New Arrival: Phil Marchildon, sp, Philadelphia Athletics
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In 1947 Phil Marchildon won 19 games for the Philadelphia Athletics. A 19-win season is nothing to sneeze at, even if he had to grind out 276 innings to get there. It is extra impressive when you remember that wins never came easily to those mid-century Athletics teams. 1947 would be the best season of Marchildon short career, which spanned 9 non-consecutive years from 1940-1950.
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The non-consecutive things matter here. Like many wartime players, Marchildon career was interrupted for military service.
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Following the 1942 season, in which he went 17-14 for the A’s, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served as a tailgunner on a bomber. In August 1944 he was shot down over Germany, and spent roughly nine months in a German prison camp. And not just any camp, but Stalag Luft III, made famous as the setting for the movie The Great Escape. Once released, it took him the better part of a year to recuperate and rejoin the Athletics.
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All told, Phil Marchildon had a career 68-75 record with a perfect average 100 ERA+. He won 10 games in at least four seasons. In 1976, he was elected to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1982, he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.