Visit the Baseball History Comes Alive Home Page
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive
Free Bonus for Subscribing:
Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide
Photo Gallery
Another Edition of
Baseball’s Forgotten Stars:
Larry French
“He’s destined to become one of the greatest hurlers in the National League.” – Lefty Grove, speaking of a young Larry French
A picture of consistency, Larry French worked 14 seasons in the majors from 1929 until 1942, when he was called away to the war. One of the most underrated players of his time, French began his career in 1929 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was an innings eater, pitching more than 260 innings each year from 1930-1934.1
Larry was not an overpowering pitcher. Instead, he relied on change-ups, breaking balls, and a screwball. Often compared to Carl Hubbell, the two were considered the best screwball pitchers in baseball at the time. “The Screwball is a right-hander’s curveball thrown by a left-hander. It is thrown with a loose grip with the fingers across the seams, and it revolves rapidly, breaking down and away, 8-10 inches.2
Traded to the Cubs in 1935, he was instrumental in helping Chicago win the pennant that season and once again in 1938. From 1930 to 1938, Larry averaged 16 wins a season and 268 innings pitched. Only Carl Hubbell pitched more innings, and only Dizzy Dean and Carl Hubbell won more games. He led the National League in shutouts with four in 1935 and 1936. An abysmal start to 1941 saw French go 5-14 with the Cubs before being placed on waivers in August and claimed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Unknown at the time, French had been pitching with a broken thumb suffered in an off-season softball game that he told no one about.
Adding a knuckleball to his repertoire, French rebounded in 1942, going 15-4 with an ERA of 1.83. On September 23, 1942, in a game against the Phillies, French came within one bad-hop single of a perfect game. He faced a minimum of 27 batters in the game. After the season ended, French enlisted in the Navy and remained there until 1969, retiring at the rank of Captain. It would seem to me that if not for the war, French might have pitched another three or four years.
Over fourteen seasons, Larry French won 197 games and lost 171, recording an ERA of 3.44. He started 383 games, completed 199, and collected 40 shutouts. Larry appeared in the World Series three times, each time on the losing side. In seven postseason games, he went 0-2 over 15 innings with a 3.00 ERA. Larry French could well be the best left-handed pitcher not in the Hall of Fame.
[Ed. note: According to SABR’s Similarity Scores feature, two Hall of Fame pitchers and five 200-game winners are among the top-10 pitchers most similar to Larry French. The two HOF’ers are Rube Marquard and Jesse Haines, with Marquardt being the most similar to French of the ten.]
His Cub teammate, Phil Cavarretta, reflected on the career of Larry French:
“Larry didn’t get the credit he deserved. He was a better pitcher than a lot of people thought he was, because he didn’t throw hard. He had a real good screwball, had a pretty good curve. He would never beat himself. You had to beat him. So many hitters went up and faced him and would say, ‘Jesus, with that garbage you’re throwing, how the hell can you get anybody out?“3
So today, we’re glad to shine our baseball spotlight on one of baseball’s true overlooked stars from the 1930s: Larry French
Mick Janacek
Sources:
1 Larry French Stats. Baseball-reference.com, Retrieved June 16, 2025.
2 Cubs Seeking to Bolster Weak Outfit: May not Have to Travel Far. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 3, 1933, pg 23.
3 Golenbock, Wrigleyville. A Magical History Tour of the Chicago Cubs. New York. St Martin’s Press. Page 254
Wolf, Gregory H. Sabr.org. Larry French. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/larry-french/ Retrieved June 16, 2025.
Opening quote from article by Harold C. Burr, “ ‘Ruth Is Good For Five Years More,’ Says Gehrig,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 18, 1932, 20 (found on Gregory Wolf SABR biography of Larry French)
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide. https://wp.me/P7a04E-2he
