Friday, January 6, 2017

The Worst Red Sox Team of All Time Pt. 3: Pete Appleton a/k/a Pete Jablonowski

Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.
Officially in 1932, Pete Appleton's name was Pete Jablonowski.  He legally changed his name to Appleton in 1933, so he was Jablonowski during his entire time with the Red Sox, which really only spanned eleven games during the 1932 season.  There are no clear explanations that I can find for the reason for the name change.  Since he was known as Jablonowski during his time in Boston, I will refer to him as such for the rest of the article.

Jablonowski first made it to the Majors in 1927 with the Reds and he spent the next two seasons with them.  He made it to the Indians in 1930 where he was a reliever.  He started the 1932 season with the Indians and pitched in four games for them with a 16.20 ERA.  In June he was traded to the Red Sox for starting pitcher Jack Russell who was also struggling.  He spent the rest of the season in Boston before being sent to the minors with Newark.  When the Newark franchise was sold to the Yankees, Jablonowski went with it.

As previously mentioned, Jablonowski only pitched in eleven games for the Red Sox.  He struggled during those games, all but three of which were spent in relief.  He was 0-3 with a 4.11 ERA, which was still a better ERA than all but two pitchers with the Red Sox that season, albeit in far fewer innings, and decent enough for a 109 ERA+.  He accumulated 46 innings, striking out 15 and walking 26, and had a WHIP of 1.630.   

With Newark, Jablonowski was 11-1 with a 3.73 ERA.  The next season, he spent just two innings with the Yankees.  He did not make it back to the Majors until 1936 when he had a very good season with Washington.  He bounced around after that, but was never again as successful.  Over a 14-year career, Jablonowski/Appleton was 57-66 with a 4.30 ERA. 

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