This really happened. This guy won 3 games his whole MLB career:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19610130&id=DPdNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IYsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3048,1677644&hl=it


So yes, this kind of weirdness occurs. That time, it decided a pennant race.

sample size...

Thanks for posting this prof. never herd of old Floyd Giebell before. As an avid fan for decades who followed the Tigers as a kid, I would have thought this story would have come up at some point... maybe it did and I just forgot, but the article is awesome. Good find!

Great read...having just recently played the 1940 season in a progressive, I knew the names of every player in the article except him. Great story for sure that I'm sure he told countless times to his friends and family. Hooray for the unsung heroes!

Amazing Floyd Giebel is not more famous for this episode. He pitched four games in his major league career, went 3-1. After 1940 he never pitched in the major again - he spent two years playing in Buffalo, was in the war for three years, and worked the rest of his life as a quality control expert at a steel factory.

Imagine the conversations in bars or picking up women: "I won the 1940 pennant for the Tigers. Really..."

He died in 2004 at age 95. Forgotten by baseball.