Dazzy Vance

Charles Arthur "Dazzy" Vance (March 4, 1891 – February 16, 1961) was a star Major League Baseball starting pitcher during the 1920s.

Born in Orient, Iowa, Vance played a decade in the minors before establishing himself as a big league player in 1922 with the Brooklyn Dodgers at the age of 31, when he went 18–12 with a 3.70 ERA and a league-leading 134 strikeouts. His best individual season came in 1924, when he led the National League in wins (28), strikeouts (262) and ERA (2.16) (see Triple crown) en route to winning the National League MVP award. He set the then-National League record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game when he fanned 15 Chicago Cubs in a game on August 23, 1924. (He struck-out 17 batters in a 10-inning game in 1925.)

On September 24, 1924, Vance struck out three batters on nine pitches in the second inning of a 6–5 win over the Chicago Cubs. Vance became the fifth National League pitcher and the seventh pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning. He finished the season with 262 strikeouts, more than any two National League pitchers combined (Burleigh Grimes with 135 and Dolf Luque with 86 were second and third respectively). That season, Vance had one out of every 13 strikeouts in the entire National League.

Vance's play began to decline in the early 1930s, and after bouncing to the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and back to the Dodgers, he retired after the 1935...
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