Career Stats
Regular Season
| Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | 35 | 21 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 203.0 | 179 | 91 | 118 | 83 | 4.03 | 1.29 |
| 1933 | 27 | 24 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 200.0 | 187 | 97 | 129 | 95 | 4.37 | 1.41 |
| 1934 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 71.2 | 62 | 23 | 54 | 32 | 2.89 | 1.31 |
| 1935 | 24 | 23 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 170.2 | 157 | 72 | 115 | 60 | 3.80 | 1.27 |
| Career | 99 | 78 | 50 | 19 | 3 | 645.1 | 585 | 283 | 416 | 270 | 3.95 | 1.32 |
Career-best seasons highlighted in gold. Stats via Retrosheet.
Postseason
| Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | 1 | -- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 40.50 | -- |
| Career | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Johnny Allen was a pitcher who played for the New York Yankees from 1932 to 1935. Career stats: 50-19 record, 3.95 ERA, 416 strikeouts.
Johnny Allen won 17 games and lost only 4 as a rookie for the 1932 New York Yankees, posting a 3.70 ERA and leading the American League in winning percentage at .810. He spent four seasons in pinstripes, going 50-19 for a team that won a championship in his first year and never asked him to be anything less than a frontline starter. He also carried a temper that would eventually cost him his job in the Bronx.
Path to the Bronx
Allen's road to Yankee Stadium ran through an orphanage. His father died of appendicitis when Allen was a boy, and his mother, unable to raise four children alone, sent Johnny and two siblings to the Thomasville Baptist Orphanage in North Carolina. That's where he first played organized ball.
He worked as a hotel clerk in Aberdeen, North Carolina, pitching for the town's semipro team on the side. From there it was Class B ball in Greensboro, then the Asheville Tourists, where Yankees scout Johnny Nee got a look at his fastball in 1929 and signed him on the spot. Allen was 24. He wouldn't reach the majors for three more years.
Yankees Career
He made his debut on April 19, 1932, at age 27 (old for a rookie in any era) -- manager Joe McCarthy didn't care once he saw the arm. Allen slotted into a rotation with Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing, the trio that anchored the 1932 pitching staff on a club that won 107 games and swept the World Series.
| Yankees Record | 50-19, 3.95 ERA (1932-1935) |
| Rookie Season (1932) | 17-4, 3.70 ERA, led AL in winning percentage (.810) |
| Best ERA Season (1934) | 5-2, 2.89 ERA in 71.2 IP |
| World Series Titles | 1 (1932) |
| Career (All Teams) | 142-75, .654 winning percentage |
His rookie year wasn't a fluke. He followed it with a 15-7 season in 1933, then a sharper if lighter 1934 -- just 71.2 innings, but a 2.89 ERA, his best mark as a Yankee. In 1935 he went 13-6 with a 3.61 ERA. Across four seasons, Allen never had a losing record.
He expects to win every time he pitches, and if he doesn't win, he may turn on anybody.
Painter wasn't exaggerating for effect. Allen's fuse was short and his reputation for it followed him everywhere he pitched. The Yankees tolerated it as long as he kept winning. When the winning came with holdouts and clubhouse friction attached, McCarthy's patience ran out.
Allen's only World Series work came in Game 4 of the 1932 sweep at Wrigley Field. It went badly. He retired two batters, gave up three earned runs on five hits, and was gone before the first inning ended. The Yankees won 13-6 anyway and finished the sweep without him.
Traded to Cleveland
On December 11, 1935, the Yankees sent Allen to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Monte Pearson and Steve Sundra. Owner Jacob Ruppert said plainly that Sundra was "the man we wanted all the time." Babe Ruth reportedly disagreed with the whole deal, feeling McCarthy had just traded away his best right-hander -- and the club's pennant chances along with him.
Allen proved Ruth's point in a hurry (Ruth usually did his arguing after the fact, but this one held up). He won 20 games for Cleveland in 1936, set an American League record with 15 straight wins to open the 1937 season, and made his only All-Star team in 1938 after starting that year 12-0. His most famous moment came that June, at Fenway Park, when umpire Bill McGowan ordered him to change out of a sweatshirt he'd cut the sleeves off of. Allen refused and stormed off the field instead -- a stunt that got him fined, made national news, and eventually landed the shirt itself in the Baseball Hall of Fame. None of that happened in New York. By then, Allen had been gone from the Yankees for three seasons.
Signed by the Yankees
Scout Johnny Nee signs the 24-year-old Allen out of the Asheville Tourists after watching him pitch semipro ball in Aberdeen, North Carolina.
Major League Debut
Allen debuts with the Yankees at age 27 and goes on to post a 17-4 rookie season with a 3.70 ERA.
World Series Game 4
Allen starts, retires two batters, then leaves the game after the Cubs tag him for three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. The Yankees win 13-6 to complete the sweep anyway.
Traded to Cleveland
The Yankees send Allen to the Indians for Monte Pearson and Steve Sundra, ending his four-year run in the Bronx.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Johnny Allen's record with the Yankees?
Allen went 50-19 with a 3.95 ERA across four seasons in New York (1932-1935). His rookie year was his best: 17-4 with a 3.70 ERA in 1932, leading the American League in winning percentage.
Did Johnny Allen pitch in the 1932 World Series?
Yes, though not memorably. He started Game 4 of the sweep over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, retired just two batters, then left the game after the Cubs tagged him for three earned runs. The Yankees won the game 13-6 regardless and finished the sweep.
Why did the Yankees trade Johnny Allen?
The Yankees traded Allen to the Cleveland Indians on December 11, 1935, for pitchers Monte Pearson and Steve Sundra. He wasn't declining -- he'd just gone 13-6 with a 3.61 ERA -- but his salary holdouts and volatile temper had worn on the club.
Was Johnny Allen involved in the famous torn-sleeve incident with umpires?
Yes, but not as a Yankee. The incident happened June 7, 1938, at Fenway Park, three seasons after the Yankees traded him. Umpire Bill McGowan ordered Allen, by then pitching for Cleveland, to change out of a sweatshirt he'd cut the sleeves off of. Allen refused and stormed off, and the sweatshirt eventually ended up on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Allen finished his career with a .654 winning percentage, one of the best in baseball history, built mostly somewhere other than the Bronx. The Yankees got four good years and a championship out of him before deciding he wasn't worth the aggravation. Cleveland got the 20-win seasons and the record-setting streak. New York got out first -- and still isn't entirely sure it made the right call.