Arnold “Jug” Thesenga

Nicknamed “Jug” for the jug handle shape of his wicked curve ball, Thesenga was from South Dakota and pitched for semi-pro teams all over the country in the 1930s.

In 1940, Thesenga’s Mount Pleasant (TX) Cubs came to the NBC World Series in Wichita.  Thesenga helped the Cubs to a runner-up finish and he would become a regular at the tournament.

In 1941, Thesenga went 3-0 for the team that beat Mount Pleasant for the 1940 championship, the Enid (OK) Champlin Refiners.  The Refiners repeated as champion and Thesenga was named the top pitcher of the tournament.

From 1942-1947, Thesenga pitched for his employer’s team the Wichita Cessna Bobcats.  He won nine games during that time and managed the team in 1946 and 1947, but the Bobcats never won a championship.

During the 1944 tournament, the Washington Senators offered Thesenga $2500 pitch the rest of the season as a replacement player.  On September 1, he made his debut as a 30-year-old at Yankee Stadium.  Thesenga allowed only three earned runs in five innings of work.  He walked eight, however, and did not figure in the decision as the Senators won 10-7.

Thesenga appeared four more times for Washington.  He declined a spring training invitation for 1945 and returned to work at Cessna in Wichita.

Thesenga pitched for the Cessna Bobcats in the 1947 NBC World Series.  His final NBC World Series was in 1949.  He set a record with 14 career wins in the NBC World Series.

Until his death in 2002 at the age of 88, Thesenga was a board member for the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame.

For more, read Jug Thesenga’s Society for American Baseball Research bio.