Mel Parnell

Mel Parnell
Pitcher
Born: June 13, 1922 (1922-06-13) New Orleans, Louisiana
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
April 20, 1947 for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1956 for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics
Win–loss record	123–75
Earned run average	3.50
Strikeouts	732
Teams
Boston Red Sox (1947–1956)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star selection (1949, 1951)

Melvin Lloyd Parnell (born June 13, 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher.

Parnell spent his entire ten-year career with the Boston Red Sox (1947–1956), compiling a 123-75 record with 732 strikeouts, a 3.50 earned run average, 113 complete games, 20 shutouts, and 1752.2 innings pitched in 289 games (232 as a starter). He has the third-highest career winning percentage for a left-hander in Fenway Park (minimum of more than 25 decisions), at 71-30 (.703).

Parnell enjoyed his best season in 1949 when he went 25-7, leading the league in wins, ERA (2.77), complete games (27) and innings (295.1). He was the starting pitcher for the American League in that year's All-Star Game and was selected again in 1951.

After two 18-win seasons in 1950 and 1951, and a 12-12 record in 1952, Parnell went 21-8 in 1953 with a 3.06 ERA and a career-high 136 strikeouts. He pitched a no-hitter on July 14, 1956 against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway, winning 4-0. The no-hitter was the first for a Red Sox pitcher since Howard Ehmke in 1923, though this would prove the final highlight of his career, which would come to a premature end after the 1956 season, due to a torn muscle in his pitching arm. It would take 52 years until another Red Sox lefty would throw a no-hitter, a feat accomplished by Jon Lester in 2008.

Parnell still holds the club career mark for left-handed pitchers in games started, innings and victories.

After his playing career, Parnell managed the New Orleans Pelicans of the Class AA Southern Association in 1959 and a series of Red Sox farm clubs from 1961 to 1963. He was a member of Boston's radio and television announcing crew from 1965 to 1968.

Parnell was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997. He currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Quote

"Little soft pop-up...Petrocelli will take it...he does! The ball game is over! The Red Sox win it! And what a mob on this field! They're coming out of the stands from all over!" - Parnell on WHDH-TV, calling the last out of the final game of the Red Sox' regular season at Fenway Park, October 1, 1967, against the Minnesota Twins. The Sox had yet to learn whether they clinched the American League pennant or would need to travel to Detroit for a one-game playoff. The Detroit Tigers lost to the California Angels, and the Red Sox went on to the 1967 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Parnell once said the southpaw's enemy at Fenway Park was the smallness of the foul territory, not the wall.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions
• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

External links

• Baseball Library
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Preceded by Hal Newhouser	American League Wins Champion 1949	Succeeded by Bob Lemon
Preceded by Carl Erskine	No-hitter pitcher July 14, 1956	Succeeded by Sal Maglie