Editing Warren Spahn (section)

==World War II==
Along with many other major leaguers, Spahn chose to enlist in the [[United States Army]], after finishing the 1942 season in the minors.<ref name=hofspahn/> He served with distinction, and was awarded a [[Purple Heart]]. He saw action in the [[Battle of the Bulge]] and at the [[Ludendorff Bridge]] as a [[Combat engineering|combat engineer]], and was awarded a [[battlefield commission]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] |url=https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Sports-Entertainment/097-Baseball-Legend/ |title=Historical Vignette 097 - A Baseball Legend Served with Distinction as a Combat Engineer in World War II |date=April 2005}}</ref>

Spahn returned to the major leagues in [[1946 in baseball|1946]] at the age of 25, having missed three full seasons. Had he played, it is possible that Spahn would have finished his career behind only [[Walter Johnson]] and [[Cy Young]] in all-time wins.<ref>{{cite book|title=Playing for Their Nation: Baseball and the American Military during World War II|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|author=Bullock, Steven R.|pages=134–135|year=2004|isbn=0-8032-1337-9 }}</ref> Spahn was unsure of the war's impact on his career:

{{blockquote|People say that my absence from the big leagues may have cost me a chance to win 400 games. But I don't know about that. I matured a lot in three years, and I think I was better equipped to handle major league hitters at 25 than I was at 22. Also, I pitched until I was 44. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to do that otherwise.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schlossberg |first1=Dan |title=Did Boston Stay Separate Warren Spahn from 400 Wins? |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/did-boston-stay-separate-warren-spahn-from-400-wins/ |publisher=[[Society for American Baseball Research]]}}</ref>}}