Johnny Sain, an outstanding pitcher with the Boston Braves in the 1940s who later became renowned as baseball's preeminent pitching coach, died Nov. 7 at Resthaven West Nursing Home in Downers Grove, Ill., from the lingering effects of a stroke four years ago. He was 89.
Between 1946 and 1950, Mr. Sain won 20 games four times and led the Braves to the National League championship in 1948. He and fellow pitcher Warren Spahn were so crucial to the Braves' pennant run that year that an enduring slogan grew up around them: "Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain."
Mr. Sain also had the distinctions of being the last pitcher to face Babe Ruth in a game and the first to face Jackie Robinson.
After his playing career, he achieved unparalleled success as a pitching coach with six big-league teams. Sixteen of his pitchers won 20 games in a season-- the benchmark of pitching excellence -- and he coached the major leagues' last 30-game winner, Denny McLain, who won 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1968.
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Mr. Sain's only rival as a pitching coach is Leo Mazzone, formerly of the Atlanta Braves and now with the Baltimore Orioles. Mazzone has said he learned all he knows about pitching from Mr. Sain, spending long hours with him during spring training in Florida.
Many longtime baseball observers believe Mr. Sain's achievement as a player and coach should have earned him a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
"Johnny Sain belongs in the Hall of Fame for a combination of his accomplishments as a great pitcher and pitching coach," one of his former pitchers, Jim Bouton, told the Chicago Tribune. "He's the greatest pitching coach who ever lived."
Mr. Sain believed pitchers benefited from steady work and was opposed to the modern five-man rotation, in which pitchers rest for four days between starts. In his day, he pitched on three days' rest and often less.
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During the September pennant drive of 1948, Mr. Sain started nine games in 29 days. He pitched a complete nine-inning game in each start and won seven times. He had 24 wins that year, with 28 complete games; in 2006, no big-league pitcher had more than six complete games.
Mr. Sain could correct a pitcher's flaws and teach him pitches, but he was revolutionary in his emphasis on the mental side of pitching. He consulted books on psychology, salesmanship and warfare and was a keen student of Machiavelli -- "especially the parts on cunning," he once said.
On the other hand, he thought excessive running and physical fitness were counterproductive.
"You don't run the ball up to home plate," he said.
John Franklin Sain was born Sept. 25, 1917, in Havana, Ark., a village of 500 people. He struggled for four years at the lowest level of professional baseball before making the majors in 1942.
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During World War II, he became a Navy aviator and pitched for a military team that included Ted Williams and other big leaguers. On July 28, 1943, his team played an exhibition game at Yankee Stadium against a group of major leaguers managed by Babe Ruth.
"In the fifth inning, Babe decides to pinch-hit," Mr. Sain once recalled. "So here I am, pitching to the Babe. Between me and the ump, we walked the Babe."
It was the last time Ruth ever appeared in an organized game. Four years later, on April 15, 1947, Mr. Sain was the first pitcher to face Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
After pitching with the Braves, New York Yankees and Kansas City Athletics, Mr. Sain retired in 1955 with a career record of 139-116 and an earned run average of 3.49.
He worked for the Athletics in the late 1950s before joining the Yankees as pitching coach in 1961, helping lead the team to three straight World Series. Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford had his only 20-win seasons under Mr. Sain's tutelage, winning 25 games in 1961 and 24 in 1963.
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Joining the Minnesota Twins in 1965, Mr. Sain transformed a mediocre pitching staff into one of the league's best as the team unexpectedly won the 1965 American League pennant. In 1967, he moved on to the Tigers, where he guided the mercurial McLain to two Cy Young Awards as the American League's best pitcher.
With the Chicago White Sox from 1970 to 1975, Mr. Sain built a strong pitching staff, and he closed out his career with the Atlanta Braves from 1985 to 1988, tutoring the young Mazzone on the finer points of pitching.
Mr. Sain's marriage to Doris Sain ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Mary Ann Sain of Oak Brook, Ill.; four children from his first marriage; a stepson; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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