Chuck Churn

Who is Chuck Churn?

Clarence Nottingham Churn was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched in 25 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1957 to 1959.

Churn was signed as an amateur free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates before the start of the 1949 season. His first callup to the major leagues was in the 1957 season. His major league debut was on April 18, 1957 against the Brooklyn Dodgers, when he gave up two hits and two runs in one inning of work. That season, Churn pitched in five games for the Pirates, and ending the seasons with no decisions and a 4.32 earned run average, having given up four runs in 8⅓ innings of work.

He was selected by the Boston Red Sox from the Pirates in the 1957 Rule 5 draft held on December 2. He was selected off waivers on March 26, 1958 by the Cleveland Indians from the Red Sox. He pitched in six games for the Indians in the 1958 season, ending with no decisions and a 6.23 ERA in 8⅔ innings of work. In May 1958, he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the Indians.

The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Churn in a trade with the Reds on May 6, 1959 in exchange for Dick Hanlon. Churn's first career win in the major leagues came in a game on September 2, 1959, when the Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-6, with Churn pitching the final 4⅔ innings to get the win. Churn got his second win on September 11 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Churn came into the game in the eighth inning in relief of Sandy Koufax with the Dodgers down 4-2. The Dodgers scored another run in the eighth and then scored two runs off of Elroy Face in the bottom of the ninth. Churn pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings to get the win. The loss was charged to Face, the only loss in a season in which he finished with an 18-1 record. The last regular season game of his career was on September 29 against the Milwaukee Braves. Churn finished the 1959 season with a 3-2 record and one save to along with a 4.99 ERA in 14 appearances.