Baseball: ex major leaguer hank borowy dies

Former Major League Pitcher Borowy Dies

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BRICK, N.J. - Hank Borowy, who helped pitch the New York Yankees (news) to the 1943 World Series (news - web sites) championship and two years later lost Game 7 with the Chicago Cubs (news), has died. He was 88.

Borowy died Monday.


Borowy was the last pitcher to get four decisions in a World Series, going 2-2 in 1945. He pitched a shutout against Detroit in Game 1, started and lost Game 5, won in relief the next day and then was knocked out in the first inning of the deciding game at Wrigley Field.


The right-hander was 108-82 with a 3.50 ERA from 1942-51 with the Yankees, Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies (news), Pittsburgh and Detroit. He started the 1944 All-Star game and pitched three scoreless innings, and was again picked for the AL squad in 1945 — there was no game that year because of travel restrictions during World War II.


Borowy's best season was 1945, when he became the first pitcher in modern history to win at least 10 games in a year for two different teams. He went 10-5 for the Yankees, and was sold to the Cubs for $97,000 on July 27.


With the Cubs, he went 11-2 and gave them a chance to win the World Series for the first time since 1908. The Cubs have not reached the Series since Borowy lost to the Tigers 9-3 in Game 7.


Before Borowy, no pitcher had gotten four decisions in a Series since 1917, when Red Faber did it for the Chicago White Sox (news).


Borowy was 15-4 as a rookie for the Yankees in 1942. He started Game 4 of the World Series that fall and lost to St. Louis.


Borowy went 14-9 in 1943 and won Game 3 against the Cardinals, pitching eight strong innings at Yankee Stadium. New York won the title in five games.


There will be a funeral mass Thursday in Borowy's hometown of Bloomfield, N.J. He is survived by two daughters, a son, a sister and two brothers