Plank (69). Among the six, Mathewson, Young and Plank worked exclusively in the dead-ball era, Johnson mostly did as well, and Alexander split his career nearly evenly between the dead-ball and live-ball eras.

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