Nuxhall, Scheib Youngest in MLB
Joe Nuxhall, Carl Scheib played Major League Baseball as Teenagers
Major League Baseball teams have always given opportunities to young baseball players. Some of those gifted players where younger than most, making their big league debut as teenagers.
The Cincinnati Reds had a special home opener for the 2008 season for one such player
During their April 4 home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies at Great American Ballpark, each Red coach and player wore the number 41.
They did this to honor Joe Nuxhall, a former Reds pitcher who was the team’s longtime radio and television broadcaster. Nuxhall died during the off-season at the age of 79.
Nuxhall had an excellent career with the Reds, Kansas City A’s and Los Angeles Angels that spanned 22 years. But the biggest factor Nuxhall will be remembered for is this.
He is the youngest player to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era
Nuxhall first pitched for the Reds in 1944 when he was 15 years old. He ended his playing career with the Reds in 1966.
The Hamilton, Ohio, native got his break for one reason. There was a player shortage in Major League Baseball during World War II due to players being called up for the United States military.
Nuxhall, however, proved he belonged in the big leagues after the war ended and the regular players returned. He still holds the Reds career record for career games pitched at 484 games.
Fred Chapman is the youngest player ever in MLB
Some baseball fans believe that records before the pre-modern era (the time before 1900) count as much as today. The year 1900 was the season the American League was formed, with the two major leagues of the National League and American League still competing.
The National League was formed in 1871 and for awhile competed with the American Association in the late 19th century.
It was during the 1887 season that 14-year old Freddy Chapman played for the Philadelphia Athletics.
The youngster only played in one professional game, so from a career standpoint, Chapman doesn’t compare to Nuxhall.
Scheib youngest American League player
The beginning of Carl Scheib’s baseball career is very similar to that of Nuxhall.
Scheib also benefited from the player shortage during World War II and made his big league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League in 1943.
Scheib was also 15 years old at the time and played the season before Nuxhall in 1944. Nuxhall has the record by a few months.
Philadelphia A’s owner and manager Connie Mack signed Scheib, after the right-handed youngster pitched a game for his high school baseball team in Gratz, Pa., a small farming community north of the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg.
Also like Nuxhall, Scheib survived in the big leagues after the regular players came back from the war. He had an 11 year career that was interrupted from 1947 to 1949 because of military service.
Scheib was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954 and finished his career that season. Among other things, Scheib was known as a good hitting pitcher with a .298 average in 1948.
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