Courtesy of Steven Goldman at Baseball Prospectus (www.baseballprospectus.com), though copied without permission:
An epically mishandled super-prospect, though no one knew any better at the time. Signed by the Dodgers in 1950 for just $600, Spooner had great raw stuff for a left-hander, but the Dodgers failed to nurture it. His 1954 with Fort Worth of the Texas League was amazing, and by today’s standards spectacularly abusive. He pitched 42 games, starting 31. He threw 238 innings, allowed 176 hits, 162 walks, and struck out 262. His ERA was 3.14. According to the Sporting News, “His blazing fastball has brought him a one-hitter, three two-hitters, one three-hitter, one four-hitter and two five-hitters. He once struck out 15 men in one game, twice whiffed 14, once fanned 13, and three times struck out 12.” (He also pitched two no-hitters at the lower levels.) To that innings total, add in winter ball during the previous winter and several starts in the ’54 Texas League playoffs. In the last of them, Spooner pitched 16 innings.
Spooner had help on at least one of his Fort Worth strikeouts. In a July road game against the Houston Buffs, the umpire called Spooner’s first pitch on batter George Lerchen a strike. Lerchen argued the call, stepping out of the box to do so. The umpire ordered him to hit, but Lerchen kept arguing. The umpire told Spooner to pitch to the empty box. He did, and the umpire called strike two. A whole bunch of ejections followed, including Lerchen, his manager (Dixie Walker), and two other Buffs. When the pinch-hitter to finish Lerchen’s at-bat was slow in arriving, the umpire told Spooner to pitch again, even though there was no batter at the plate. Strike three was called. More ejections followed and a near-riot on the part of the Buffs fans, but the K is part of the record…
The Dodgers were in the process of losing the pennant to the Giants by a mere five games, in large part because their starting rotation was weak, so their failure to call up Spooner sooner played a significant role in the race. Spooner was a drawing card for the Cats and ownership was reluctant to let him go, so the Dodgers left him in Texas until the very end of the season. When a couple of their starters went out with sore arms at the very end of the season, manager Walter Alston decided to give him a try. Spooner started against the NL champion Giants on September 22 (though Leo Durocher rested most of his regulars after an at-bat or two each) and pitched a three-hitter (Alvin Dark, Willie Mays, and Johnny Antonelli got him), walking three and striking out 15. He struck out the side three times, and at one point struck out six consecutive batters. He K’d his last batter, pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes, who was having a season for the ages (.341/.410/.695), one which he would carry into the World Series. In Peter Golenbock’s Bums, Clem Labine recalled, “That man had a fastball that was unbelievable, not for sheer speed, but for how much the ball moved… I can remember Dusty Rhodes… saying to Leo, ‘Give me a bat. I can hit this kid.’ And he went out there and took three strikes, boom, boom, boom, never swung at one. He went back to the dugout and conceded, ‘Yeah, he has good stuff.’”
After the game, catcher Roy Campanella said, “He’s the greatest young pitcher I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t believe it.” Spooner had time for one more start before the season ended. He pitched a four-hit shutout against the Pirates, striking out 12. That was the last game of the season. Spooner’s debut went into the books: 18 innings, seven hits, no runs, six walks, 27 strikeouts.
Spooner and the Dodgers spent the winter dreaming on the terrific rotation they would have in 1955, with the young fireballer joining don Newcombe, Carl Erskine, and Johnny Podres. During spring training, as Spooner was hurriedly warming up to get into a game, something tore in his shoulder. The Dodgers nursed him through 29 games, but the stuff was gone forever. Surgery failed to bring it back, and Spooner’s career was over.