Allen Sothoron

Allen Sothoron
Pitcher
Born: (1893-04-27)April 27, 1893 Bradford, Ohio
Died: St. Louis, Missouri
Batted: Switch Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 17, 1914, for the St. Louis Browns
Last MLB appearance
September 6, 1926, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	91–99
Earned run average	3.31
Strikeouts	576
Teams
St. Louis Browns (1914–1915, 1917–1921) Boston Red Sox (1921) Cleveland Indians (1921–1922) St. Louis Cardinals (1924–1926)
Career highlights and awards
Led National League pitchers in shutouts (1924)

Allen Sutton Sothoron (April 27, 1893 – June 17, 1939) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. As a player, he was a spitball pitcher who spent 11 years in the Major Leagues playing for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Cardinals. Born in Bradford, Ohio, Sothoron threw -handed5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 182 pounds (83 kg). He attended Albright College and Juniata College.

Career

Sothoron broke into the Major Leagues when the spitball was still legal. His best season came in 1919, when he posted a 20–13 record with a 2.20 earned run average for the Browns, finishing fifth in the American League in wins and ERA. After the spitball was outlawed following the 1919 campaign, Sothoron at first was not permitted to throw the spitter, then in mid-1920 he was added to a list of 17 spitballers in the Majors who were allowed to continue using the banned pitch. But he was never able to match his 1919 numbers. His pitching career ended in St. Louis with the National League Cardinals, where he played for his first MLB manager, Branch Rickey, and led the NL in shutouts with four in 1924, despite a medicocre 10–16 (3.57) record. During his MLB career, he appeared in 264 games pitched, and allowed 1,583 hits and 596 bases on balls in 1,582⅓ innings pitched. He struck out 576 and hurled 102 complete games.

In 1921, sportswriter Bugs Baer came up with this immortal quip: "Allen S. Sothoron pitched his initials off yesterday."

After his playing days, he managed in minor league baseball, coached for the Cardinals (1927), Boston Braves (1928), and Browns (1932–1933), and with the 1933 Browns he served a brief, eight-game managerial stint after the dismissal of Bill Killefer. He was replaced with hometown favorite Rogers Hornsby.

Sothoron (whose first name is sometimes spelled "Allan" but whose personal documents show his preference for "Allen") died in St. Louis at age 46 in the middle of the 1939 season after a series of illnesses.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)