If not for the fact that he suffered two major shoulder injuries, Ted Abernathy probably would have washed out of professional baseball long before his 30th birthday. That’s a pretty odd thing to say about a pitcher, but in his case it happens to be true.
The first one happened when he was a freshman in high school in Stanley, North Carolina. He was playing in the outfield, trying to make a long throw after fielding a ball, when he felt something tear in his shoulder. It was two different muscles, not a great thing for an aspiring pitcher, but Abernathy made the most of it. No longer able to effectively throw overhand, he shifted to a three-quarter delivery and thrived with it. He pitched well enough to be signed by the Washington Nationals* in early 1952.
(*Note: This is not the current Washington Nationals, who actually started as the Montreal Expos. The franchise Abernathy signed with began as the Senators, switched to being the Nationals, then went back to being the Senators again. Then they left town and became the Minnesota Twins. Then a whole new Washington Senators franchise started as an expansion team before leaving to become the Texas Rangers. It can be confusing.)
Assigned to the Roanoke Rapids Jays of the D-Ball Coastal Plain League near his hometown, Abernathy was outstanding in that first year of pro ball. He won 20 games, had a 1.69 ERA, and struck out an incredible 293 hitters in 255 innings. That earned him a spot on the roster of the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts the next season, and he had a great beginning to that season, too. He was 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA in his first 7 games when Uncle Sam came calling and he was drafted into the Army for service in the closing days of the Korean War.
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