First MLB WWII Inductee, 'Losing Pitcher' Hugh Mulcahy

Hugh Mulcahy, a right-handed pitcher who started regularly for the dismal 1940s-era Philadelphia Phillies, was the first MLB regular inducted to serve in World War II. Inducted on March 8, 1941—nine months before Pearl Harbor—Mulcahy lost five potentially productive MLB seasons.

Before the 27-year-old left in 1941 for Camp Edwards on Cape Cod, Mulcahy was full of vim and vigor. He predicted that a year away from professional baseball should not hamper his career. "I won't be 28 until September," explained the 6-foot-2-inch fireballer, "and they say that a pitcher's prime comes between the ages of 28 and 31. So, by the time I come out of the army, I should be just about reaching my peak."

A Career Built on Losses

Mulcahy's optimism was, on the surface, hard to fathom. By the time 1941 rolled around, he had put in six seasons with the Phillies and won 43 games but lost 82, including the four years that preceded his induction when his record was 8-18, 10-20, 9-16, and 13-22. The young righty absorbed losses so frequently that he became known as Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy, or "LP" for short.

What does not show up in Mulcahy's won-loss records is the dismal performance of the Phillies. In 1937, Mulcahy was the ace of the Phillies staff, led the league with 56 appearances, and tied the great Christy Mathewson with 216 innings pitched for most National League appearances. His 8-18 won-loss record was compiled for the seventh-place Phillies, who finished 34½ games behind the pennant-winning New York Giants—the Phillies' only finish out of the basement during Mulcahy's four principal years with the club.

More of the same followed for LP in 1938, his second full year in the majors. Mulcahy appeared in 46 games, starting 34, and pitched 267 innings while compiling a 10-20 record for a team that finished in the basement, 24½ games out of seventh place. Manager Jimmie Wilson had little tolerance for the LP nickname. "Call him Losing Pitcher Mulcahy if you like," he said, "but he's one hell of a pitcher." At the end of the season, Wilson told Mulcahy that in winning ten games for a 45-105 team, he should consider himself a 20-game winner.

When Casey Stengel learned that his New York Yankees had acquired Don Larsen, 3-21, from the Baltimore Orioles in a 17-player 1954 trade, he said, “You have to be a damn fine pitcher to lose 21 games,” inferring that if the manager keeps sending his guy out to the mound, he still has confidence in him.

By 1939, Mulcahy's string of bad pitching luck continued. Hampered by a sore shoulder in spring training and again late in the year, a slow start led to a 9-16 record and 266 innings for a dismal team that ended up with a 45-106 record—50½ games out of first place and 18 games behind the seventh-place Boston Bees. Manager Wilson rebuked reporters who referred to Mulcahy as "LP" and suggested that his proper nickname should be "Iron Man."

Mulcahy's 1940 season—13-22 but with 21 complete games—was notable for his selection to the National League All-Star game. But as always, the hapless Phillies let the "Iron Man" down. The Phillies hit a league-worst .238, managed just 50 wins, and finished 50 games behind the pennant-winning Cincinnati Reds.

After the War

After his discharge, Mulcahy had nothing left. GM Herb Pennock said, “We’d like nothing better than to see Hugh get in there and pitch the way he did before the war.” Pennock’s hopes were dashed as Mulcahy remained on the Phillies roster for two more seasons before finishing up in 1947 with another perennial loser, the Pittsburgh Pirates. For those three seasons, Mulcahy’s record was 3-7.

In 1947, after the Pirates released Mulcahy, Red Smith wrote,

“Chances are there has not been in modern times another ballplayer with ability comparable with Mulcahy’s who put so much into baseball and took so little out, that is, no one who wasn’t at least partly at fault, no one at once so deserving and unlucky.

“In a strictly professional sense, Mulcahy is the major war casu­alty among big-league players. He didn’t get shot, like John Grodzicki or young Bob Savage. He wasn’t knocked out of the skies and imprisoned like Phil Marchildon. But those fellows were young enough to come back and start over. Mulcahy only lost a career that seemed just about to come full flower when he had to give it up [for military service].”

Looking back, Mulcahy held no grudges about his early Army induction or his misfortune pitching for the punchless Phillies. He noted, "A lot of guys went to the war and didn't come back. I came back and had a long career in baseball. I feel I was fortunate, not cheated." Mulcahy served 53 months, including a year in New Guinea and the Philippines, before receiving his honorable discharge on August 5, 1945. He earned a Bronze Star and three campaign ribbons. The "Iron Man" succumbed to cancer in October 2001 at age 88.

Read more about Mulcahy’s inspirational life here in C. Paul Rogers III SABR essay.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research historian. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com